Way of the Samurai 4

Way of the Samurai 4 is a weird game.

This shouldn't surprise, as the whole franchise has rightly earned its reputation for being weird, quirky, and all manner of labels used to identify Japanese games. That said, like its predecessors, Way of the Samurai 4 offers an experience that is quite unlike almost anything else on the market, one unreplicated since the PS2 era except by other Way of the Samurai games.

Unfortunately, the franchise's monopoly on that style of play has made developer Acquire complacent, content to issue incremental updates rather than to work on fixing the series' flaws. These flaws, as well as a few new decisions that may divide even sympathetic fans, will once again doom Way of the Samurai to the niche of obscurity, the fourth time it will be distinguished -- and subsequently dismissed -- as a weird, quirky, love-it-or-hate-it Japanese game.

Screens view »