Samurai Maiden

Being able to have 2000 years of history to pull from as reference points in your media is an advantage I never imagined when coming to Japan. As an American expat, I’ve been heavily indoctrinated with tons of books, movies, and games that circle around key moments of history for the USA. Mel Gibson being a guerilla revolutionary in The Patriot, Denzel Washington’s powerful role in Glory, and the dozens of RTS titles circling The Civil War, including Sid Meier’s Gettysburg.

If you enjoy slashing away at demonic forces with a cast of lovely ladies then you're one cultured individual; here's SAMURAI MAIDEN.

Samurai Maiden is a really fun girls sword-fighting action game that focuses more on characters and combat than a strong narrative experience. The fully voiced dialogue, frantic combat, and endearing cast of characters make for a solid action game experience from D3 Publisher and SHADE. Nintendo Switch performance is lacking with its frame rate stutters and dips, however.

Samurai Maiden is an enjoyable action Hack and slash game that has great visuals. The combat in the game is solid, but not all the mechanics are quite as polished as its combat. An enjoyable story that picks up quite a bit in the second half of the game. These characters are great and I do want to see more of them in the future!

I’ll admit right up front that I’m probably not part of the intended demographic for Samurai Maiden. For one thing, I’m not well-versed in all the subgenres and flavors of Japanese anime RPGs. For another, my status as a middle age man means that the tale of young girls forming romantic and suggestively sexual bonds while fighting demons makes me feel a little creepy. Setting all that aside, I am a huge fan of action RPGs of any stripe. Using that metric, how does Samurai Maiden fare against staples of the genre?

Instead, I can only recommend Samurai Maiden if you look at it and come to the conclusion that this is your jam. It targets a specific niche, and it’s competent enough that I think that it would satisfy that. However, if you’re hoping for anything deeper than that –  anything that might create a memorable experience – you’re not going to find it. Samurai Maiden is about as generic as it gets.

A young woman from the 21st century with sharp swordsmanship skills finds herself in Honnō-ji during the Sengoku period! Together with a trio of newfound ninja friends, she races through the Underworld beneath Honnō-ji, confronted by enraged corpses at every turn! Switch version reviewed.