If aesthetics were everything, then The Spirit of the Samurai would have it all. This 3D, side-scrolling action game has a look all of its own. Its gloomy, accursed vision of feudal Japan is lovingly rendered, with a deep ominous atmosphere. Its characters are animated in a stop-motion style, which gives the game a distinctive, off-kilter appearance. Unfortunately for developers Digital Mind Games, aesthetics are not everything – and The Spirit of the Samurai is badly lacking in other areas.
This is a quite strictly linear, single-player experience. The player takes on the role of Takeshi, a samurai entrusted with the protection of a small town. One night, the local watchman sees a threat approaching – and shortly afterwards, the area is beset by otherworldly, demonic oni, the demons of Japanese folklore. Takeshi takes up his blades and bow, and enters the fray.
The Spirit of the Samurai opens in an unpromising way. In their bid to begin bisecting demons, the player is frequently stymied by an onslaught of cutscenes and rather crude tutorials. The cutscenes are a mix of in-engine and pre-rendered sequences, but both are awkward in different ways. It doesn’t help that the basic premise is so generic. Rampaging demons in feudal Japan has been done many times now, and often with a spark of unique invention that Digital Mind have struggled to conjure up for themselves.

Generic it may be, but demon-infested feudal Japan is suitably ominous
While rendered largely in 3D, Takeshi’s world is every bit as flat as the stomping grounds of the Mario brothers or Jazz Jackrabbit. The level design frequently impedes the samurai’s progress with the convoluted verticality of apparently purposeless structures, sometimes augmented with frustrating traps. It never seems clear whether or not Takeshi can reach particular platforms, which makes potentially simple progression become annoyingly opaque at times. The same is true for certain vertical elements of level design, because it often isn’t clear if they are passable until Takeshi smacks into them. So much for the grace of the samurai.
Combat has its own frustrations. The enemies, be they reanimated undead samurai or various oni horrors, are mostly excessively tanky which makes fights feel laborious and slow. All of Takeshi’s attacks cause him to move forwards, and characters can pass through each other. This lends combat an aspect of farce, as Takeshi phases through his foe and completes his combo by slashing at thin air. Again, this does not contribute to any sense of being a master swordsman.
Takeshi’s various directional attack combos are customisable, which had the potential to be interesting. Unfortunately, Digital Mind’s sloppy UI almost fatally undermines this. In the combo customisation view, all of Takeshi’s attacks are represented not by a clear, functional icon but by an animated silhouette of the strike being performed. In practice, this makes all of the attacks extremely difficult to tell apart, and makes combo development into a tiresome chore.

Traversing these burning structures can be frustrating, when it isn’t clear which scenery can be passed
Worse, the difference between attacks is seldom apparent in gameplay. Takeshi has a number of possible tactics, which include not only his standard strikes but also multiple types of arrow, and throwable blades. In practice, one strategy usually trumps all others – simply dodge-rolling behind an enemy, turning, and then striking them from behind. This is almost consistently effective, but rapidly becomes monotonous and undermines much of the combat system. Even so, encountering tougher enemies – especially for the first time – tends to result in instant death. Because the checkpoints are often widely spaced, this results in an irritating loss of progress.
Strange design decisions like these abound in The Spirit of the Samurai. Takeshi is constantly filling his pockets with trivial items like nuts and incense, which only occasionally come into play through the obtuse levelling system.
Despite its generic premise, The Spirit of the Samurai had potential. Its old-fashioned perspective and thoughtfully constructed aesthetic may still win over some players. But the frustrating combat is ultimately the core of the game, a game which seldom makes sense or threatens to rise above its muddled conception. This is probably not the samurai experience you are looking for.