From Rap-Metal to godawful P.C. politics to the Clintons, there is a lot about the 1990s that should be forgotten. With the recent re-emergence of political correctness, Hillary Clinton’s being the human equivalent of herpes and refusing to go away, and the fetishization of ear grating Seattle Grunge rock, in many ways the 1990s are a decade that refuses to end. The 1990s, however, were a great decade for video games. Rapid and appreciable advances in home computing technology led to the very same in gaming. Graphics transitioned from the old 2D sprites to awkwardly blocky, but at the time impressive, 3D polygons. Animations got smoother and characters in games began to move in game in ways that they had previously only moved in pre-rendered cutscenes and advertising animations in T.V. commercials. 1998 witnessed the birth of the birth of the Stealth Action genre when, in the closing months of the year, the unsuspecting public was hit with the triple shot of Metal Gear Solid, Thief: The Dark Project, and Tenchu: Stealth Assassins.
While it was the first to market, and arguably paved the way for the genre’s success going forward, Tenchu has been a fairly poorly handled property. The fairly strong main series (Stealth Assassins, Birth of the Stealth Assassins, Wrath of Heaven) and one fun if somewhat repetitive Xbox360 spin-off (Tenchu Z) have been negatively coloured by a raft of ill-conceived, gimmicky, poorly designed, and barely playable handheld releases. This has, unfortunately, left Tenchu relegated to something of a cult status. Something fondly remembered by gamers in our mid to late 30s, and sometimes our younger siblings. Since they began printing neckbeard money with the success of the Souls series, From Software hasn’t had much time for the young ninjas of the Azuma clan. Enter Spanish developer Lince Works.
As a fan of the main Tenchu series since the late 90s, I was somewhat pleasantly surprised when I was shown the first Aragami game in 2016. It definitely wore its Tenchu influences on its sleeve, at least aesthetically. On the whole, I found that game to be enjoyable if somewhat lethargically paced and flat (in the sense that nearly everything takes place at ground level) for a game about a ninja doing ninja things. However, it was enjoyable enough that my interest was piqued for a sequel. Five years later that sequel has arrived.
Aragami 2 does so many things better than its predecessor that it almost feels like it should be the first entry in a new series. The shadow power mechanic from the previous game is regrettably gone, replaced instead with an all too modern and all to common stamina bar that depletes as the main character dashes about and uses his powers. I thought the shadow power contrivance was an interesting choice in the previous game and added another layer of challenge to the experience, and would have liked to have seen it return. However, I suppose it likely would feel lout of place with the new entry’s faster, more fluid movement. The most welcome addition to Aragami 2 is, without any doubt, the jump button. Enjoy the first game though I may, the absence of a jump button always struck me as one of the dumbest omissions from the game. The teleportation ability from the first game is replaced with a pair of abilities called “shadow dash” and “shadow leap.” Shadow dash is a sort of short distance teleport that turns you invisible just long enough to momentarily break an enemies line of sight. It comes in handy when you’ve been spotted and find yourself needing to escape. With shadow leap, a reticle highlights the nearest ledge you are facing and pressing the requisite button teleports the character to hang from the targeted ledge. It can be though of as the equivalent to Tenchu’s Batman-style grappling hook. These powers can, of course, be used on the fly and make traversing Aragami 2’s much more vertical levels far more enjoyable. Yet another welcome addition this time out is the inclusion of an active combat system. While the Stealth genre has, along with CRPGs, old school FPS games, and other gaming artifacts of the 1990s, been seeing something of a renaissance in recent years, far too many of these games either completely eschew direct combat (the first game in this series for one), or the developers attempt to replace it with some sort of timing-based defensive system (Styx: Master of Shadows). Combat in Aragami 2 involves depleting the enemy’s stamina bar in an effort to get him to drop his guard so you can trigger a killing blow. It’s novel in theory, but in practice it is (as of the time I played the game) somewhat clunky and stiff in execution. Because instant death upon discovery is out of the question in this game enemies now give chase when you are discovered. Hiding dead bodies is now a necessity. In addition to the basic arsenal of being able to kill from the shadows, kill from rooftops, kill from around corners, and kill from ledges, you do have access to a plethora of ninja tools such as the ubiquitous star shuriken and, every weeb’s favourite, the kunai. Smoke bombs, and poison darts of various kinds also come in handy in various situation. The magic abilities from the first game also return. Graphically, the team elected to once again keep it simple, but have foregone the comic book style cel shading of the first game in favour of a smooth, sort of cartoony look. Overall, it’s mostly pleasant to look at, but there were still the same sort of stuttering and frame drop issues that plagued the first game. In terms of gameplay, I found this entry to be much more enjoyable than its predecessor.
Where the game really stumbles, however, is on the level design front. There are a pretty good amount of missions in Aragami 2, but not nearly enough levels in which to set them. While the castles, cities, and villages look great and are laid out well, there just aren’t enough of them. Visiting the same handful of levels over and over again becomes simultaneously tedious and dull. You get sick of seeing them, and you get to know the layouts all too well, rendering the game a little too easy by the end. The first game in the series eventually got a level editor that enabled the creation of user-designed levels, it was a fun add on. Aragami 2 could definitely stand to benefit from such an addition. While I appreciate the addition of gear slots with socketable runes that each confer some type of bonus and a complementing penalty, I thought the execution could have been better. They just didn’t feel like they made much difference in terms of the actual gameplay.
All in all, I enjoyed Aragami 2. If last year’s Ghost of Tsushima was the Assassin’s Creed Japan that Ubisoft refuses to make, Aragami 2 is the Tenchu game From Software stubbornly won’t, or can’t make at this point. While I’m a little disappointed that I couldn’t throw down a handful of caltrops whilst retreating, or give my enemies a violent vomiting fit with a poisoned sushi ball, and that the main character is still allergic to water, all in all this was a step in the right direction for this series. I honestly think this game represents the formula they should follow going forward, just with more. More polish, more levels, more ninja toys, etc. If you’re disappointed that From Software’s 2019 outing Sekiro turned out to be less ninja and more souls, you may consider giving Aragami 2 a spin.
Score: 7/10