Make no mistake too in Aragami you’ll have no quarter for direct confrontation as the Kaiho soldiers can kill you in a single hit and even if you should attempt to flee, their swords can blast out a wave of pure light that proves impossible to outrun. Killing enemies in the light for example, makes things much more difficult as bodies which are bathed in light cannot be hidden with your Shadow technique, and equally, can then be spotted by the enemy who will then raise an alarm, sending the remaining guards into a frenzy as they comb the world in a desperate effort to find you. Some chap once said “with great power, comes great responsibility” and it’s a maxim that holds a lot of truth in Aragami as well. Shadow Creation for example, allows you to cast pools of shadow on any unlit surface and so increases the number of paths you can take through any given area, while more powerful, finite use abilities such as Shadow Kill ensnares your unwitting foe in an obsidian snake that devours them whole and in turn restores one use of your more powerful skills. Also much like Sam Fisher in Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell games, Aragami has a number of visual aids built into his appearance (here it’s shiny runes on his cloak) to inform players on his level of abilities which can be gained from collecting magic scrolls hidden around every level can make your stealthy shenanigans easier to pull off too. The one that you will unquestionably use the most is the Shadow Step ability, as it allows him to instantly teleport into areas of shadow in a fashion not unlike the Blink ability in Bethesda’s Dishonoured. In a similar fashion to the Splinter Cell games then, it behooves the player to remain concealed away from the light, as it not only makes you more difficult to see, but becoming one with the shadows allows Aragami to unleash his formidable array of powers. In the absence of familiar physicality, and again going back to the sorcerer comparison, Aragami instead relies on arcane and supernatural trickery to affect similar results to those shadowy, flesh and blood executioners that we’ve been used to in the past.Ī being that has been fashioned out of pure shadow, Aragami is a creature that gains his power from the darkness. Now if you’re sat there shaking your head thinking “what the heck sort of stealth game is this?”, you’ll be cheered to know that the answer is one that is perfectly satisfying. Oh, and they still feel as great to pull off today as they did all those years ago, too. When it comes to the important topic of stabbery, Aragami borrows yet further from that stealthy cult classic as the titular supernatural assassin can execute enemies in a number of violent ways, from cutting the tendons of his foes and then slitting their throat, through to a good old fashioned blade to the gut all of these gory finishers will be familiar to those who have dabbled with Acquire’s 1998 PSOne classic. The audio side of things also matches up neatly with such inspirations boasting a wonderful soundtrack that elicits deft use of strings and pipes, before knocking things up a gear with rock style serenades that are busted out for Aragami’s boss encounters. Indeed, Aragami certainly bares a number of resemblances to that highly regarded title, embracing a similar feudal Japanese setting replete with slowly falling cherry blossoms, pagoda roofs and ceremonial dojos with which to slaughter folk within. Greatly elevated over the typically repetitive small talk that such grunts and goons usually perpetrate, the idle chatter in Aragami actually bears listening to as it frequently imparts key information about the setting, lore and overall plot.Īs alluded to already, one of the key inspirations that is keenly felt when playing Aragami are those pertaining to ninja stealth title Tenchu something that Spanish developer Lince Works makes no attempt to deny. Providing further texture to the narrative, is the incidental banter that you’ll occasionally eavesdrop from the various guards that you’ll encounter. Cast as the spectral Aragami, a spirit of vengeance who has been resurrected by the imprisoned princess Yamiko, the narrative flips the script by putting the player in the shadowy shoes of a protagonist belonging to the forces of darkness who must use their shadowy abilities to defeat the ‘Kaiho’ a legion of light-bearing warriors who have conquered the land and murdered all of the shadow folk who dwelled there previously.Ī surprisingly well-constructed plot, Aragami’s narrative unfurls across its thirteen or so chapters, taking in all manner of twists, turns and surprising swerves as the princess Yamiko frequently manifests herself to Aragami throughout the game in a fashion akin to some sort of twisted, supernatural buddy movie.
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