PS1 Soul Of The Samurai 1999

[Guel Jeturk]

Played this game in 2024 without doing any search on the web for Videos or Reviews few months back and i was surprised because i was expecting a Classic Samurai Story with villains and the sole hero against them.

I really don't want to spoil it for anybody but this game has a dash of Resident Evil Virus vibes in it, i also love the two characters you can select a Samurai returning home from his travels training (Musha shugyō (武者修行) is a samurai warrior's quest or pilgrimage) yeah a prequel of the Story of Kotaro has a taste of Vagabond/Musashi and guess what i want on a Remake and the female skilled teenage girl Lin a Kunoichi.

There are different attack speeds which correlate to the weight of the equipped weapon, and this is displayed on the sword's 'check' window (also displayed is the sword's length and sharpness, and a brief description of the blade).

Action, Adventure, Survival, Horror by KONAMI director Shinichi Kudo

Kotaro is a masterless samurai (Rōnin) who travels Japan. He grew up in a dojo with a boy called Yukinosuke, both were raised by their 'master', and Kotaro reveals his parents have already died. Yukinosuke reveals, that when growing up, they were both of equal skill, with neither ever able to clearly defeat the other in sparring contests. Kotaro left suddenly one day after his parents died.

Lin is a ninja (Kunoichi) who was orphaned as a child. Both she and her brother, Shin were taken in by a ninja clan and trained in the art of ninjutsu until they were strong enough and skilled enough to carry out missions as a spy for the Tokugawa shogunate government. She resents the 'kid' image Kotaro uses on her, despite her youth. She has feelings for Kotaro, which is revealed at the game's end.

 

[DunkeyKong]

This is a great game, nice recommendation! I also like your format in every thread like the colored words, small change but still made it really interesting

 

[Stingy Perry]

The first time I played this game I thought it was a Tenchu clone but Iwas wrong this one is more in your face action hack n slash game.

 

[bjork]

Love this one. My dad's big on samurai games, so that's how I encountered it back then. Played it for a little bit about a year or so ago and it's still fun. I'd totally play a new one of these.

 

[Crashbandi]

Thanks for this review, looks like I have something to play this weekend.

 

[UnDubious]

Good, underrated game. It's basically Onimusha before Onimusha. I liked playing as Kotaro better because his fighting style is more precise and timing-based, the girl is basically easy mode like in Resident Evil because her long attack combos just destroy everything.

 

[jakecr]

I also played this game blind last year, it was great and charming in its own ways, definitely an underappreciated gem that deserves more love. And if you love games set in the Sengoku/Edo period or feudal Japan, it is a must play.

I like the name they chose for the European release more, Ronin Blade. the PAL cover is also better imo but the full view of the 3D models in the NA cover is also kinda charming, the Japanese cover features the characters hand drawn so that's kinda cool but I prefer the NA over it.

I like game covers can you tell?

 

[Parasite_Steve]

I really wish I liked this more because I love the low poly feudal Japan aesthetic and it’s a unique glimpse into the parallel universe where Onimusha 1 was actually released for the ps1.
I gave Ronin blade many chances over the years but I never got over the hurdle of the clumsy and awkward controls. I thought this was due to bad pal conversion which was pretty common at the time but the ntsc version felt similarly sluggish.