INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
I’ll never forget the look on my Mum’s face on Christmas morning, 1998
The turkey was cooking, the present unwrapped, and my brother and I had just popped Tenchu: Stealth Assassins into our original PlayStation
console.Then came the blood
Gallons and gallons of polygonal blood
The 18 certificate should have been a giveaway, but somehow the reality of ninja assassinations must have been lost on my Mum as she
approached the till at our local games emporium, instead picturing how her sons’ glowing, cherubim faces would weep with joy upon
receiving their most-wanted of gifts.But when the ninjas leapt from the rooftops, splitting lowly guards in two like meaty Kit-Kats with
their katanas, Mum must have wondered if this was quite in the same spirit of Christmas as the wintry saccharine cards and carols
surrounding us.From blood spills to BloodborneThe Tenchu series, first developed by studio Acquire and later by Dark Souls and Bloodborne
legends FromSoftware turns twenty this year
But it’s been nine years since we’ve seen an entry into the ninja-stealth-and-slash-em-up series, and that was the risible Shadow
Assassins for the Wii.It’s hard to put into context just how amazing Tenchu seemed to a 10 year old me all those years ago and, to a
slightly lesser extent, to the industry as a whole
Here was a 3D game that put the emphasis on sneaking and tactical planning (some months before the seminal Metal Gear Solid, it should be
noted), all wrapped up in that coolest and most mysterious of historical killers, the ninja.E3 2018: all the latest news and rumors from
this year's showSet in Feudal-era Japan, the series focussed around ninjas Rikimaru and Ayame, members of the Azuma Ninja clan and servants
You’d travel the land, stamping out corruption, whether that was sliding a blade between the ribs of a lecherous merchant, or going head
to head with a fallen ninja and demonic warriors.Rikimaru and Ayame had a wide array of moves and tools at their disposal
Rikimaru, the stockier, older, stoic ninja, would use his longer single blade to dice foes to pieces, while slight-but-speedy Ayame would
use twin blades to pepper baddies with holes
Each would also have access to a growing array of ninja gadgetry – like a 16th century James Bond, you’d be rewarded for completing a
level without being spotted and using only the gore-tastic stealth kills by receiving new items like poisoned rice balls, smoke bombs and
And you’d sure need them – the Tenchu series was famed for its brutal difficulty levels, something that would be adopted by From
Software for its later Souls titles.Rushing into a battle was a sure-fire way to get turned into tooled-up kebab, and getting killed meant
starting each level from scratch, losing your limited provision of gadgets in the process
The focus then became on truly knowing enemy patrol routes and, in many cases, avoiding them altogether to reach your target.Striking from
the shadows once moreThe Tenchu series would peak on the PS2 with 2003’s Wrath of Heaven, before sadly slipping into obscurity after a
string of so-so sequels and spin offs
It was in many ways a game ahead of its time – the first title remembered here so fondly even predated the introduction of analogue sticks
with the original DualShock controller
And so it holds up poorly today, with relatively clunky movement and dire camera swings.But its influence can be felt anywhere that open
level design, shadows, gadgets and swordplay come together, be it in the Assassin’s Creed series, Hitman or Dishonored.And so Tenchu makes
this year’s E3 2018 gaming extravaganza so potentially exciting
Twenty years after the launch of the original title in the series, could we see Rikimaru and Ayame returnIt’s quite possible – a revival
of the series has been touted for some years now, but a cryptic teaser trailer from FromSoftware at last year’s Game Awards set tongues
wagging.With hidden weapons, gallons of blood and a ye-olde feel to the trailer, some speculated that the trailer, with a tagline (or title)
or ‘Shadows Die Twice’ could have been the long-awaited Bloodborne 2. But this seems unlikely – would Sony, the IP holder for
Bloodborne, really let FromSoftware reveal one of its crowning jewels away from one of its own PlayStation showcases Unlikely.Dig a little
deeper, as Giuseppe Nelva of DualShockers did, and the evidence of a Tenchu revival steps out of the shadows
From the use of traditional Japanese instruments in the trailer to the presence of a ninja scroll and famed ninja weapon the kunai, it’s
Even the Shadows Die Twice line evokes the sneaky nature of those early games.It’s speculation at this point of course, and anything can
But here’s hoping for the surprise appearance of Tenchu at this year’s E3 – I’d love to see what Mum would make of those executions
in spruced up 4K.PS5: what's the latest PlayStation 5 newszypexNeBb5YzQBKpJ4qqPo.jpg#
