Nobunaga's Ambition: Awakening Reviews
So, to conclude! Nobunaga's Ambition: Awakening is not a casual game; it's a deep, sprawling grand strategy simulator that will appeal to players who love historical complexity, like me! It delivers on its promise of letting you become a Sengoku daimyo. Fans of series like Crusader Kings, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, or Europa Universalis (or even Shin Megami Tensei's Pokémon Conquest, on the simpler end) will find themselves at home.
Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening Complete Edition is nothing short of a textbook in strategic leadership in feudal Japan. It’s inaccessible, extremely challenging and painfully complex, but the player who can get through the first hour or two will have perhaps the most interesting and surprising launch title on the Nintendo Switch 2’s hands. Casual strategy fans would be advised to give this one a wide berth. But for the seasoned tactician, it’s a must-have, and our first taste of what strategy games we can expect to see thanks to the surprising new Nintendo Switch 2 feature: mouse controls.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Fans of grand strategy games will find a lot to love here. While It’s not as intuitive as Civilization by any means, the sheer depth of systems and aspects to growing your kingdom as you strive to unify Japan can be a welcome addition for lovers of grand strategy games. Nobunaga’s Ambition is a great edition to your Switch 2 library!
Nobunaga's Ambition: Awakening was released three years ago and was a hit for fans. The release of the Switch 2 has shown that older experiences are better on it. However, a new price tag and the inability to upgrade the Switch 1 version of the game will turn returning fans away.
Don’t expect this one to feature on family games night, but if you are a fan of deep and complex military strategy then this is arguably the most comprehensive Nobunaga’s Ambition to date.
For strategic minds, NOBUNAGA’S AMBITION: Awakening Complete Edition is a feature-rich epic filled with hundreds of hours of replayable content. Though complex, its learning tools and customizable systems make the climb worth it. It’s a celebration of historical depth and mechanical freedom, especially suited for handheld strategy fans seeking a challenging and rewarding experience.
Nobunaga's Ambition: Awakening is a fun, challenging strategy game, but it feels bloated at times, and playing on a controller is a hassle.
Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening is a great game from a lesser-known franchise in the West, but one that certainly deserves recognition from strategist enthusiasts. There are some problems executing commands in the console version and its learning barrier is a little more demanding, but those who persist for three or four games will be rewarded with an extremely complex game, full of different strategies to win and completely addictive. Its replayability potential is incredible with so many clan options to control and surely hundreds of hours can be enjoyed in it.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Nobunaga's Ambition: Awakening fulfills with excellence the mission of honoring the series' 40 birthday, presenting countless strategic possibilities within all its systems. For lovers of the genre, there's enough content here to enjoy for dozens, if not hundreds, of hours. As for the novices, it is necessary to be aware that many attempts may be necessary to master the mechanics; however, once understood, it will be difficult to stop playing.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
If it weren’t for some of its issues with a less than satisfactory tutorial and cumbersome UI, Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening would be an eyes-closed recommendation for just about every type of player looking for this sort of gaming to crunch away hours and hours. As it is, though, if you are the sort of player that can muscle your way past issues like the ones that this game suffers from, you will find that there’s a lot of entertaining content to sink your teeth into in this latest entry of this long-running and successful franchise.
I personally wouldn’t return to this game in the future, even if they do manage to bring over the Japanese audio so it doesn’t sound like a 70s martial arts dub. The amount of detail is intense, the campaigns are especially long, and the exceptional animated sequences are few and far between from simply staring at a small map and even smaller menus to do a multitude of tasks. This game is definitely for someone, and, if you’re even remotely interested in Japanese history, this is an incredible feat of a title. But it’s too big of an ask for too little of a reward.
Nobunaga's Ambition: Awakening is a well-rounded RTS game that brings players into the Sengoku period to lead clans into victory. The game's rewarding management system and compelling mechanics are very enjoyable, but the controller button layout and menus may feel obtuse to some players.
"Nobunaga's Ambition: Awakening" opens a portal to feudal Japan that strategy fans and history enthusiasts will want to dive into head first.