Original Release: Mosabox, 2015, PC
A swordy platformer with some Metroidvania and Mega Man elements, and an unusual level of sprite work and gameplay polish
Samurai Sacrament (PC, Mosabox, 2015)
Where to Buy: DLSite
Review by: Master-B
If you speak Japanese you may want to look up a review of Samurai Sacrament in that language, it’ll almost certainly do it more justice. I do want to point the way to it as it appears to be a quality piece of work, but it doesn’t have an English version and enough is lost in translation that it really hampers the playability.
It’s doing a whole cyberpunky swordy thing with a random schoolgirl heroine, sort of a vibe of Valis and Metal Gear mashed together, but with gameplay that much more resembles the style and move set of Castlevania: SotN and its assorted follow-ups. But instead of a sprawling Metroidvania world, you advance through self-contained level segments that each have their own little secrets and optional stuff squirreled away.
It does have a little bit of stuff around the edges in English, but you’ll have to guess at the story (there’s a lot of dialogue) if you don’t speak Japanese. A bigger issue is that you miss out on the descriptions of the new moves you pick up as well as items and other little details, which are tough to figure out just from experimentation. The game ran me off pretty early with a segment where you apparently need to use a wall jump that you find to make it up a shaft, but as to how to actually do it I could not figure out.
Shame as it has great sprite work, good sound, solid gameplay overall … though our heroine handles like a young Sonic the Hedgehog and is not the most pleasant thing to control, a little too much momentum to her movement for the sometimes fiddly platform-jumping and a LOT too much on her jumps, also you can enter a dash by double-tapping which will happen accidentally with the keyboard (seemingly no native gamepad support either, or at least mine wouldn’t work).
As to the H content it’s the usual thing for these platformers, lose your health or get stunned from a long fall or status effect and the munsters will quickly get down to business with your heroine and you gotta shake shake em off. Each monster also gets their own little static gallery screen if they have the honor of ending your game. Honestly it’s the least impressive or interesting part of the whole thing and the game probably could have got some real traction if it wasn’t committed to the porn. The developer seems to have since disappeared so maybe they came to the same conclusion, either way it would appear an English translation or any further developments are out of reach unless some crazy fan goes for it.
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