is a 2014

hack and slash Hack and slash, also known as hack and slay (H&S or HnS) or slash 'em up, refers to a type of gameplay that emphasizes combat with melee-based weapons (such as swords or blades). They may also feature projectile-based weapons as well (such as ...

game by

Koei Tecmo is a Japanese video game, amusement and anime holding company created in 2009 by the merger of Koei and Tecmo. Koei Tecmo Holdings owns several companies, the biggest one of those being its flagship video game developer and publisher Koei Tecmo ...

for

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

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

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, then in other international territories on February 22, 2012, and was produced ...

, and the sequel to ''

Samurai Warriors 3 is a hack-and-slash video game developed by Omega Force and published by Tecmo Koei for the Wii. It is the third installment in the ''Samurai Warriors'' series. The game was released in Japan in December 2009 and internationally in 2010 by Nint ...

''. Unlike past ''Samurai Warriors'' games, this one only has Japanese voice overs. A revised version of the game titled was released the following year in 2015 for PlayStation 3, Playstation 4, Playstation Vita, and

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

via

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

. This version features Naomasa Ii as a playable character, an improved Story Mode which focuses on the various characters, Survival Mode, upgrade to action balance, cut-scenes and character development system. An enhanced version of the games titled was released for

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

and Playstation 4 in Japan in 2019, and for Windows (via Steam) worldwide with Japanese and English support in May 2024. This edition contains more than 150 previously released DLC from ''Samurai Warriors 4'', including costumes, weapons, customization parts, scenarios, and background music. A reboot of the series titled '' Samurai Warriors 5'' was released in June and July of 2021 for Nintendo Switch, Windows, PlayStation 4, and

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

Development

''Samurai Warriors 4'' was made to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the series. While the game was confirmed to be in development for the

as early as 2012, it was not until the SCEJA Press Conference in September 2013 that the game was officially announced, with a version for

in addition to PlayStation 3, and was released on March 20, 2014, in Japan.2013-09-09
Samurai Warriors 4, Kagero sequel announced for PS Vita
Gematsu The

version port followed on September 4, 2014, and was later released for North America and Europe in October. A revised version, was released in 2015 on February 11 in Japan, in North America on September 29, and in Europe on October 2, but it does not contain the original stories from ''Samurai Warriors 4''. A second expansion, was released in Japan on September 17, 2015, and in North America and Europe in 2016.

Gameplay

''Samurai Warriors 4'' features character-switching, similar to the spin-off, '' Samurai Warriors: Chronicles'', with which players can take two characters into battles simultaneously, and freely switch between the two. Two new moves, "Hyper Attacks" and "Rage Mode" are featured in this game: * Hyper Attacks is a secondary moveset available to all characters that allows the player to sweep through and clear out crowd of enemies with a dashing animation, although it is useless against enemy officers, as they will either deflect it or are otherwise immune against it. * Rage Mode renders the player invincible for a period of time, and also enhances the player's attacks as well as empowering their Musou attack by using the Spirit Gauge. Duels are featured, which occur when player-controlled characters meet with enemy officers under specific conditions. The create-a-warrior mode is retained; it features much more expansive content, including the addition of two weapon movesets from the male and female protagonists from ''Samurai Warriors: Chronicles'' in addition to the three from previous games. Custom characters can also be played in the new "Chronicle Mode", where players can take requests for their custom generals. There is also an option that allows players to turn off female characters. Story Mode is also revamped; it no longer uses the traditional story-per-character format from previous games and instead features ten stories based on clans and regions during the Sengoku period, akin to the kingdom-based story mode implemented in the recent ''

Dynasty Warriors is a series of Japanese hack and slash action video games created by Omega Force and Koei (now Koei Tecmo). The series is a spin-off of Koei's turn-based strategy '' Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' series, based upon the Chinese novel of ...

'' games. Each stage offers a selection of playable characters for the player to use according to their participation in the battles; consequently, some characters do not appear in the story, although they still appear in the aforementioned Chronicle Mode. All of the stories lead to two separate stories: the "Unification", which mainly tells the conquest of Japan by

Hideyoshi Toyotomi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

as well as the conflicts between the Eastern and Western armies after Hideyoshi's death that leads to the

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was an important battle in Japan which occurred on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu Prefecture, ...

and the rise of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

; and the "Sanada" story, a parallel story with Unification that focuses on the

Sanada clan The is a Japanese clan.Edmond Papinot, Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)("Sanada," ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 52 DF 56 of 80/nowiki> retrieved 2013-5-3. The Sana ...

. Musou Attacks now have new finishing animations separate from their True Musou, but they no longer allow free-action for their durations. Enemy generals still use the older shockwave finishers, and are no longer fully invincible for their durations (they instead are granted Hyper Armor).

Story

Like previous games in the series, the setting and story of ''Samurai Warriors 4'' are centered on the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

of Japan, a period of much military conflict and political warfare in which Japan was divided between regions ruled by ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

'' that lasted from the middle of the 16th century to the early 17th century. The events depicted, however, are romanticized, and may or may not be factual; for example,

Nobuyuki Sanada was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period. He was the son of ''daimyō'' Sanada Masayuki and the older brother of Sanada Yukimura. Early life He was the first son of Sanada Masayuki and his wife, Kansho-in. His younger brother was Sanad ...

and his brother, Yukimura Sanada, are shown to participate in the

battle of Kawanakajima The were a series of battles fought in the Sengoku period of Japan between Takeda Shingen of Kai Province and Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo Province from 1553 to 1564. Shingen and Kenshin contested each other for control of the plain of Kawanakaj ...

, even though both of them had not yet been born at that time. Many figures with little relevancy to the period, particularly women who for the most part stayed out of battles, have larger roles; Koshōshō, notable for being Motochika Chōsokabe's wife in real life, becomes his primary rival in his conquest of

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

and is the representative of the

Miyoshi clan is a Japanese family descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and the Minamoto clan (Seiwa-Genji). They are a cadet branch of the Ogasawara clan and the Takeda clan. At the beginning of the 14th century AD, settled in Shikoku. His eighth ge ...

in-game. Unlike the previous games, there are no hypothetical routes; as a result, the fates of the characters are played out as history stated. The earliest battle depicted in the game is the

battle of Itsukushima The 1555 was the only battle to be fought on the sacred island of Miyajima; the entire island is considered to be a Shinto shrine, and no birth or death is allowed on the island. Extensive purification rituals took place after the battle, to cl ...

, fought between the

Mōri clan The was a Japanese clan, Japanese samurai clan descended from Ōe no Hiromoto. Ōe no Hiromoto was descended from the Fujiwara clan. The family's most illustrious member, Mōri Motonari, greatly expanded the clan's power in Aki Province. Durin ...

and the

Ōuchi clan was one of the most powerful and important families in Western Japan during the reign of the Ashikaga shogunate in the 14th to 16th centuries. Their domains, ruled from the castle town of Yamaguchi in the western tip of Honshu island, compris ...

in 1555, with the

siege of Osaka A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

, fought between the

Tokugawa clan The is a Japanese dynasty which produced the Tokugawa shoguns who ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868 during the Edo period. It was formerly a powerful ''daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of ...

and the

Toyotomi clan The was a Japanese clan that ruled over the Japanese before the Edo period. Unity and conflict The most influential figure within the Toyotomi was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the three "unifiers of Japan". Oda Nobunaga was another primary ...

in 1614-1615, as the closing battle of the game.

Characters

The original game features a total of 55 characters. Virtually all characters from previous games return, including three characters (Goemon Ishikawa, Kojirō Sasaki, and Musashi Miyamoto) that were cut from the main series in ''

'' (in ''

Samurai Warriors 2 is a sequel to the original ''Samurai Warriors'', created by Koei and Omega Force. The game was released in 2006 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360, and ported to Microsoft Windows in 2008. Like the ''Dynasty Warriors'' series, an ''Empires'' e ...

'' for Goemon). Three characters: Munenori Yagyū, Naotora Ii, and Takatora Tōdō also make their debut in the main series here after having been introduced in the spin-off '' Sengoku Musou: Chronicle 2''; they are counted as new characters in promotional materials. In addition to returning characters, the game also introduces nine new characters, some of whom are former generic non-playable officers. Other than full playable characters, several generic officers can be made pseudo-playable by recruiting them as partners in Chronicle Mode. The ''II'' update adds Naomasa Ii to the roster, bringing the character count to 56. ''* denotes characters added in expansions''
''Bold denotes characters who are available by default''

Reception

''Samurai Warriors 4''

The game has received positive reviews, at the time becoming the highest rated entry in the series (until the release of '' Samurai Warriors 5'' in 2021), with

Famitsu , formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...

giving a score of 34 out of 40 in both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita versions. During the first week of release in Japan, the PS3 version of the game sold 120,452 physical retail copies, ranking second place amongst all Japanese software sales within that week, whilst the PS Vita version sold 39,597 physical retail copies. The PS4 version, meanwhile sold 11,757 physical retail copies during its first week of release in Japan.

''Samurai Warriors 4-II''

''Samurai Warriors 4-II'' has received average reception, scoring 73 out of 100 for the PlayStation 4 version on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. During the debut week of the release in Japan, the updated version of the original games has sold 44,574 units on PS3, 23,519 units on PS Vita and 22,468 units on PS4.

Related media

Spin-offs and expansions

The game's cast of characters and visuals are used in ''Sengoku Musou Shoot'' (戦国無双シュート, Sengoku Musō Shūto), a social spin-off game released on April 22, 2014 for the mobile phones also to commemorate the series' 10th anniversary. Koei Tecmo collaborated with the Japanese Racing Association (JRA) to release on May 25, 2014 for the PC. ''Derby Musō'' reuses assets from ''Samurai Warriors 4'' to create a horse racing game, like that of the '' Winning Post'' series, with famous Japanese racehorses. Eight characters from ''Samurai Warriors 4'' make up the playable cast, plus

Matthew C. Perry Matthew Calbraith Perry (April 10, 1794 – March 4, 1858) was a United States Navy officer who commanded ships in several wars, including the War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War. He led the Perry Expedition that Bakumatsu, ended Japan' ...

(known in-game as just Perry). The game received a revision, titled , which was released in 2015 for Japan on February 11, in North America on September 29, and in Europe on October 2. It is described as neither a continuation nor an ''Xtreme Legends'' expansion like previous games; instead, it provides a "different" focus of the same game. Players choose a character as their protagonist for a selected scenario, which has a different progression depending on the character selected. Dream Castle Mode, first introduced in ''Samurai Warriors: Chronicles 3'' is also present in the game. The game adds one new character,

Naomasa Ii was a general under the Sengoku period ''daimyō'', and later ''shōgun'', Tokugawa Ieyasu.PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

, and

, with a release in North America and Europe in 2016. The gameplay focuses more on strategy as in other ''Empires'' expansions, with players issuing commands and taking suggestions to and from their subordinate military officers. A new "Resident Domestic Administration" was added. Featuring more than 100 generic officers, including female officers, it incorporates the marriage system for the first time, which sister series ''Dynasty Warriors'' had also implemented in their ''Empires'' expansions. The game does not add a new character, but in return, many more new events, such as interactions between characters, were added. The game is also supported by DLC costumes for all characters (in the original game, the focus of DLC costumes is only on the female characters). was released in March 2019 in Japan for the PlayStation 4 and

. It includes over 150 DLC previously released for the game, including costumes, weapons, customization parts, and others. A "15th Anniversary" edition is also available, which includes an art book, a soundtrack and music video set, and a postcard set. The game was released worldwide with additional English support on PC

Anime

An animated TV special titled aired on March 21, 2014, as part of the series' 10th anniversary, directed by Kōjin Ochi and animated by

TYO Animations , known as from 2009 to 2017, is a Japanese animation studio formed in 1990. History Yumeta Company absorbed Hal Film Maker and changed its name to TYO Animations on July 1, 2009. On December 1, 2017, Memory Tech Holdings announced that they ...

with screenplay provided by Yuka Yamada. It features the original cast from the game series. It is based on an early battle in the game, namely, the siege of Ueda castle between the

and the

, featuring Yukimura Sanada and Nobuyuki Sanada as the main characters, and Tadakatsu Honda, Mitsunari Ishida, Kanetsugu Naoe, Kunoichi, Ina, and Ieyasu Tokugawa in supporting roles. The ending of the special, which features cameos by Kagekatsu Uesugi and Nobunaga Oda, teases a full anime adaptation, simply titled ''

Samurai Warriors is the first title in the series of hack and slash video games created by Koei's Omega Force team based closely around the Sengoku ("Warring States") period of Japanese history and is a sister series of the ''Dynasty Warriors'' series, releas ...

'', again directed by Kojin Ochi and animated by TYO Animations, which aired between January 11 and March 29, 2015, for 12 episodes in total. It goes beyond the siege of Ueda castle and covers the entire timeline of the game starting from the siege of Odawara castle, and ending on the Osaka campaign, though it notably focuses on the Sanada clan. More characters are thus featured in the anime, including Hidetada Tokugawa and Hideyori Toyotomi, both of whom received new character designs since both have never been playable in any game of the series.

Notes

References

External links

Official Japanese site

Official ''II'' site

Official U.S. site

Official U.S. ''II'' site
{{Musou series 2014 video games Crowd-combat fighting games Koei Tecmo games PlayStation 3 games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation Vita games Video games about samurai Samurai Warriors Video games developed in Japan Video games set in 16th-century Sengoku period Windows games Multiplayer and single-player video games 2015 video games Nintendo Switch games