Muramasa Rebirth (PS Vita)


Muramasa Rebirth takes place during the Edo period in Japan and follows two separate stories. One is the story of Momohime, who has her body snatched by a vengeful rōnin. The other story follows Kisuke, an amnesiac hero. Central to the plot are "Demon Blades", Samurai blades that lust for blood and force their wielders to go on killing sprees before driving them insane.



You can play through both stories simultaneously or in whatever order you choose. When starting up the game, you get to choose difficulty and story, so you can rotate between the two stories if you wish, or play one after the other, or whatever order you prefer. There are two difficulty settings, and completing the game on the harder setting will unlock an even harder difficulty (not that I would know firsthand).



In this game, you'll control your protagonist through different maps, fighting off enemies like Samurai, Ninjas, demons, and the occasional evil pheasant. Exclamation marks will appear when a battle initiates. Pressing Square will attack, X will jump, Start will open the menu. In battle, you can also guard by holding the Square, and deflect projectiles by pressing Square at the right moment. You can also use the arrows in conjunction with Square for additional attacks, and holding and then releasing Square will allow you to use another attack that is effective for breaking Samurai blades. Pressing O will unleash special blade skills. Pressing the down arrow will use an item.



As you deflect, guard, and use your blade skills, their "HP" will deplete until they "break". When your blade is broken, you're much more susceptible to damage. Pressing Triangle will switch to another blade. You can have up to three blade equipped at a time, along with one accessory. Different blades play slightly differently and have different skills. As your other blades are sheathed, they will restore themselves slowly to be used again. Collecting souls by defeating enemies, or finding them in the environments when outside of battle, will also help to restore them.



Outside of battle, you can also cook items to be used for healing in battle and out. There's a fullness gauge and more food cannot be consumed until the bar has depleted. There are also items you can buy that do additional things. You can also buy maps and recipes from vendors, eat at restaurants to restore health, and rest at hot springs. There are also challenge caves with a recommended level to tackle if you choose. You can also forge blades using souls and other points you gain from using restorative items. These are on a "tree" like system, so the stronger ones cannot be forged until you have enough points, have forged the blades before them, and sometimes have unlocked story event blades. You'll be given a large map, as well as smaller maps, and the game will always point you in the right direction to progress the story. Treasures will also be indicated on the map, and barriers will be up that cannot be crossed until certain bosses are defeated.



Overall I did really like this game, more than I expected to. As you can tell from the write up, it's a very gameplay heavy game, and the story is more of a background. Speaking of backgrounds, this game is absolutely gorgeous. Some areas are repetitive, but you probably won't even care because almost every scene is a work of art. The game itself is a bit slow and repetitive, but picking it up to play for a half and hour to an hour at a time is both engaging and relaxing. It's also not incredibly long, especially if you only do one story. So if you're looking for a beautiful, gameplay focused experience to pick up and play in short bursts, this game is definitely worth it. It manages to be simple and complex in pretty much every aspect, and I very much enjoyed my time with it.

Verdict:
LIKED IT A LOT