SAMURAI WARRIORS: Spirit of Sanada Reviews
By the end of Spirit of Sanada you'll have learned something, enjoyed the prettiest Warriors game to date, and seen just how far Koei Tecmo's been able to take this series, so that it's no longer purely an action game. With Spirit of Sanada, we see a future for the Warriors franchise where every battle and event is given context and purpose, and it's a far deeper and more rounded experience for that.
The best story that Samurai Warriors has had to offer, as well as the addition of new mechanics to improve the experience, Spirit of Sanada is a great way to close the chapter on the Samurai Warriors 4 era.
Samurai Warriors 4 was a great entry into the core vein of the series. Samurai Warriors 4-II took things a step further with some slight modifications to the experience both in terms of gameplay and narrative approach as it focused more on the people than the Dynasties that they fought for. Building further on the ideas presented in 4-II, Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada finds a balance of both while also improving upon the gameplay for possibly the best Samurai Warriors entry yet.
Omega Force‘s Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada mixes tried and true gameplay elements with a number of noticeable improvements and an excellent story, creating a title that may very well be the developers’ finest yet.
Ditching the series' ensemble cast in favour of a more personal family drama is one of the best decisions Koei Tecmo has made, and the key feature that elevates Spirit of Sanada to more than just a new entry in the Warriors franchise. The roster is still massive and everyone is playable during free mode, but the story locks down characters by the mission, personalizing the Sanada family over the course of roughly fifty years of Sengoku period history. Multi-stage battles emphasize just how war-torn the Sengoku era was, while offering a breath a fresh air to the traditional series stage format. The combat is as refined as ever and the focus on Masayuki and Yukimura makes for an incredibly intimate story. Spirit of Sanada is, plain and simple, one of best precedents Koei Tecmo has set.
Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada is an excellent game that expands on the Samurai Warriors formula by introducing interesting elements such as friendship building and exploration. It feels a bit more personal than previous Samurai Warriors releases, making it a must-play for fans of the franchise.
Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada brings plenty of welcome elements to the formula and makes me excited for what Omega Force holds for us in the future once it fine tunes everything introduced in this game. While it brings plenty of shiny new features, it feels smaller in scale compared to the last mainline entry. But those new little things do add up to a lot. Spirit of Sanada offers a fresh take on the Warriors experience that can be very welcoming to newcomers and veterans alike.
Although Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada is a spin-off of the mainline series of games, it shouldn't be seen as anything less than the best companion to Samurai Warriors 4. I enjoyed returning to the battlefield once more and learning all that I could about the Sanada clan while following their lives over the course of the game. The character driven plot was much appreciated as well as the graphical improvements made to the battlefields from previous games. I would definitely like to see more spin-offs of the series that focus on some of the other clans.
Spirit of Sanada is more than just a Samurai Warriors side story, bringing the series to new heights with its largest roster and longest battles to date. The new multi-stage battles will have players take a more tactical approach if they want to reap the rewards.
Spirit of Sanada breathes some new life into a series showing its age
For those who might be tired of the traditional Musou hack and slash format, Spirit of Sanada offers up enough changes to make the series feel fresh while retaining the traditional 1 vs. 1000 hack and slash gameplay that the series is known and loved for.
Mechanically speaking, Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada is very much yet another musou game from Omega Force. There's much more to the title than just that, though, as the new focus on just one family allows it to tell one of the most interesting stories from feudal Japan. It's an entertaining history lesson (although as expected it does take certain creative liberties) that also provides a thoughtful look at why war can't always boil down to good versus evil. Despite some dated graphics and gameplay that is sometimes too simple for its own good, Spirit of Sanada ends up rejuvenating a franchise that had been treading water.
Feudal fragmentation through eyes of one of the most important samurai. Gameplay is mainly focused on killing hordes of enemies, but there is also complex plot and many RPG elements. Not only for the fans of the genre.
Review in Polish | Read full review
After more than a decade and a half of these things, it would be understandable to grow sick of the formula over the countless iterations.
Any Samurai Warriors or Dynasty Warriors fan will get exactly what they are looking for in Spirit of Sanada. If you find the formula a bit stale, this might be enough of a change to get you back into the series. This title is a welcome addition to the Samurai Warriors series, and I'm looking forward to the next iteration.
For any Samurai Warriors veteran, Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada will feel like a pair of comfy old slippers – easy to slide into, and once you're in their warm embrace you won't want to part company with them until they've become a little too sweaty and overbearing.
Button-mashing is rarely this fun.
Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada has taken some fantastic elements of other games in the series and made a great little musou out of a really interesting part of Japanese history.
It has its flaws, but still proves to be a very enjoyable game that I had trouble putting down (as the sparse nature of this review can testify.) If you’re a fan of the series or picking up a Dynasty Warriors game for the first time, I highly recommend this.
Whilst Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada doesn’t really do enough to completely reinvigorate the series, the focus on providing a more story-driven experience along with the introduction of the hub town and smaller side-missions is certainly a step in the right direction. Musou titles are known for being pretty repetitive, but the implementation of these RPG style ideas ensured I had more of a personal investment in the game and kept me hooked in for longer. I didn’t see Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada as something I’d play for a bit of mindless fun, but instead as game that I actually wanted to see through to completion. Whilst I’m sure some of the changes won’t be for everyone, it made Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada a much more unique experience. Not only has it proven that Koei Tecmo have got plenty of neat ideas as far as innovating the musou genre goes, but it’s got me excited to see what they do with the ‘Warriors’ series next.