I love me a turn-based game, having cut my teeth on UFO: Enemy Unknown (aka XCOM) on PC and the likes of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance on GBA. That last one is still resident in my GBA SP, as it happens. Though I should probably get an IPS screen conversion as that display has aged like vinegar.
So, when I had the opportunity to review Arashi Gaiden from Statera Studio, I figured it’d be right in my ballpark. Wired Dreams and Nuntius Games are also involved. It can be difficult to know who the actual developers are and who the publisher is nowadays, as splash screens at the start of games are getting movie opening credits. Though in this case Nuntius is a Brazilian publisher, Statera are a Brazilian developer and Wired Dream are the developer of the original game that inspired Arashi Gaiden, being Red Ronin, so I guess that’s why they got a credit. That’s structurally very similar in terms of it also being described as a dash ‘n slash game.
Mechanically I was reminded of a Sokoban style game, but instead of pushing boxes around, you’re killing various mobs of differing strength in multiple biomes. Your movement is limited to vertical and horizontal only to begin with. Thankfully the enemies you’ll face are similarly restricted with regards movement.
It’s also a little like the Ratalaika published Warlock’s Tower from a few years ago, only without the limited moves aspect. Enemies only move after you’ve done so, though they can only move a single block at a time whereas you’re not restricted in that regard. Though you need to be careful to make sure your move doesn’t end so an enemy is in range to attack you.
Sometimes it makes sense to take the hit, but in a neat touch, as you move around afterwards, you’ll leave blood trails. It’s authentic put it that way, I speak from recent experience of a run-in with some feral urban youths, literally spitting blood isn’t a fun thing. Buit in this context, it is.
You can pick up occasional hearts to replenish your health, but these are few and far between and generally only appear when you kill an enemy. Talking of the enemies, some are easy one hit kills and the others tend to have more health, in particular the hulking types who hit hard. They can be dispatched with a little more care.
But they’re not as troublesome as the invulnerable flame enemies who show up later. They can’t be killed and they relentlessly advance. So as a result, a freewheeling approach isn’t massively practical in that regard, especially when combined with the environmental hazards you’ll face.
You’ll unlock four different abilities as you progress that will prove essential to getting past levels, though you’re reliant on mana to stop you spamming the same abilities excessively. This can sometimes make for tough sledding when you’ve enemies closing in from multiple directions, but despite being on the ropes a few times, I generally prevailed.
The presentation is generally very well done – this is something that would have really ‘popped’ on the PS Vita (RIP.) The pixel art lends itself well to the presentation, including a decent anime-style music video on the attract screen. The UI is functional and shows health, mana and up to four abilities. The latter handily shows how much mana is needed for an ability, though mana is often hard to come by on some levels.
What did strike me with Arashi Gaiden was that the concept itself is pretty shallow and as a result, wasn’t hugely engaging. It’s OK but didn’t particularly lend itself to extended sessions. Given this led on Switch, we’re not entirely surprised it’s more of a dip in and out sort of game. The turn-based aspect is fun enough, even if there’s occasional mobs like the shuriken throwing ninjas who attack on a timer rather than by turn. It’s not very sporting anyway.
In conclusion, Arashi Gaiden is a fair arcade puzzler with a nice line in stylised ninja violence, but it suffers from not being particularly deep. The double dip with PS4 & PS5 is good value at least, so even if you tear through it in an afternoon, you can go again right away if you so wish.
Arashi Gaiden is out now from Statera, Nuntius and Wired Dream on all current formats.