New Games 919

You can reshape the story

If you’ve delved into either of the first two Way of the Samurai games, then you already know that their main selling point isn’t the fighting, the graphics or even the customization. It’s that the games thrust you into a clockwork, Kurosawa-esque plot, which you can influence and dramatically alter, depending on your actions. The story is always fairly short, but that’s made up for by the fact that you can play through it repeatedly and experience a different outcome – and a completely different side of the story – every time.

Way of the Samurai 3 is no exception, casting players as a nameless samurai who’s one of the few survivors from the losing side of a gruesome battle. Over the course of the next few in-game days, you’re introduced to three factions, which you’re free to join, ignore or antagonize. Their story will develop with or without you; you’re there to change its events as you see fit. Think of it as like the movie Groundhog Day, but with swords.

The Fujimori Clan (the bad good guys) are the de facto rulers of the rural province of Amana, and although they represent law and order, they’re seen as usurpers and are also the ones who wiped out all your comrades. Then there’s the Ouka Clan (the good bad guys), a self-styled resistance movement who pay lip service to the people of Amana, but who’ve been taken over by thugs out to rob and live like outlaws. Finally, there are the townspeople of Amana, who kind of hate you – but only because they see samurai as the instruments of their oppression.

What happens next is up to you; you can join up with a faction and adopt their goals as your own, or subvert them from within. You can join both the Fujimori and the Ouka and play them off against each other for the benefit of the townspeople, Yojimbo style. Or you can just relentlessly attack and kill everyone you meet, which probably won’t get you very far.

However you decide to play, there are more than 15 endings to discover – and with Achievements and Trophies to be earned as you unlock them all, just seeing what happens isn’t your only incentive.