Chronicles of 2 Heroes: Amaterasu’s Wrath Review – Using the actual power of friendship

Chronicles of 2 Heroes: Amaterasu’s Wrath is set in the fantastical world of mythological Japan. Warriors Kensei and Ayame, along with their master, must travel to the imperial capital to defeat goddess Amaterasu and free the empress from her control. Along the way, you’ll battle Amaterasu’s yokai minions, discover new skills that shake up the gameplay, and learn more about our two heroes.

As a fan of Japanese mythology, I was immediately hooked when I say the words “Amaterasu’s Wrath” in the game’s title. The sun goddess is a major figure in the Shinto religion and is often depicted as a fierce, regal warrior ruler. Though not seen as malicious to any extent to my knowledge, the game takes a sort of God of War-style approach in putting her in the role of a tyrannical villain that must be stopped.

Stylistically, Amaterasu’s Wrath has everything fans of the feudal/mythological Japanese style are going to like. Kensei’s bright red armor cuts an amazing silhouette, and Ayame has an intimidating but poised look with a pleasant color palette. The backgrounds in this game look amazing, depicting lush Japanese jungles or far-off mountains nestled against the sunset, all in a beautiful 2D style that looks how you nostalgia remember your favorite Game Boy Color titles looking.

One part of the game’s presentation I wasn’t a fan of was the sound design. I’m not sure what you call those old, 16-bit game sounds — the very sharp, very computery score — but I’ve never really been a fan. I find the sounds to be a bit grating on my ears, and while the sound library for things like sword clashing worked really well, I wasn’t a fan of the music or a lot of the hit sounds the game uses.

Amaterasu’s Wrath also plays very much like the old-school games it pays homage to. While looking at the screenshots and seeing these two cool-looking samurai heroes and their intimidating foes might make you think this game is a sort of action-platformer-beat-em-up, you’d be mistaken. Amaterasu’s Wrath is almost exclusively a platforming game, where enemies don’t really serve a purpose beyond being obstacles to level navigation. Like old-school platforming games, the difficulty in the gameplay comes from how well you navigate the increasingly complex platforming mechanics and hazards as they are presented to you.

I’m actually a little bit disappointed by the lack of action in Amaterasu’s Wrath. This is partially because I’m really awful at platforming games, but also because the characters would make amazing action protagonists. The game is definitely not without its cool samurai movie moments, however.

The game’s primary mechanic is the ability to switch between Kensei and Ayame, who both function differently and have unique skills necessary to navigate the level that the other lacks. Both have a basic attack function that takes enemies down in two hits, with Ayame having a ranged Kunai throw and Kensei having a melee sword attack, and both can deflect arrows — one of those cool samurai movie moments I was talking about. The real difference between the two comes in their movement mechanics and is where the game’s complex platforming mechanics come from.

Ayame has the ability to jump, which Kensei lacks, and Kensei can dash. Variations on these abilities are unlocked later, such as Kensei getting the ability to dash-strike enemies and Ayame learning how to wall jump. This might sound simple at first, but the game will throw platforming puzzles at you that require a combination of the two’s abilities with an increasingly shorter amount of time between them.

Switching between Kensei and Ayame is instantaneous, and in the late game of Amaterasu’s Wrath you’ll need to hone your reflexes to quickly swap between the two and navigate platforming obstacles. Just getting the hand of the fake that Kensei couldn’t jump took me a while. By the time I needed to start switching between the two to move mere inches across the screen, I realized the skill cap this game was demanding from me.

PC players might be better off plugging their controllers in for this one. While the game is certainly playable on a keyboard and mouse, it was also clearly designed for a controller, and using one might make the experience a bit easier for players to navigate. Specifically, switching characters and then quickly executing movement commands might be a bit easier with a controller layout than it is on a keyboard.

If you ask me, Amaterasu’s Wrath is hard. While I still think it provides accessibility for players who might be newer to platforming games, you will definitely be repeating the same levels and puzzles over and over again as you fail jumps and die your foes. Platforming experts might find the game to be a sufficiently challenging test of their skills, as I imagine they are who this game was made for — but I’m way too far outside of their league to say for sure.

Regardless, this game is sure to be a hit with veterans of the platforming genre, who will surely be tested by this game’s strong use of its unique character-swapping mechanic. If you’re not looking for a difficult platforming experience, I still say you should give Amaterasu’s Wrath a chance, but do so understanding you’ll be in for a bit of a learning curve. If you;re not a big platforming fan however and you’re only interested in this game for its Japanese mythos aesthetic, you might be better off looking elsewhere.

Chronicles of 2 Heroes: Amaterasu’s Wrath was reviewed on the PC. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles in the Game Reviews section of our website! Chronicles of 2 Heroes: Amaterasu’s Wrath is available on Steam, Nintendo Switch and the Playstation Store.