Yasha: Legends of The Demon Blade – A Review

Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade was a game that couldn’t really hook me during the previews. I had attempted to start a previous demo at one point, making it past the tutorial with all three characters before kinda fading out. I didn’t hate the experience, honestly, the loop brought me back to a previous time in my life, playing Japanese games at work instead of, you know, actually doing work. Finally being able to commit to it this time around, though, I found I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would, despite the limitations the game places on itself. While not specifically a ‘roguelike’, there are some elements of the genre on display, with it being more of a hack’n’slash rather than anything else. In both regards, there are better experiences out there that you could have. This being said, the game has enough charm to make up for these shortcomings, which I found myself being drawn to.

In Yasha, there are 3 relatively short stories you can play through involving three characters: Shigure, Sara, and Taketora. One is a ninja using a katana as their primary weapon, another is an Oni emissary who uses dual blades, and a demon samurai equipped with a bow. These combat styles feel pretty unique to play as and offer some replayability between each story. This is good because, despite each character having unique story beats as they go through a story isolated to them, the actual goal of each narrative is the same: progress through small levels, defeating bosses along the way, till you reach the Nine-Tailed Fox and hopefully slay him. Each run is repeated, so the game could take a while to beat, though in the case of Sara, it was relatively easy (love me my dual blades). Unfortunately, each character requires their own save, which is a bummer, especially cause there is what appears to be a universal leveling set and a character-specific one, with the universal one just representing a tree all characters have.

Stages, for the most part, remain the same each run that hits a pretty painful wall with repetition, and they are short, only consisting of a small area inspired by the feudal Japan setting, with only one or two areas before you face off against a boss. There is some change to this later on, as some areas begin to get switched out with a minor amount of replacements, but that will involve a commitment already on your part to reach that point in the experience. When you die, you return to a hub area where you can improve your character’s level, which never felt useless and consistently made the next run easier and made me feel more powerful. You also spawn in a town with very little to actually do in it, besides by weapons. Weapons can drastically change how your character plays, such as a heavy-hitting blade with an origami crane gauge or one that summons a ring of fire, both of which these for Shigure. That said, though, combos and the type of weapon remain the same, so runs don’t diversify with ranging attacks or weapons like Hades or Dead Cells.

Where runs do change themselves is that each room rewards a player with an orb that gives them a power-up ability for their weapon. They can bring two weapons into a run and then upgrade both with three abilities. For instance, those weapons mentioned above became one of my favorite combos, which is an ability for the latter one to summon the damage ring of fire even when that blade was not equipped. This allowed me to start out some fast-paced combos with that blade, switch to my heavier hitting blade, but still add in an AOE attack. Each character has a myriad of weapons to unlock and combine with each other to allow you to find what you’re looking for, even while the combat itself remains unchanging. After boss fights, you find your way into additional hub areas where you can heal, buy abilities with currency if the one you want isn’t dropping, or get stat buffs through ramen. That last option forms a fun collectible task you complete as you play, finding ingredients that can be used for more ramen options. There are also blessings and curses you can unlock, one offering a straight positive buff, while the other offering a trade-off.

Combat itself is a high point for the game, which helps make up for some of the repetition you experience. For the most part, it is fast-paced as you quickly move around the stage trying to clear out enemies. On top of a light attack and a special, you have a counter that can be a little annoying to get used to. You can press or hold it for varying effects, but the player needs to manually follow up but hitting the same button (when you might feel you want to ‘attack’, which is what it is). The counter can also be occasionally poor at triggering its response, too, adding to the annoyance of it. This is the biggest twist to combat offered, and you will get the hang of it. I just never truly liked the bit. Boss fights cap off each area and serve as the barrier for the next piece of your character’s narrative, proving to be a high point to the experience. They require quick reflexes and a mastery of your abilities to get and exploit them. Early on, you fight an Octopus (all of these animal bosses are some type of master samurai or ninja) that requires clearing two tentacles to open it to attack, all the while dodging water being dropped, waves that crash in, and tentacle slaps. It’s interesting because I have fought this type of boss before; this isn’t really unique, but it’s hard to care when they did it so well.

Anybody who knows me knows that I love Japanese culture, which made the game possibly more engaging to me. Starting out and battling across the shore was great, then along a mountain path with torii gates. It offers a great slice of the Edo period countryside in which the game is set, and it is all gorgeous to look at. Enemies also draw from Japanese mythology and are fun to fight against as you end up dealing with wave after wave. Accompanying this is classic style Koto music that can be both grand and somber, but keeping in theme and engrossing you into the world itself. It’s a shame when you come out on the other end, it feels so minimally done, becoming slightly draining on you, 20th run, seeing the same levels exactly as they were, reappearing once again.

Verdict

Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade has a lot of fun to offer if you’re looking for a take on a roguelike or hack’n’slash game. The three characters are all unique and fun to play as, despite needing their own saves. The combat is fast-paced with enjoyable, with a diverse weapons list to switch up gameplay, even if you can expect each character to control the same throughout each run. The biggest issues the game faces are its repetition and short length, but it’s more than worthy of the blade it weilds.

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