Review for Samurai Warriors Spirit of Sanada. Game for PC, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 23/11/2016 The version for PC came out on 23/05/2017 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 09/11/2017 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 26/05/2017
Tecmo Koei has accustomed us, for many years now, to an impressive amount of Musou. Especially when we talk about sagas like Dynasty Warriors or Samurai Warriors, the first thing that comes to mind is the gameplay of the Musou, which have always been unchanged if not for some small mechanics. This concept has never changed and probably will never change, however Tecmo Koei sometimes chooses to turn the tables, surprising us as he did for example with Dynasty Warriors Godseekers, which turned out to be a tactical RPG.
Also this time the kings of the Musou amaze us by introducing us Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada, a spin off of Samurai Warriors 4: Empires that incorporates some mechanics of the Musou by placing them in a mixed context between adventure and role-playing. We will talk more about it later.
Spotlight on Sanada
As in the other Samurai Warriors titles, Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada tells the deeds of the Japanese heroes of the Sengoku era, nevertheless deepening firsthand the events of the Sanada clan. The story begins with the first battle of Masayuki, during the fourth Kawanakajima campaign. For the first period of the plot we will only control him, as his sons Nobuyuki and Yukimura are too young to go into battle.
However, as the events continue, we will see the growth of the two children continue gradually, until they reach their adulthood. This will also happen with other characters in the story such as Chacha, Ideyasu or Hidetaka, and from the moment we start using them, their moveset and their skills will change according to the age they have reached.
The story is extremely faithful to real events, and Tecmo Koei plays a lot on this point making this chapter of Samurai Warriors the best historical drama of its kind, thanks to the fact that we can focus on a single point of view with all its hopes, the his delusions, his deaths and tragic events.
A different Musou than usual
The Musou are now well established in our culture. Between original titles such as those of Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors, and those that take their license from other works such as Berserk, One Piece, Hokuto no Ken or Gundam, this genre is depopulated and at the same time boring, wrapped in a limbo of monotony that is sometimes tries to break through interesting gameplay elements as happened with Dragon Quest Heroes or Hyrule Warriors. In Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada the gameplay of the action part is identical to the usual Musou, with combos and special attacks that work the same way, however it is everything else that differs enormously.
Like a role-playing game, first of all, we will control a character who can also move around the city, or rather in the current Sanada camp, where it will be possible to buy and improve your weapons and talk to the various characters in order to acquire information. and different points of view that can be useful to us and give us all sorts of bonuses once we go into battle. In the field there will be several buildings, unlockable with the progress of the story, which will allow us to take advantage of many interesting features. For example, we will be able to unlock characters in the story normally only controllable in free mode, grow plants and materials in the fields, participate in various mini-games, make conversation with a cup of tea, fish, train, and much more. Obviously, however, the focus of the game is in the combat phases.
Usually, in a Musou we are accompanied by an army that fights alongside us and we move on a well-defined map, inside which there are bases to be conquered to increase our presence on the battlefield and carry out objectives and then reach the enemy commander and eliminate him. This also happens in Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada, however in many stages things are different: just like in an adventure we will be catapulted into a hidden map, all to be explored, in which we will have to find hidden materials and carry out a very specific mission, taking on troops and bosses like a scrolling fighting game with the battle mechanics of a Musou. The incipit is very interesting, and allows the monotony of the genre to break up greatly.
No new, good new?
Technically, the title doesn't shine at all. Graphically it uses the same engine and models as Samurai Warriors 4, which were already particularly dated at the time of its release. We reward the use of new locations and a new system of missions and exploration, but also the characters are the same used in the aforementioned chapter, apart from a few small new additions.
As usual, hats off to the dubbing, very heartfelt and fulfilling, but we're not sure it's enough to lift the whole production for those who have never loved the monotony of the Musou genre.
Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada introduces us to Musou as we have never experienced it before. It keeps the same characters of Samurai Warriors 4, but gives us a very precise point of view, with a lot of growth over the years of some of the heroes, combining this with a very adventure and exploratory approach for some missions that also contain a day / night cycle which will change several factors in the field. Those who don't like Musou might be able to put up with this title a little longer than usual, while for fans it's a must-have title.
► Samurai Warriors Spirit of Sanada is a game for PC, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 23/11/2016 The version for PC came out on 23/05/2017 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 09/11/2017 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 26/05/2017
