Arashi: Castles of Sin – Final Cut Preview

Originally a PS4 PSVR exclusive, Arashi: Castles of Sin – Final Cut is bringing the VR shinobi simulator to a wider range of modern VR hardware, and the overall visuals have undergone significant upgrades to take advantage of current hardware capabilities. True stealth games are few and far between in VR, which helps Arashi: Castles of Sin – Final Cut stand out in particular among the platform’s usual assortment of more overt sword-fighting simulators and first-person shooters. That’s not to say that Arashi doesn’t also check plenty of boxes in terms of combat: players have access to an impressively diverse arsenal of weapons and tools, and challenging boss fights will test players’ reflexes and their skills with a blade.

Game Rant had an early look at a playthrough of a mission in Arashi: Castles of Sin – Final Cut which showcased its enhanced visuals and the stealth action gameplay loop that players will engage in on their quest to defeat the Six Oni of Iga. Players will be sneaking their way through a series of well-guarded castles featuring multiple routes, and these escapades are capped off with a difficult boss encounter against one of the Oni.

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Arashi: Castles of Sin Features Open-Ended Stealth Gameplay

A good stealth game offers players multiple approaches, allowing them to improvise and get creative on their way to their objectives. In the case of Arashi: Castles of Sin, the level design of the castle exteriors includes a number of paths and environmental considerations that promote stealth gameplay and a surprising amount of verticality opens a few doors both in combat and during reconnaissance. One ability that helps a lot at this stage is Jitsu, which scans the area nearby to show the silhouettes of enemies behind walls.

Players can also use a grappling hook to pull themselves to hook points scattered around the area, conceal themselves in tall grass to ambush unaware guards, and they can also utilize the canine companion Haru to distract enemies from the player’s movements. Unaware enemies are easily dispatched with a single sword swing, so stealth is highly useful for thinning the crowd before the player is discovered.

There’s Still Plenty of Fighting in Arashi: Castles of Sin

Once players are discovered and the alarm is raised, they’ll have to clear out the area of the remaining enemies before they can move on with the mission. The most immediate solution is a good old-fashioned sword fight, and players are armed with both a sword and a short sword that can both be used for blocking, parrying, and striking. In this case, players will need to carefully block and parry their opponent’s swings to create openings for a punishing strike, but there are many other tools that can be used in combat to help handle multiple targets.

The player’s shinobi is armed with shuriken for short and medium-range silent takedowns, a bow for precision ranged kills, a blowgun that can stun enemies from afar, and a loud flintlock that is capable of killing heavily armored samurai opponents that are otherwise immune to other projectile weapons. These can all be used quite fluidly in combat, and a skilled shinobi can effortlessly land a few shots with a bow, toss some shuriken, and stab a nearby opponent in one quick and cinematic moment. There are also various types of grenades, and since each of these tools is used in different ways physically, it makes for some immersive gameplay in contrast to a flat-screen analog where these actions would all be undertaken with a trigger pull or button press.

Boss Fights Will Fully Test Player Skills In Arashi: Castles of Sin

Once players reach the end of the titular castles of sin, they’ll find themselves face-to-face with one of the Oni. The first challenging boss fight is against Sloth, and his mechanics are certainly a reflection of that particular deadly sin. Players will need to dodge incoming balls of sludge that create thick puddles on the ground which significantly hamper movement. On top of spatial awareness, players still need to exercise good sword-fighting skills as well. Sloth executes some brutal multi-hit combos that need to be blocked in quick succession, and the rapid clang of swords clashing brings to mind some of the more challenging rhythmic boss fights of FromSoftware’s Sekiro.

Overall, Arashi: Castles of Sin – Final Cut looks to be a worthy addition to the libraries of VR gamers who are looking for something more stealth-oriented or who simply can’t get enough of melee combat’s visceral feel in VR. Of course, it also doesn’t hurt that players can indeed pet the dog in Arashi.

Arashi: Castles of Sin – Final Cut releases December 5 on Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, PCVR, and PlayStation VR2.

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