Rating
Way of the Samurai 4
In Way of the Samurai 4, you must take on the role of a master-less samurai looking to establish yourself in this conflicted land of opportunity and uncertainty. Set in he humble port town of Amihama during the mid 19th Century, several years after the arrival of the "black ships" from the West ended Japan's long history of cultural isolation. It i...
Details
- Released
- March 2, 2011
- Developer
- ACQUIRE Corp., Laughing Jackal
- Genres
- Role-playing (RPG) · Adventure
- Publisher
- Spike, XSEED Games, NIS America, Ghostlight Ltd.
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Way of the Samurai 4 Reviews
Professional reviews from gaming critics
Deserving praise for encapsulating the sort of Japanese-themed action RPG shenanigans that PC owners rarely glimpse, it’s nonetheless fair to say that Ghostlight’s latest is far from perfect. For those willing to forgive its more archaically-rooted foibles however, Way of the Samurai 4 very often proves to be a hugely entertaining prospect while providing a gleefully quirky look at one of the most enticing and formative periods of Japanese history.
The prevailing image of Japanese culture in Western society is an incongruous blend of two aspects: the badass, as underpinned by romanticised notions of
Way of the Samurai 4 didn’t impress me a great deal, or perhaps I didn’t look in the right places, but it isn’t altogether bad. It has its charm and some good ideas running in the background, but these are offset by the game’s more overt issues, and a taste for the surreal that will never be popular for the mainstream. That being said, while this game was not for me but it is just odd enough that it might work for you.
Way of the Samurai 4 has a unique style and provides an entertaining play-through. There is a lot of fun to be had by making the most of the customisable options and fully exploring the different missions and alternative endings, but this is no masterpiece and be warned that the game’s style of humour is not for everyone. Ultimately though, there is no need for harakiri and if you like the sound of a quirky samurai slasher then this could be for you.
It lacks polish, but the freedom found in this samurai adventure may be worth a look.
With the freedom of an open world combined with inconsistent tone, it’s very hard to tell just what the development team at ACQUIRE Corp was aiming for. While the story has branching paths, none were especially engrossing or entertaining, and the repetitive combat quickly took its toll. After fighting for honor, for myself and just for the sake of causing chaos in a tiny Japanese village, Way of the Samurai 4 did show me that I would not have been a very well liked person in Japan in the 1850s. But if the real world back then was anything like this game world, I wouldn't have wanted to spend ...
Way of the Samurai 4 is really just a smattering of good ideas and bad design choices. There's a lot to do in the city of Amihama, but it's hidden behind an obtrusive menu system, and further pulled down by sub-par combat. The amount of choice available is a great addition (from the character creation system to story) but none of it dismisses the fact that Way of the Samurai 4 just isn't that fun to actually play.
For the PC version specifically, the port is rather straightforward, which is a bit disappointing. Menus are clunky to get through, imprecise blur effects pop into place and the framerate is locked at 30 frames per second for an undemanding game. Fortunately, most of its foibles are cosmetic and don’t detract at all from the wonderful experience, save one glaring install issue that can destroy the game’s .exe file, prompting Steam to verify integrity for minutes on end each time. Way of the Samurai 4 is still great on PC, but don’t expect it to be remastered either. At least the publisher is c...