First Cut: Samurai Duel — The First Cut Is Also the Last

Video games rarely capture the quick, deadly nature of real combat. Most games tend to give players and enemies alike generous health bars that can take several or more hits from even the most powerful of weapons to make combat a more prolonged, exciting, and fair experience where you have plenty of time to react and plan your next move, or execute flashy combos. In reality, many sword fights end in a single, dramatic, and bloody blow, which is what First Cut: Samurai Duel aims to replicate.

As the title suggests, First Cut: Samurai Duel is a game depicting brutal, fast-paced samurai duels where your first cut is also your last. Although blocking, parrying, and dodging are possible, one successful strike results in death, vividly portrayed through gory and stunning pixel art.

The first thing you’ll notice is the game’s character creator, which allows you to mix and match various samurai-themed apparel and hair options. You can then color each individual piece as you see fit, allowing for an utterly unique character that’s ready to be shown off in multiplayer if only the game would allow it, but I’ll touch on that more later.

The mechanics are simple. You move towards your opponents with WASD, aim your sword’s direction with your mouse, and swing with a click, holding to create a more powerful slash. If your sword points the same way as your opponent’s, any slashing will be blocked. Executing an attack from an unblocked area lands the blow and instantly downs whoever is hit. You can dash, shove, and change your direction as well.

As simple as these mechanics are, the game doesn’t seem to present a tutorial, at least not one I could find. This became a problem once I started facing multiple enemies, as I couldn’t face the foes coming at me from the left side of the screen until, through trial and error, I figured out how to face the other direction.

The game offers various modes, with ‘duel’ and ‘endless’ being the most notable. Duel sees you going up against the computer in several one-on-one matches, with the first to three wins being the victor. Endless, however, is a much more exciting experience, in my opinion, seeing you face against, as the name implies, an endless horde of samurai coming at you from both sides of the screen. This mode tests your skills as you cut down foe after foe, seeing how many you can kill before you are claimed.

Regardless of your game mode, each battle occurs on a different backdrop. The shocking variety of scenes in First Cut: Samurai Duel is downright impressive. While each stage you fight on is mechanically identical, with no obstacles or special rules to change a fight, they’re all visually unique and impressive. From flame-ridden dojos to fields of grass blown by the wind to pitch-black night scenes, dramatic changes in lighting and scenery make each battle visually unique and absolutely stunning. Just as impressive is how blood splatters across the blades of grass, sewer walls, and scenery, seemingly totally unique to the level you’re playing on.

If you find things a bit too gory, you can instead opt to use a wooden sword, which comes with its own entirely unique set of non-lethal finishing animations. Enemies will sometimes bring this weapon out themselves, which is how I first was able to see the care that went into the many death or defeat animations the game presented. From dramatic finishes with bright crimson splashes of blood or an embarrassing collapse as you take a wooden stick to the throat, the game presents each defeat as a highly cinematic and exciting experience.

The game’s music and sound design excel, effectively creating the atmosphere of a samurai duel in feudal Japan.

The tense, fast-paced battles of First Cut: Samurai Duel may not be for everyone. As I mentioned, this is a far cry from games like Skyrim, where combat has the same pace as hitting your opponent with a padded wiffle ball bat until one of you tires out. It can even be said to be faster-paced than Dark Souls, as the notoriously difficult game still provides players with a health bar. In First Cut: Samurai Duel, your first strike is your last, and without the proper reflexes and timing, you will find yourself falling before your CPU opponents time and time again.

For a game relying on skill-based, intense battles, you would think the game would be ripe grounds for multiplayer matchmaking. Unfortunately, at the moment, it seems that First Cut: Samurai Duel is a totally single-player experience. This has to be the biggest downside to the game, and surely a disappointment for fans who find themselves endeared by the intense samurai battles it offers. Hopefully, we’ll see this change in a future update because it seems almost obvious that this feature should be included.

This can somewhat be subverted through the game’s local multiplayer, which can also be used through Steam’s remote play feature. Yet, a dedicated online matchmaking service could greatly turn First Cut: Samurai Duel into the great game it truly has the potential to be.

First Cut: Samurai Duel was reviewed on the PC. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles in the Game Reviews section of our website! First Cut: Samurai Duel is available on Steam.