Katana Kami: A Way of the Samurai Story

As someone who has converted to Shinto (insofar as it’s possible to “convert” to a religion that doesn’t have that kind of formal organisation – really I just accept what the religion says as compatible to my own world view), I do fall into what is probably a very narrow audience band for the game in the west. It’s gorgeous, it’s vivid, and it’s compelling. Deeply so. As I mention in a video I recorded on the game, I actually categorise this in my head alongside Oreshika, an unfortunately obscure JRPG on the PlayStation Vita. Both games so readily bring to mind the ukiyo-e pain…

GameSpewRichard Seagrave

7/10

You’re not going to blown away by Katana Kami: A Way of the Samurai Story. Don’t expect it to amaze you in any way. It is, however, a very enjoyable dungeon crawler that’s very easy to sink time into. Developing powerful swords and using them to get further into a cavernous dungeon is as engrossing as you’d expect it to be. And the fact that those swords could be lost at any moment should you suffer defeat adds tension. This isn’t the Way of the Samurai experience you’re probably used to, but it’s just as entertaining nonetheless.

WCCFtechKai Tatsumoto

7/10

Spike Chunsoft’s line of roguelike RPGs are among some of my favorite diversions yet never seem to get much traction out here in the States. The Mystery Dungeon line of RPGs have been noticed with other recent releases, most notably the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon that our very own Nathan Birch reviewed fairly recently. Their latest title takes those roguelike conventions and combines them with a very unlikely IP: Way of the Samurai. The result is a spinoff known simply as Katanakami: A Way of the Samurai Story.

RPGSiteJosh Torres

6/10

Way of the Samurai returns with a smaller, more restrained, spin-off title that's an interesting experiment of how it would fare as an isometric roguelite, yet it never manages to capitalize on its ambitious gameplay systems.

Worth PlayingChris Barnes

5/10

The Way of the Samurai is forged in battle! Play as a ronin during Japan's Meiji Restoration in the volatile Rokkotsu Pass.