Full review of the shinobi stealth ’em up Arashi: Castles of Sin from Endeavor One on PSVR. Including patch 1.3 for PS4 Pro enhancements, and patch 1.4 for gameplay improvements.
Arashi from Endeavour One brings some classic ninja stealth action to PSVR, but does it hit the target or should it stay hidden in the shadows? Let’s find out.
First up, huge thanks to the developer for providing me with a review key for the game but as always the opinions here are entirely my own.
Back in the early PlayStation days I was a big fan of the Tenchu games, and whether or not the developer consciously took inspiration, Arashi really does feel like a spiritual VR successor to those. The good news is, it does a great job of it too.
Set in feudal Japan, Arashi casts you as shinobi Kenshiro seeking justice and revenge against the six demonic Oni who have taken over castles in key parts of the land. You are briefed and sent into each mission by your cousin Ayane and ably assisted by one of the best doggos yet in a VR game, your trusty companion Haru.
Gameplay sees you working your way through five large, semi-open-world levels, each broken up into smaller outdoor and indoor sections, and then facing a boss at each level end. You can regularly save your progress at prayer shrines found in each section and in between levels you return to the safety of your temple where you can choose your weapon loadout before continuing with the next mission or, more importantly, playing fetch with Haru. Although the play areas are linear in the sense that they each have set entry and exit points, there are always several pathways through each one, so you can choose how you want to approach it. This flexibility of choice extends into how you approach and deal with the enemy. Obviously being a ninja you’re generally better off being stealthy rather than charging in, so the best approach is usually to keep to the shadows, tall grass and rooftops and remain out of sight, picking off the enemy one by one using distance weapons such as shuriken and arrows, or by sneaking up behind them and using your sword/dagger for a surprise, one-hit takedown. There’s an impressive amount of verticality to the game, with the ability to climb buildings, cliffs and guard towers, either by hand or using your grappling hook. Another nice feature is the ability to take out light sources to create more areas of shadow to lurk in. As you’d expect, running creates noise which will attract attention so it’s best to walk if there are enemies nearby. Inevitably you’ll be spotted and compromised at times, leaving you the choice to either make a hasty escape or enter into a direct swordfight. The close quarters sword fighting was a bit ropey in the initial release, with enemies stepping right up into your face and not being particularly smart, but subsequent post-launch updates have since improved things there. Swordfights are still simplistic cases of block, attack, rinse and repeat, but they’re decent enough, particularly as it’s not an approach you should really be taking too often.
There’s a large variety of weapons, which are gradually introduced as you progress through the levels, including swords, projectiles, explosives, mines and even poisoned food. They’re all satisfying and simple to use and each have their own time and place for them to be best utilised. The arrow firing and shuriken throwing system is perhaps over simplified in the sense that as long as you point and fire roughly in the right direction you can pretty much guarantee contact with the enemy. It would have been more challenging/satisfying to have an additional system, perhaps similar to golf games where you have an accuracy meter set by pressing a button at the right time, to determine the success of your shots.
Aside from your stealth and weapons you’re also ably assisted by Haru with the ability to dig up items, attack on command, and distract the enemy, allowing you to either sneak past or perform a stealth takedown. And yes, in between the serious stuff you can take time out to pet Haru, resulting in a lot of happy ear twitching, tail wagging and howling.
Graphics are decent on the whole, at least on PS4 Pro and PS5, with some impressive draw distances providing some gorgeous outlooks at times when you find yourself on top of a rocky outcrop at dawn. The character models and animation are good with some of the bosses looking particularly stunning, a fact which you can more fully appreciate when using the character viewer back at your home base where you can view lifesize models of defeated enemies. Haru is nicely modelled and animated, and exceptionally furry, even if on the odd occasion they have a bit of trouble navigating the scenery and end up doing a vertical wall climb. Each level is introduced by nicely drawn 2D cutscenes that fill in the storyline. I also enjoyed the little UI touches like the way your arms turn translucent to show when you’re well hidden.
Sound and music are great and really help to submerge you in the atmosphere of feudal Japan. There’s an original soundtrack of traditional instrumental music tracks and the sound design allows you to pick out the location of nearby enemies with satisfying crunches as you land successful attacks. The voice acting is also very well done with everything being spoken in Japanese and subtitled in English for that added authenticity.
Controls are well implemented using the two Move controllers to their fullest and although there are quite a few buttons to remember it soon becomes second nature. Movement is a mixture of smooth locomotion for walking and teleportation for jumping and there are quite a few optional comfort controls including vignettes and click turning. The game can be played seated as there is a dedicated crouch button. I’d like to have seen some options for adjusting the angle of the sword as it felt a little bit off but this wasn’t a major issue.
Since launch the game has already received a couple of major updates, the first bringing a lot of PS4 Pro enhancements to the graphics, and the second bringing some great improvements to the AI and combat. Combined, these two updates have done really well in addressing most of the issues from the original release.
The only real remaining issues I have with the game are that even with the updates it’s still a bit on the easy side and the boss fights, aside from the final battle, are also lacking in variety. In spite of that, I had an awesome time with this game and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it. It’s a beautifully presented package with a decent amount of content and replayability provided by the multiple pathways, collectibles and game+ mode, and is well worth the £24.99 asking price.
Oh, and did I mention it features one of the best doggos in VR?
