''Chambara'' is a stealth game developed by Team OK and published by USC Games Publishing. It was released on July 26, 2016, for

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

, and on December 12, 2017, for PC and MacOS. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the art style and gameplay, but criticized its lack of features. The game was nominated for an IGF Award and won a BAFTA Ones to Watch Award in 2015. It was also an official selection at Indiecade.

Gameplay

The game is entirely local multiplayer and each player controls their own

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

bird samurai character. The world is purely made of black-and-white parts, allowing characters to hide in plain sight due to their solid black and white colors. Players can also throw a single throwing star (which colors the enemy and makes them visible), and also air dash. One hit by the player's

kendo stick A is a Japanese sword typically made of bamboo used for practice and competition in ''kendo''. ''Shinai'' are also used in other martial arts, but may be styled differently from ''kendo shinai'', and represented with different characters. T ...

results in the enemy character's death, similar to '' Bushido Blade''. By pressing L2, the character's eyes can be squinted or closed to prevent screen-watching.

Development

The game was developed by students at USC Interactive Media & Games Division. It was created to be played in a college dorm, leading to its couch-based multiplayer focus. The game's art style was inspired by '' Samurai Jack'', Akira Kurosawa films, 20th-century Japanese art, and

Mono-Ha Mono-ha (もの派) is the name given to an art movement led by Japanese and Korean artists of 20th-century. The Mono-ha artists explored the encounter between natural and industrial materials, such as stone, steel plates, glass, light bulbs, cotton ...

and Metabolism architecture. The game's characters were changed from humans to birds and blood to feathers because of fears that it would be too violent to be shown in festivals with young children. Having the player easily navigate the world and see the UI was a challenge due to the black-and-white nature of the art style.

Awards and reception

''Chambara'' received the 2015 BAFTA Ones to Watch Award, which celebrates new talent and innovation in the video games industry, and was chosen by IndieCade as a festival selected in fall of 2015. In 2016, it received the IGF nomination for Best Student Game at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The game received mixed reviews from critics, with an aggregate score of 71/100 on '' Metacritic''. Chris Carter of '' Destructoid'' rated the game 75/100, saying that "it does one thing, and it does it pretty well". He said that "there's enough here to keep most people interested, so long as they have a steady stream of friends (or a roommate/significant other) to play with". Chad Sapieha of the '' Financial Post'' rated the game 70/100, saying that while the idea of the game was "fantastic", the idea was "underdeveloped" and would only deliver a "few hours" of fun before "growing stale".

References

{{Reflist 2016 video games Classic Mac OS games Windows games Multiplayer video games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation Network games Stealth video games Video games developed in the United States Video games about birds Video games about samurai BAFTA winners (video games)