Nobunaga's Ambition: Awakening

Nobunaga's Ambition Awakening is a interesting way to live the Feudal Japan era, but the various and rich gameplay leaves room for a lot of confusion during the battles.

Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening is a worthy entry in the forty-year-old franchise. The unintuitive user interface and vague explanation of game mechanics give it a steeper learning curve than it should have, but once the player has invested a few hours into it, the journey to unify Japan can be a rewarding one. Because of this it’s difficult to recommend this title to someone new to Nobunaga’s Ambition or RTS games in general. Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening isn’t casual friendly, but like most endeavors can be a worthwhile game for those willing to invest the time.

Awakening still offers an adept adaption of Oda Nobunaga’s (or any other daimyō) attempt to unify Japan. But a push toward accessibility means that the strategy has been simplified, with your retainers doing the bulk of the work. If you’ve been waiting for an entry point for the property, this might be an opportunity worth seizing. The rest of us should stick with the game’s superior predecessor.