Developed and published by Wako Factory and Hound Picked Games, Samurai Riot is a 2D arcade side-scrolling beat ‘em up with a heavy focus on choices. Samurai Riot was originally released back in 2017 however the developers along with Hound Picked Games are now releasing the Samurai Riot Definitive Edition for PC and Nintendo Switch which brings tons of new features and improvements to the original title. This is our review of Samurai Riot Definitive Edition in which we chop down some mini-bosses and defy the very principles of being a Samurai.
Samurai Riot gives you the option of choosing one fighter from two. These include Sukane and Tsurumara who are both samurai however both of them are trained from two different schools, so their strengths and weaknesses are different. Both of them differ in four key attributes including health, strength, agility, and Fury. However, apart from their default schools, you have the option of choosing a different school which alters their stats depending on the school. Both of them are all-rounder fighters in their default schools but some of the schools are specialized in certain aspects so you will find certain attributes higher in one school and lower in another school. Each one offers a unique gameplay experience so you can try them all out in order to find the best one for your gameplay.
One thing that sets Samurai Riot apart from other beat ‘em ups is that this game is heavily dependent on your choices when it comes to storytelling. The culture of Samurai revolves around honor and the very first choice that the game offered me was to abandon my honor and my title of Samurai and defend the local people by joining the resistance but if I stay true to the Samurai cause, innocent people will die. This was my very first choice in the game but naturally, I instantly went against my master and left the ways of the Samurai to join the resistance however the later choices of the game were pretty much drastic like this one as well. The choices really make you stop and think for a second. These are not just basic choices like do you want to increase your health or fury. These are actual story-changing choices.
Having said that, Samurai Riot is a beat ‘em up and a quite good one at that too. The overall theme of the game is obviously samurai, swords, and honor however the game gives you plenty of options to beat your enemies up without using your honor or swords. You have punches and kicks that will make your enemies see the stars in broad daylight. You can jump and roll as well and if you get attacked, you can press jump to land on your feet like a pretty badass ninja as well. There is no tutorial in the game, and you have to figure out the controls on your own however with a small set of controls, you can quickly get on your feet and start beating down your enemies. The normal enemies range from normal bruisers equipped with lancers, swords, and other weapons used in that particular era to snipers. There is a balance between both male and female enemies.
The boss battles in Samurai Riot are really cool and some of the bosses become normal enemies in later stages as well. While the game is certainly really hard, some of the bosses can be a pain even on lower difficulties as well. These tougher enemies pack a real punch, and they can ruin your day fairly quickly. These mini-bosses or even stage-end bosses are designed really well, and I like the fact that the levels in Samurai Riot are not really just focused on Japanese Samurai-themed levels. Some of the levels and enemies in them are different and even supernatural as well which is a good factor to keep things interesting. However, apart from bosses and mini-bosses, the enemies that you fight normally are not that diverse. Most of them are just re-skins of each other with different attacks and some enemies only have a single attack and they just keep spamming them.
This sometimes starts to feel repetitive and also ruins the overall gameplay experience. This is more of an issue in the initial levels rather than later levels of the game where there is a decent variety of enemies but most of the time, you are just fighting reskins of the same enemy type. The combat on the hand feels satisfying and Samurai Riot has nailed this bit. While there are not a lot of moves for both characters, you can still land a decent number of combos with their limited moveset. You have normal attacks, combo attacks, and advanced attacks. Some attacks are dependent on your Fury meter while Sukane can use her pet fox in various attacks as well which comes with its own unique cooldown timer. You have land attacks, air attacks, combos, power-up attacks, and much more. Limited health and limited lives force you to play strategically rather than just blindly mashing the attack buttons which is of no use here.
Attacks feel meaty, especially when you land combo attacks. The enemies come in waves and sometimes they will completely overwhelm you but during these moments, you can really unleash your moveset and bring the pain to your enemies. Thanks to the Definitive Edition upgrade, the combo animations are now much faster, and you can land them much more easily due to fluid gameplay. With that said, Samurai Riot is still a challenging game, so you have to time your attacks, dodges, and jumps right in order to land combos and avoid incoming damage at the same time. For example, if you want to land a charged punch, it will take some time so you must time it right however once you land it, it can hit multiple enemies and also deal increased damage to your enemies. However, while it charges, you are open to incoming attacks since you cannot didge or move while charging it so you need to think ahead before you attack.
Another great aspect of Samurai Riot is that the game offers co-op gameplay however I was only able to choose this while starting a new game. A jump-in and jump-out co-op mechanic would have made this game just amazing however even with co-op only at the start, you can bring a friend along or a family member and jump in the game on the same screen and use the same keyboard as well. The controls are fairly simple, and their default allocation makes it really easy for two players to jump on the same PC without bringing any controllers along. All of the missions in Samurai Riot can be played both solo or in co-op and the best bit is that the game treats both players as unique players so both can earn money and progress normally.
What Samurai Riot lacks in length, it makes up for it via choice-based endings because chances are that you will be revisiting the game at least once more to unlock additional endings. The levels are not too big and when compared to some of the titles I played previously including Streets of Rage 4 and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, the levels feel really short, and to make things worse, enemy types are really lacking. Having different schools is really cool in the game and the option to forge your own path with choices leading to multiple endings gives you reasons to visit the game again but to be honest, after unlocking three endings, I was sort of done with the game and did not really want to visit it again. At least for the time being, I might visit it later someday to try and unlock the remaining endings however for the time, I had a good time with the game as its gameplay is still solid.
Final Verdict:
Samurai Riot is a decent beat ‘em up title and it is fun while it lasts however the game misses out both in length and enemy variations. The levels are short, and the enemy types are just the same enemies with different skins on them. Even with that, each enemy only has a single attack type, and they keep spamming them. Gameplay-wise, I really enjoyed playing Samurai Riot and it brings an interesting theme to the beat ‘em genre however the lack of enemies and short game length really puts it at the back of some of the good beat ‘em ups released in the past few months. It is still a great time pass and if you are craving a good beat ‘em up, you can definitely invest a decent amount of time in Samurai Riot especially if you want to try out all of the difficulties, unlock all of the endings, and all of the different Samurai schools in the game. Must-play for fans of beat ‘em ups because at its core, the gameplay is pretty solid.
Final Score: 7.5/10
