As next-gen titles are on the rise, so comes the eventual fighting game. Samurai Shodown was the first to catch my attention and I knew I had to try it out for myself if given the chance. Unfortunately, the final product is a bland and vanilla fighter that lacks any of the fun that other games in the genre are portraying. The next-gen upgrade itself isn’t really all that great either.

Gameplay

As far as gameplay goes, the combat is pretty solid. The attacks need to be well-timed and watching your opponents’ moves is what you need to do in order to get the upper-hand in battle. Each character is granted a single-use super special move during the fight which can cause a lot of damage to your enemy but if used incorrectly, it can also open you up to being attacked yourself. Everything you’ll do has a risk and a reward depending on how you execute it.

I appreciate how this game differs from others in the genre with its combat strategy by integrating weapons. Deflecting can obviously help in the fact that you won’t be hit but it can also knock your enemy’s weapons from their hands and vice-versa. It adds another layer to the gameplay and offers something new. Not every battle plays out the same, which really makes the need to study your opponent important.

Even with the cool ideas that Samurai Shodown delivers though, nothing really ever seems to stick. I really wasn’t too excited about getting to the next battle because it’s all pretty bland. It’s hard not to compare it to the leading games in the genre even if it has its own things going for it. It just seems lacking as it is.

There are a plethora of game modes to indulge in such as campaign, online, dojo, and so on. The campaign is my favorite piece of the game as it moves through opponents briskly and choosing a different character to play as starts you in a different location. It’s pretty cool to see how each of the many playable characters fight as it gave me ideas to switch up how I fought. I didn’t really seem to find that any were more overpowered than another which made me feel that the devs really knew how to balance their combat system correctly.

One of my biggest disappointments with the game is the lack of an online community. I would’ve loved to fight against other players online but unfortunately, there is none. The player base has completely abandoned this game leaving the only way to fight other players online is through their “ghosts” in dojo mode. It’s completely hollow and doesn’t at all feel like playing against real players.

Visuals

Visuals for me are another mixed-bag. While I appreciate the cartoony art style, it can look outdated many times. The game also loses frames like crazy on the Xbox Series S which is what I played it on. It’s supposed to run at 120 frames per second but would normally stay around 60 and at times jump up to 120 only to fall back immediately. There’s almost no reason for this to be touted as a next-gen upgrade at least if you’re on the S.

Audio

There’s a decent soundscape presented with punchy arcade-like execution. The characters speak Japanese and really make it feel grounded in the culture that it’s presenting.

Replayability

For die-hard fans of the series, this may be for you but I really don’t see this having much replayability for newcomers. It’s a pretty watered-down fighter compared to others and its player base has fully dissolved. There are a couple of other modes besides online of course but anything other than campaign just isn’t that fun.

What It Could Have Done Better

First off, I think more attention to its players would have helped to sustain more online gameplay. It’s become a big part of why gamers enjoy playing fighting games these days and it’s a bummer that this new update comes at a time when nobody is playing anymore. I would’ve also liked to see this next-gen upgrade to have been more evident in its appearance, at least on Series S. Lastly, the gameplay as a whole just didn’t grab me. I never really felt fully engaged with it and the combat itself while tight just felt ho-hum.

Verdict

Samurai Shodown is a game that came out in 2019 and probably should’ve stayed there. This next-gen version doesn’t hit the mark with the FPS constantly chugging. It also feels frail in gameplay when compared to the fighting games it’s up against. With a dead online community and not much to do, I’d just avoid this one.