Aragami 2

I admit, I started the game with low expectations due to the reviews, but I liked the first Aragami enough to try the second and had some time to kill. Well, turns out I missed out. First of all, with all the patches included so far, there's a surprising amount of content. 51 missions, 4 difficulty levels, including one that shifts the game closer to the original Aragami, various unlockables including 9 additional modular outfits, dyes, passive bonuses in form of runestones, and a well-stocked list of more or less supernatural abilities for your ninjaing pleasure. Missions can be repeated at will once unlocked. Graphics are serviceable enough, the game was remarkably bug-free (I had two minor glitches, none of them game-breaking and both resolved themselves after a few moments). Controls are different from the first game, with a much higher emphasis on agility; you can air-dash, double-jump, grab ledges and hang from railings, and movement is plain and simply fun - you're a supernatural ninja, and the game makes you feel like one. There is a combat system, which, while serviceable and responsive enough, is basically just for offering a second chance in case you screwed up the "sneaky" part of "sneaky-stabby-fun". Sure, you can fumble your way through the levels like a drunk oni after a particularly heavy sake-bender (and dress accordingly), but the game grades your performance accordingly, and similar to certain other franchises, part of the attraction is succeeding with style and panache, not merely getting by. Cutscenes, while serviceable, have no facial animations (and let's be honest, all except one of the characters involved wear face masks) and use vaguely japanese-sounding simlish with subtitles. The story again is serviceable, serving to tie your missions into a narrative without getting too much into the way of your sneaky-stabby fun. The soundtrack is surprisingly good, on the other hand. 5/5, brought back lovely memories of playing Tenchu on the PS1

As stated this is not a sequel to Aragami, it is in fact a completely different genre of game. This is an action game with stealth elements, not a stealth game. If that bothers you then you will be bothered, if it doesn't you wont be. Simple enough. What isn't so simple is that the game takes inspiration from several contemporary action-stealth games and copies them poorly. This is the sort of game one could make a huge annoying list of issues that are baffling or poor decisions, but there's plenty of Steam reviews that do that already. I'll keep it sweet and short: - The story is borderline non-existent yet takes up a significant part of the game, it does not make sense. - The gameplay is clunky but functional, you can have fun with this game if you can look past a few small issues. - It's quite buggy and not very well made. - It's padded to the extreme and offers little to no challenge to an average player. If it's on sale and you got 1 or 2 friends you can get a few hours of fun out of this, otherwise you can spend your money better elsewhere. It is not a game worth finishing, however.

Overall, this game is a fun third-person sneaker, where one can find fun perching on a rooftop, tactically planning your moves to minimise detection, and then putting your plans into action. Stealth kills are visceral, combat is serviceable but a little sluggish sometimes, and enemies are mostly predictable. The game's setting is obviously Japanese, with plenty of reference to traditional Japanese shinobi culture. I'm not well-educated enough to say whether these elements are stereotypical or authentic, but I do enjoy the theme. The graphics are mostly beautiful, with the occasional distant mountain texture that looks a bit poorly and animations that don't quite line up properly. Some missions have an intense tint filter, which can be a little distracting if that sort of thing bothers you. I've played this game in co-op multiplayer, with a friend sitting in the same room, and whatever networking software is employed isn't quite up to the task. We are regularly seeing situations where gameplay behaves unusually, resulting in obviously broken behaviour resulting in mission failure. When these bugs don't occur, this game is an absolute gem. When the bugs do occur, the game becomes frustrating and disappointing.

In its current state, it's on the lower end of a 4 star rating, but it IS good enough - especially while playing solo - to deserve better than that. Once the rough edges are cleaned up (assuming patches come soon and work well), I can potentially see myself giving it 5 stars. There are some additional problems with co-op right now, but when it's working, online play is a great experience. Customisation is a bit of a mixed bag of options here. You have 4 gear pieces, and one of those is your sword, so only 3 parts to your clothing. Each dye is named for its primary colour, but has a fixed secondary colour you can't change. On first glance there seemed to be "enough" colour options, but with 4 different "red and black" sets and many popular combinations being notable by their absence, it quickly turned into "this could be better" for me. The more gameplay-oriented customisation is great at least. Earning XP for character levels will give you skill points, and these let you buy skills. Active abilities cost more, but give a strong cooldown-based ability, while passives are slightly cheaper but still give useful - and permanent - buffs. Each skill has an upgraded version as well, with some just being "the same as before but better" and others gaining additional properties or more options for how to use them. While it's a stealth game at its core, the combat is surprisingly involved and fun. Too many enemies at once can be trouble, but if you use the combat system well, you can brute-force your way out of bad situations. Being detected comes with a score penalty, so many players will prefer not to do this, but it's fun if you're willing to go with it. Later enemies ramp up the difficulty in good ways too - some being better at countering stealth, others being good at fighting, and a few having stealth skills of their own to be cautious about.

I think the title about sums this game up. It plays a lot like a slightly less awkward (in the hub world mission setup) Tenchu Z for 360. Which isn't bad. But it lacks the character of those older pre-Z Tenchu games or, in this case, the first Aragami which had far more style but less refined stealth. If you want a Tenchu style stealth title with a dash of Dishonored superpowers I recommend it. But it won't scratch every itch.