Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada

 PlayStation 4
User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 23 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 23
  3. Negative: 5 out of 23
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  1. Nathan1423
    Jul 27, 2017
    6
    Man...I don't even know how to begin. I love the Warriors series. I've played maybe over 1000 hours in them. Including DW2, DW3, DW4, DW5, SW, SW2, SW4, SW4-2, SW4E, SWC3 and a few "Empires" and "Extreme Legends" mixed in there somewhere. Unfortunately this game is just not as good as the recent SW4 trinity, all of which are incredible and easily the standouts of the Warriors history,Man...I don't even know how to begin. I love the Warriors series. I've played maybe over 1000 hours in them. Including DW2, DW3, DW4, DW5, SW, SW2, SW4, SW4-2, SW4E, SWC3 and a few "Empires" and "Extreme Legends" mixed in there somewhere. Unfortunately this game is just not as good as the recent SW4 trinity, all of which are incredible and easily the standouts of the Warriors history, harkening back to the quality of the early games like DW3 and DW4. ---I feel like Spirit of Sanada took some big risks in presentation and maybe even game engine, which pay off in the long run with other games, but which leave this game looking like almost a science experiment or a lab rat. The Presentation is bad. I think on PC it must be good because I've seen good images from this game. I'm playing it on PS4 Pro on a 4k tv and it looks bad. So much pixel popping. Almost a frame rate jutter, or perhaps a locked frame rate that's too low. The exact opposite of smooth anything, especially between battles. Many fundamental assets like grass and structures are simply bad looking from a mix of asset resolution, lack of post processing maybe, and abundant aliasing problems. This looks like it would run fine on the Nintendo Switch, but the PS4 is worlds above that kind of thing. The other problem I had was the flow/fun factor. It's like they said "lets use only our existing assets and concepts and formats, and insert into that something to simulate another type of game, but without actually adding any of the gaming elements that those other games require." Another way to say that is there are simply roadblocks in your way from enjoying the fun gaming experience they created long ago and have endlessly refined. They convolute it with these "other game simulations" that don't actually innovate or change the actual game material. Imagine playing God of War but only with Crash Bandicoot and only with his move set. It's would be goofy and stupid. They would have to rework everything and give crash an all new move set, new animations, maybe new engine, maybe new...everything. Well this game is a lot like that only less goofy. I'm sure the story is actually pretty good but I couldn't keep playing long enough to enjoy it. Please avoid this game. Any of the Samurai Warriors 4 games are WAY better and FAR more deserving of your time and money.… Expand
  2. Xelion
    Feb 8, 2019
    7
    Good game that develops the Sanada clan story with more details and some new character aditions. You'll be using the same characters for almost the whole game, with a couple others on side scenarios.
    While the town part is nice, it still feels the lack of activities. Most are pretty dull and you'll just enjoy most of your time fighting.
    For some reason, performance is worse than SW4,    Good game that develops the Sanada clan story with more details and some new character aditions. You'll be using the same characters for almost the whole game, with a couple others on side scenarios.
    While the town part is nice, it still feels the lack of activities. Most are pretty dull and you'll just enjoy most of your time fighting.
    For some reason, performance is worse than SW4, SW4-II and SW4E on a base PS4, even though it seems to look the same. While it's not a bad game, it doesn't feel that it changes enough from the other three.    … Expand
  3. CanadianYeti
    Jul 17, 2017
    7
    As someone who likes Warriors games I found it to be a very enjoyable experience, albeit one I won’t exactly be lining up to play again any time soon.
  4. jrdnnn
    Jan 30, 2019
    8
    This may be biased given that I am a fan of Musou/Warriors games, but Spirit of Sanada is comfortably the best entry in the franchise for me, and I am trying to remove myself from my fan status to write this! It is set apart from other entries in the depth of its story and character development. I never expected to feel emotionally connected to this game, given that the others tend toThis may be biased given that I am a fan of Musou/Warriors games, but Spirit of Sanada is comfortably the best entry in the franchise for me, and I am trying to remove myself from my fan status to write this! It is set apart from other entries in the depth of its story and character development. I never expected to feel emotionally connected to this game, given that the others tend to introduce characters, let you play as them, and then move on. By focusing on the exploits of the likable Sanada clan, everything is seen from a different perspective. Each victory and defeat means so much more in this format, and the introduction of other characters makes sense.

    Gameplay-wise, there's nothing new in the combat system but the 1 vs. 1000 hack-and-slash system is refined to perfection, with the usual versatile light, power, hyper, special and musou attack combos. With 50+ characters to play as (divided into story-relevant and peripheral), each with unique styles, special moves and strengths, it has never been more fun to smash through hundreds of petty soldiers with ludicrous weapons. The tactical depth of gameplay is at an all-time high too with the introduction of the Stratagem/Feat system. By performing Feats in previous stages (e.g. taking out a specific enemy, capturing all bases, or allowing a specific ally to survive), you unlock extra Stratagems in the next stage. These turn the tide of the battles immensely by uncovering map information, weakening bosses or speeding up player movement. Add to this the necessity to play as two characters and strategically command your partner to accomplish tasks at opposite ends of the map, and I loved every single battle. AI is generally quite good when given instruction, but occasionally allies can die at other ends of the map, ending the mission, when up against seemingly fair opposition, so be careful.

    The story is reasonably historically accurate (albeit exaggerated and perhaps adapted to a Sanada focus). Most characters are true to their historic motivations and major events in Japanese Sengoku history are all here (the Battle of Sekigahara, the two Sieges of Osaka etc). I truly learned something playing this and I can say that despite the same setting, SoS tells the story SO much better than Nioh (this isn't saying anything about their relative gameplays, mind). Furthermore, once a character has been encountered in the story, they are unlocked to play in Free Mode - you can play any stage you want with any character you want from the base camp Libraries. You can even 'buy' non-story characters from the mid-game onwards with items acquired through gameplay. It's so satisfying to see every single character across all of the SW entries available for play!

    My main criticisms of the game would be the necessary uninteresting 'skirmishes' where you roam around non-battle environments completing monotonous tasks between missions, collecting upgrade materials. They absolutely stall the pace. I can see the purpose of these, but the endless trawling around castle maps followed by 4 end-to-end skirmishes took the shine off the 'exploration' focus. The upgrade system for weapons didn't feel very relevant either, and the loot/gold system felt a bit shallow. Adding extra EXP to officers was available but almost impossible to use. I perhaps upped 10 levels in total across ALL playable characters using this feature. It seems broken. Finally, the camera drove me crazy sometimes. When entering Rage state, the camera swirls and zooms to your character dramatically (cool effect) but often moves the camera wildly away from the action, leaving you exposed, I died a couple of times due to this which is massively frustrating.

    Overall, I hate to see the way Warriors games are shunned when the amount of love and attention shown by Koei to Spirit of Sanada is evident at every turn. The greatest stress relieving game of all time, which I encourage other to pick up, learn some history, experience the most OTT samurai costumes ever, and destroy legions of puny enemies. What a blast!    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
74

Mixed or average reviews - based on 31 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 31
  3. Negative: 0 out of 31
  1. Worth Playing
    Jul 26, 2017
    75
    Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada works best as a companion piece to the main game that released a few years ago. The focus on one family of fighters is perfect, since it gives the team time to develop a real story instead of using a larger cast for broader tales. The core action remains just as good as before, but the new minigames and exploration sections fail to elicit the same type of excitement, especially with some of the caveats in play for the secondary characters you pick up along the way. For fans of the series looking for more story, Spirit of Sanada works, but only if you play it after an entry in the main series.
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  2. Everyeye.it
    Jul 24, 2017
    75
    It is a game that will appeal to lovers of the genre and offers a deeper look than usual on the protagonists of the epic of feudal Japan.
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  3. Gaming Nexus
    Jul 13, 2017
    80
    For those who might be tired of the traditional Musou hack and slash format, Spirit of Sanada offers up enough changes to make the series feel fresh while retaining the traditional 1 vs. 1000 hack and slash gameplay that the series is known and loved for.
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