The Spirit of the Samurai Review — Samurai Excellence

The Spirit of the Samurai has been the most welcome surprise to come across my desk all year, second only to Mouthwashing back in September. While I’m not an incredibly big fan of Metroidvania-type games, The Spirit of the Samurai stands out with its incredible themes, fun action gameplay, and, above all else, brilliant stop-motion animations. Fans of horror, samurai movies, and Metroidvania titles are in for a special treat with this brand-new indie gem.

In The Spirit of the Samurai, you follow the story of Takeshi, a skilled Japanese samurai whose village was destroyed by an Oni bent on conquering the land with an army of the undead. In the wake of tragedy, you’ll fight against waves of foes inspired by Japanese folklore, including tengu, vengeful spirits, and the dreaded Jorogumo, all presented in a delightfully gritty, stop-motion world.

In addition to Takeshi, you’ll also control Kodama, a brave forest spirit, and Chisai, a cat. Each character has distinct gameplay mechanics, ranging from a focus on fighting to intricate platforming. As the three, you’ll travel through a world steeped in Japanese mythology, exploring places like abandoned villages, shadowy mountain caves, and eerie graveyards. You’ll confront yokai, undead monsters, and demonic adversaries; all brought to life in a beautiful stop-motion style the developers describe as inspired by the work of Ray Harryhausen.

It’s no secret by this point that The Spirit of the Samurai is rendered fully in a 2D stop-motion animated style, using what I believe to be clay puppets to portray each and every character, from the dialogue-driven story sections to the intense action segments of the game. If somehow you haven’t caught on to that fact yet, I don’t know what to tell you.

The Spirit of the Samurai is hardly the first stop-motion game, and it’s also not the first of its kind I’ve reviewed this year, with Harold Halibut being another phenomenal piece of art I had the pleasure to play and review the day before my birthday. That’s not to diminish the art of The Spirit of the Samurai, which would undeniably be a phenomenally impressive undertaking even if a thousand stop-motion games were released this year. That being said, The Spirit of the Samurai is also instantly and noticeably different from Harold Halibut in every aspect, besides the incredible medium the developers chose to portray the game with.

For starters, The Spirit of the Samurai is an action-driven Metroidvania game, setting itself apart from the narrative-focused Harold Halibut with thoughtfully designed, challenging levels and the introduction of combat.

The combat system may not be the most innovative; it’s a simple directional-based button-mashing combo system you’ll see in many Metroidvania titles, mixed with a Dark Souls-lite level-up system that allows a small amount of diversity in your build. What really stands out about the combat, however, is the unique combo customization system, which allows you to unlock new moves and place them where you want in your directional combos. Essentially, in the spirit of stop-motion animation, you can think of each segment of your combo as a “frame” in the animation of your attack, and you can customize each “frame” to your liking.

Not only does this add some personalization to the combat, but fighting in The Spirit of the Samurai is also really satisfying. There are great hit effects when your sword slices an enemy and an overall samurai movie vibe that really draws you in.

Another way The Spirit of the Samurai stands out from Harold Halibut is with its tone. The Spirit of the Samurai is a decidedly unapologetically grim game with dark themes, intense action, and straight-up gore that is oh-so-satisfying to see, especially on stop-motion puppets.

What really surprised me the most about the game was the inclusion of The Spirit of the Samurai’s horror elements.

Tengu crow demons? Sure, cool. A ravenous Oni? Delightful. What I didn’t see coming, however, was the game’s use of straight-up gory undead and the incredible way in which it frames scenes with its monsters. Some of the cinematography in The Spirit of the Samurai feels straight out of Japanese horror classics, making for a game that appeals directly to horror enthusiasts. Even the aforementioned Tengu and Oni have incredibly horrific designs as if this game were inspired by something Sam Raimi might have created.

Of course, I have to praise the game’s stop motion again, which is both incredible when it’s on screen and what you miss the most when it’s not. That is to say, if it ever really goes away, which I can’t be sure it does.

Let me elaborate: Throughout The Spirit of the Samurai, your perspective will shift from clearly stop-motion-animated gameplay to what I think may be 3D animated cutscenes. The problem with that assumption is that I can’t tell if that’s the case. These cutscenes feature character models with incredible detail that move so impossibly smoothly and have such impeccable lighting that I can’t help but think they’re 3D animated, as opposed to the gameplay, which, while still looking incredible, you can definitely tell is stop motion. If these cutscenes aren’t 3D animated, then the stop motion is so good it stopped looking like stop motion to me. If that’s the case, then bravo for making me look like a fool with your incredible talent.

Try Hard Guides received a PC review code for this game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page! The Spirit of the Samurai is available on Steam and Epic Games.