Following up their reveal a month or so back, Japanese game publisher Spike gave out a firm release date today for Way of the Samurai 4, latest in their series of sandbox-y feudal Japan sims. The PS3-exclusive title is coming out February 17 in Japan at a suggested retail price of 7770 yen.
The gaming industry has enjoyed a slew of samurai video games that do justice to the ancient samurai period. Here's a list covering them.
Due to technical issues the guys had to record twice this week! Needless to say, this one is a bit weird. Even they aren't immune to the pitfalls of modern technology! Spencer is on again for this one as the Game Out Loud Podcast guys talk about what they've been playing. What does Spencer think of Assassin's Creed Syndicate? Rob's thoughts on Ark: Survival Evolved? Jordan's excursion into Way of the Samurai 4? All these and more in this week's episode!
Bit Cultures writes: Great video games incentivize players to return time and time again. Some games accomplish this through collectibles, a new game plus mode, harder difficulty levels, multiplayer, or different play styles. Bulletstorm, while an absolute raunchy, “arcadey” thrill and one of my favorite games, only witnessed a single playthrough. The mature banter, kill combos and over-the-top moments kept me hooked, but left me wavering after the campaign. Games such as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Fallout: New Vegas and the Mass Effect series, however, easily garnered second, third and sometimes even fourth playthroughs. There are tons of nuances in these games to bring players back into the digital worlds. Similarly, Way of the Samurai 4, a third-person, hack and slash role-playing game, utilizes many elements from the latter three titles in order to keep players playing. The one major difference between replaying Way of the Samurai 4 and the other grand RPGs, however, is a player’s investment of hours in the campaign. A single playthrough of Way of the Samurai 4 may take up to anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. Through creative use of a choice-driven story line, a rewarding new game plus mode and a variety of unlockable items and weapons, Way of the Samurai 4 offers a replayable campaign without the burden of dedicating absurd amount of hours to a single playthrough.
Always liked WatS. Wish that it would get a large budget, just to let the devs get allot in there. WatS 3 was a let down, so I hope this one is better.
Hm... the idea of an evolving town that changes ~across~ multiple playthroughs sounds interesting. Though, given how low-budget the series is, I'm keeping my expectations low.
Well, here's hoping they can at least manage to muster up the competence to make it all one big area, instead of 8 tiny ones.
Also: any confirmation on era yet? Some of the screenshots seem to indicate Bakamatsu... which while a great time-period for any narrative, it might mean additional gameplay mechanics--specifically, gunplay. It would also force the game to deal more with the "national" situation, instead of focusing exclusively on the local area as was the case with the previous three titles.
interesting to see a third party developer making a ps3 exclusive