Before seeing Way of the Samurai 4 in a closed-door meeting
with XSEED Games, I had never played a game in the series before. After spending
some time getting to see what this game is about, I’m realizing that I’ve missed
out on a fun series of games to this point.
The story behind Way of the Samurai 4 is that the British have set up a
settlement in Japan, and some of the locals aren’t happy about it. These locals
have set up a faction called The Disciples of Prajna and set out to scuttle the
outsiders. Players can act to either defend the British or to aid the Disciples
and get the British out of their land. The player’s actions during the course of
the game will lead to one of ten different endings, creating more than ample
replay value.
The reason I liked Way of the Samurai 4 so much is because it’s reminiscent
of open-world adventures like Shenmue or Yakuza. There are missions to complete
in order to advance the main story, but there’s also a lot of stuff to see and
do aside from running the story in a straight line. Want to romance a female
companion? You can. Want to go on a killing spree because you’re having a bad
day? Go for it. (Just don’t get caught, or you’ll do some time in a torture
minigame.)
There’s plenty of customization in Way of the Samurai 4, including weapon
creation, fighting style creation, and customizing the player’s appearance.
Players can upload their characters, which can then be downloaded by other
players into their own games as assassins and potential loot drops.
With the possibility of the next Yakuza game not being localized for the US,
fans of open-world games like I am will want to give Way of the Samurai
4 a look when it debuts on the PlayStation Store later this summer. The
game will be available as a digital download only, and no price was announced
during the event. We’ll keep an eye out for this and drop more info to you as
the release date draws closer.
