The amazing stealth game “Aragami” from the developer “Linceworks” has been revamped to a better version of itself by polishing some of the rough edges and tweaked some of the performance in order for it to run as fluently as it can. Alongside this amazing update, they’ve expanded the game with some new content and boy it’s a good one…
Aragami is a 3rd person stealth game that lets you take up the role as an undead assassin that’s summoned by a captive lady named “Yamiko” and she wants you to free her from the Kaiho (Army of light). As a vengeful spirit, you use your shadow powers to take down the enemy as stealthy as you can. While killing enemies, you’ll dig up some parts of your past that’ll help you fill in the blanks, as you suffer from amnesia. Without revealing the plot of the story, the narrative is enjoyable. A lot of the dialogues are voice acted but I do feel that the characters lack some convincing. You miss some of the character’s emotion to really become immersed within the story, however, the production of the dialogue does make you understand why certain characters act like they do.
The game takes you back to the core mechanics of a challenging stealth game. Observe your enemy’s movement, discover their patrol patterns and stick to the shadows, at least if you want to be successful. To kill or not to kill… that’s of course the question. You won’t always have to kill enemies, to complete your level, so it’s all about making the right choice at the right time. Some guards will even hear you “killing” and will come around the corner to investigate what has happened. The moment they figure out that there’s a dead body, they’ll sound the alarm and the level will become a lot more difficult. Patrol patterns won’t be easy to figure out and therefore it will be a lot more difficult to just “pass by”. Don’t forget, you’re fighting the Army of Light, one hit of their lightsaber and it’s over for the shadow beast. The developers build upon the basic stealth mechanics… think about your actions because one simple mistake can cost you your life. Of course, there are checkpoints but only a few. If you want to complete your level, don’t rush and act patiently. Aragami is less forgiving than most of the current stealth games and that’s what makes the game stand out.
At the end of the level, you’ll get a score. This score is based upon a few elements: how many bodies were found, the number of times where the bad guys’ suspicions were raised and finally; for every alarm that got triggered. If you succeed in completing the level without any killing and being detected, you’ll be rewarded accordingly. The game gives you freedom in “becoming the assassin”. You choose your own playstyle, but the game does stimulate “their way” by using the scoring system. The levels can be replayed to improve your score or to find missed collectibles. The more collectibles you find, the more you increase your shadow powers which eventually leads to “other playstyles”.
These play styles are built up thanks to the skill system. Each scroll you find gives you a skill point. These skill points can be used to unlock other shadow skills or even upgrade known skills. This upgrade tree helps you to find a skill set that suits your playstyle perfectly. You’ll have defensive and offensive skills. Some skills will help you get rid of the bodies after a critical hit and some skills will devour your patrolling enemy whole. It’s all up to you on how you want to play this unique stealth game. All of these skills use “shadow”, this shadow bar can be found on your cape. Even though the shadow bar can easily be filled up again, with all of your skills unlocked, you kind of feel like an unstoppable spirit. Be careful though, some skills can only be used a certain number of times unless you find a shrine to refill your skill bar. Maybe they’ll tweak this a bit, to make you more vulnerable. Other than that, the skill system is a great addition.
All the abilities work great, but I do feel like the shadow leap needs some tweaking. Normally, you can only jump from one shadow to another shadow, it’s impossible to jump to a lighted area which of course is obvious but the jumping from one shadow to another, isn’t always fluent. This can be a heckle because of the tension you’re in. You might have observed the patrol pattern of your enemy and go for the kill, but you do need that shadow leap to get out safely. Now, if this emergency ability doesn’t work perfectly, it can become a bit frustrating.
There’s also a bit of inconsistency when it comes to the “view line” and “detection system”. Sometimes this feature works perfectly but there are some weird moments that makes you doubt if the game’s actually following its own rules. At some point, there can be a situation where a guard will stare you right in the eyes, and you still will go unnoticed but then when you think you’re “okay”, they notice you and the game’s over. The observation of your enemies can also be a bit off.
Aragami: Shadow Edition also has the expansion Nightfall. This DLC can be bought separately and it’s a prequel to the original game. You can choose between two characters: Hyo or Shinobu. Whatever you choose, the gameplay stays the same. There are some new skills like an exploding Kunai or Kage, an ability that makes you disappear for a while. All of the new skills can be helpful in different ways and forms your playstyle again. You choose: be offensive or be defensive.
Nightfall also has the option to play co-op. You can play Nightfall with an A.I that can instantly kill an enemy before you but if you play with an actual player, this ability turns into an ability that allows you to teleport to your teammate. This is very helpful to get out of those narrow situations.
The DLC will take up a couple of hours of your time. It’s a new narrative that’ll help you shape the story you already know from the original game. The reworked edition of Aragami did fix a couple of issues that helped improve the performance of the game. You can even influence the game’s performance as well by using the V-sync and anti-aliasing to tweak the performance even more.
Conclusion:
The shadow edition of Aragami is the perfect addition if you want a challenging stealth game. The game isn’t anything new in comparison to the 2016 Aragami, except for its performance and additional DLC. If you haven’t played the game before, you’ll definitely want to get your hands on this. Aragami has a great narrative story with good looking graphics. It also has great combat mechanics and a good skill tree that’ll help you figure out your own playstyle. It’s a classic game that can help other developers to create an even better stealth game.
