Review

The stop-motion style is the best thing about "Spirit of the Samurai"

16.12.2024

Translation: machine translated

With its stop-motion animations, "Spirit of the Samurai" looks stunning. Unfortunately, there are only good approaches, the realisation of which causes frustration instead of pleasure.

"Spirit of the Samurai" triggers mixed feelings in me. On the one hand, I am captivated by the great art style and the dark atmosphere. Stop-motion animation is anything but the norm in video games - probably due to time and budget constraints. On the other hand, the style seems ponderous for an action game. From time to time, the movements of hero Takeshi seem to skip several frames. But the game's biggest problem is the gameplay.

Black and white history

The story of the game is told by the ghost of a fox. It is about the legendary warrior Takeshi, who has to protect his village from a demon attack.

Much of the story is told in CG cutscenes. These look beautiful and the English and Japanese voice-overs are good. It's a classic good versus evil story. It is also transparent and there are no big surprises. The narrative is also not particularly unusual and suffers from pacing problems.

The CG cutscenes are well done.
Source: Digital Mind Games

The developers obviously took their time with the stop-motion animations. This has paid off. The presentation is the best aspect of the game that made me want to play "Spirit of the Samurai" in the first place. Unfortunately, certain quality of life aspects suffer as a result.

Hardly any side quests

At the start of the game, I collect two side quests. Firstly, I have to get some nails. I find them in the house next door. The second side quest is also a classic fetch quest. And that's more or less it for the side quests. As they are not particularly imaginative and rarely occur, the developers could have done without them altogether. Something I often thought to myself while playing the game.

At the beginning, I collect a sidequest. But after the opening sequence, that's it for side quests.
Source: Kevin Hofer

The battle system is okay, but unfair

I am introduced to the combat system during a friendly sparring session with another samurai. Takeshi can perform combos with the katana, dodge, block, parry and shoot arrows with the bow. That's it for the possibilities, there are no more added in the course of the game. The combat system itself is okay, but offers little variety. Once I've found out what works against the specific enemies, that's all I do. It also doesn't help that the selection of enemies isn't exactly huge.

Where is the opponent? I often ask myself that at the beginning.
Source: Kevin Hofer

In addition, the field of vision is not particularly wide, especially in enclosed areas. Certain rooms are also darkened and I can only see what's in them when I enter them - even if I've been in them before. So when I fight an opponent and leave the room, it goes dark again and I don't know what my opponent is doing.

Even more frustrating are archers who shoot out of sight and whose arrows I can only dodge by rolling. All in all, it feels like I'm not getting hit due to a lack of skills, but because the mechanics are simply unfair.

The archers on the right in the picture often shoot out of sight, which makes it difficult to dodge with Takeshi. Incidentally, he is doing the dodge roll in the picture and is therefore barely recognisable.
Source: Kevin Hofer

Superfluous RPG elements

The special system with which I can customise combos provides some variety. I learn new moves either by leveling up or by finding items. I can then add these to my combo repertoire. If I need equally fast moves for fast opponents, for example, I put my combos together in this way. At least that's the theory. But the menu for this is confusing. I never know whether I've selected the move correctly and in the end nothing fits. This frustrates me so much that I never experiment much with the setting options.

I can put my combos together myself. What is a good idea fails due to the confusing implementation of the menu.
Source: Kevin Hofer

So the RPG elements are not very well thought out. I can also improve my status values by levelling up. But it's not clear exactly what I'm improving and I can't undo it.

Unfounded ideas

Many other things also seem ill-conceived. For example, picking up items. I have to press a button for Takeshi to bend down and pick up loot. However, the animation is slow and if I accidentally press the button while enemies are still nearby, they attack me. So I first clear the rooms of enemies and then run through everything again in search of loot. I hammer on the pick-up button because I'm only prompted to do so briefly and I usually run too far and then have to go back again. It would be easier if Takeshi picked up the items automatically - it's unnecessarily complicated this way.

I collect items by pressing a button. As there's a hell of a lot to collect and it's shown by an animation every time, this disrupts the flow of the game unnecessarily.
Source: Kevin Hofer

Furthermore, certain mechanics seem immature. The items I collect include berries, for example, which I can offer at shrines. In return, I receive incense, the game's currency. But nothing more. The developers must have planned some kind of crafting system here, which didn't make it into the finished game. After all, I also get incense when I loot crates or defeat enemies. Why I should offer berries or similar for more incense makes no sense.

I can offer items at shrines and convert them into incense, the game's currency. Why I don't collect incense straight away is unclear to me.
Source: Kevin Hofer

Even the other playable characters can't save the gameplay

In addition to Takeshi, I play the cat Chisai or the tree spirit Kodama at certain points. As a cat, I can't fight and have to hide or flee. This is where the stop-motion animations turn out to be tedious. Sometimes I have to dash off with frame precision if I don't want to end up at the last checkpoint. That's not easy with the halting animations. As with the battles, I have the feeling that it's the unfairness of the game and not my lack of skill when I bite the dust.

The cat Chisai may look cute, but controlling her is a pain, she can't do anything except run away.
Source: Kevin Hofer

As a Kodama, I can at least defend myself. But the sequences are anything but revolutionary. What's more, the pacing of the game is annoying, because I slip into their fur or whatever ghosts are made of in the middle of the game. So after the introductory sequence, I'm away from Takeshi - for about a third of the game.

As Kodama, I can fight back, but that's not really fun either.
Source: Kevin Hofer

The platform elements are a pain

I could live with all these criticisms. But the developers have included another element that is not fully developed - even worse: it doesn't match the stop-motion animations. Namely the platforming elements. I die far too often because Takeshi simply doesn't react to my inputs in time, for example when I want to jump over a hole with deadly stakes. Stop-motion and "jumping from platform to platform" simply don't go together in "Spirit of the Samurai".

The platformer passages are no fun. I often die because of the poor controls and not my skills.
Source: Kevin Hofer

Publisher Kwalee also advertises the game as having Metroidvania elements. However, I find neither a large, coherent world nor an open game experience. "Spirit of the Samurai" is linear and has a level-based game design. There is no question of free exploration and I also don't open up new areas by acquiring skills. The game is a classic action sidescroller.

"Spirit of the Samurai" was released on 12 December 2024 for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Xbox One. The game was provided to me by Digital Mind Games for testing purposes on PC.

In a nutshell

A classic case of "wanting too much"

I would have loved to have loved "Spirit of the Samurai" so much. But I had to force myself to keep playing several times. The game is the best proof that looks aren't everything. The stop-motion look is by far the best aspect of the game.

The gameplay, on the other hand, is simply half-baked. There are good approaches that the developers have not followed up on. "Spirit of the Samurai" feels unfinished. The story doesn't grab me either, although the dark setting in feudal Japan would actually be right up my street.

I can only recommend "Spirit of the Samurai" if you can live with its flaws and have fallen in love with its art style.

Pro

cool, unique style with stop-motion
good combat system in the beginning
well-made CG cutscenes

Contra

miserable platformer passages
half-baked gameplay mechanics
confusing menus
poor narrative pace

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Kevin Hofer

Senior Editor

kevin.hofer@digitecgalaxus.ch

From big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.

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