Last year, Toukiden: The Age of Demons surprised us for two different reasons: first, it made a niche genre such as the Hunting Game accessible to more or less all types of players, mimicking the progenitor of mom Capcom (Monster Hunter), secondly showed how Omega Force know how to develop something other than a Musou.
On March 27 of this year, Koei Tecmo's title returns to stores with a revised version, corrected and lengthened, a bit to imitate the Ultimate version of its most famous rival, entitled Toukiden: Kiwami. In addition to going back up PlayStation Vita (which in the meantime has caught other new exponents of the genre such as Freedom Wars and the Delta version of Soul Sacrifice) also debuts on PlayStation 4.
Tested Version: PlayStation 4
When we received the title there was still no possibility to import your own saves of The Age of Demons (dated 27/3), so we preferred to replay the entire title from scratch, and now at over 80 total hours, we are definitely ready to tell you in detail about the news of Toukiden: Kiwami.History repeats itself, and gets longer
With Toukiden: Kiwami, Omega Force and Koei Tecmo allow players to The Age of Demons to import your own save (to continue the adventure from where it left off last year) or just the arsenal and inventory (favoring those who have cursed the Drop Rate for a certain item) thanks to a patch available from game release day (and strangely without burning saves as happened in Dead or Alive 5 Last Round).
You can import your TAOD saves or start overFor everyone else there is no problem, the story starts over and traces the deeds of the Slayers of Utakata, a tiny village in the mountains populated by about ten people including the player's avatar, who, led by Captain Yamato, slaughter gigantic Oni .
The Slayers live to prevent a second Awakening of the Oni, which would cause death and destruction and possibly the extinction of the human race. Eight years earlier, when the first awakening occurred, Captain Yamato collaborated with the Company of the Hundred Demon Corps to close the portal, while this time it will be up to the player and the Slayers of Utakata to prevent a new catastrophe.
Three months after the great battle against the Cimmerian King, after having foiled the second Awakening, the village of Utakata receives the visit of the Third Company of 100 Demons, led by Soma (Yamato's old ally) and led by Kuyo, one of the great generals of the Holy Mountain, the institution at the head of all the slayers in the world.
The newcomers reveal that the second Awakening has only been delayed, and ours will have to face even more lethal battles in five new chapters full of twists (more or less predictable) and touching dialogue.
As mentioned in the review last year, Toukiden it stands out from other Hunting Games above all for the importance given to the plot and to the secondary characters, who will be part of the player's team and with whom you will bond as you dismember giant Oni.
To add to the large group of The Age of Demons three new faces (and a secret character that we do not want to reveal to you), who will use the new weapons available in Kiwami (which we will talk about shortly).
Horo, Soma e Sleigh they undergo the same treatment as the other supporting actors, replenishing the ranks of Utakata with new subplots and soon becoming fundamental elements of the Slayer team.
The missions of the unpublished chapters are completed in about thirty hours and, although the level of difficulty is always designed also for those who approach the genre with the title Omega Force, there will be really difficult secondary enterprises that will test the skills of even the most experienced.
Old things and new things
The village of Utakata remains unchanged from last year's version: in a Main hub very similar to that of Monster Hunter, we find a desk to accept missions, an altar where to pray for stat bonuses, a blacksmith, a merchant, and the area where to upgrade the Mitama, the warrior spirits able to donate four different special moves to the player.
There has been a small change in the Pool of Purity: if in The Age of Demons the companion to bathe with and get bonuses with was random, you can now choose who to bring, as long as you have a soulmate bond (Soulmate) or higher, and get one of the related bonuses (this one randomly selected).
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Even the basic gameplay remains unchanged, the goal of each Mission is to defeat the Oni in turn, detaching its limbs and purifying them thanks to the other three teammates.
To the six weapons already available in the chapter for PSVita, three are added, with as many new Mitama classes, and consequently upgrades: the spiked mace, an excellent cross between the lethal broadsword and gloves; the Naginata, which merges the range of action of the spear,
at the speed of the double blades and finally the Rifle, a real revelation of Kiwami, which allows up to three different types of projectile (based on the abilities of the Mitama), from the stunner to the paralyzing, passing from the regenerator to the lethal.
The Rifle proves to be the best weapon of the new offering, allowing both ranged and close-up tactics with the gigantic and fast new Demons.
Moving on to Mitama, we find a class based on special moves, which allows you to quickly fill both the Weapon Gauge (characteristic technique of each weapon) and the Unity Gauge (group technique) (PLN), one on both offensive and defensive support (SUP ) and finally one based on the abilities of the Mitama (SPC), moreover the number of spiritual heroes has significantly increased reaching the huge figure of three hundred units.
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However, some defects already present in The Age of Demons remain: first of all it is not yet possible to aim a precise limb of the Oni, unless you are using the Rifle or the Bow,
the viewfinder still has problemsleaving the users of the sidearms to attack the demon at random, in the hope of knocking him to the ground and tearing him apart with one of the special techniques, fortunately the aiming system it is much more comfortable on PS4, not causing numbness in the hands even after very long missions.
The second flaw concerns the AI of the supporting actors which, although it is slightly improved in a team of more than two people, when traveling as a couple it lacks solidarity and delays in support techniques; this defect is easily overlooked by playing with a friend (or with the ghost of the latter in the case of story missions) and by resorting to the team only in extreme cases (still talking about extra missions, in the story mode we have not encountered problems with the Slayers by Utakata).
By Tenko, Emergencies, Infinite and Secondary
Let's now move on to the real news of Toukiden: Kiwami, Omega Force has added more meat to the fire to extend the title's already extensive longevity, while also providing extra modes to avoid boredom.
The first to undergo major changes is the Tenko: the pet that could be sent in The Age of Demons in search of materials will officially become a new member of the team.
If you send the little fox in the same area (Age) where you will have to carry out the mission, you will see him trotting by your side, plus equipping him with a Mitama, the Tenko will give you a hand by healing you, or purifying the severed limbs of the Oni.
Our Tenko awaits us at home at the end of each completed Mission
Hayatori has more chances of finding rare items
Reki is able to receive rare parts from Oni limbs
Omega Force also met the Drop Rate problem, typical of every Hunting Game, even in The Age of Demons some materials were released with a very low percentage: in Kiwami, it will be possible to send one of the members not engaged in the team on a secondary mission, and hope that he obtains the necessary elements, halving the times of farming (as it already happens in Monster Hunter); each Slayer has a predefined type of search, which reflects a certain result at the end of the player's mission, obviously if the player fails his quest, the companion will also be brutally defeated. Cross-play between different versions
After completing chapter five, two different types of extra missions will be made available: the Emergency ones, will be activated randomly and will consist of giant Oni more powerful than usual to be defeated in a short time, but will guarantee a greater probability of rare items; and the Infinite ones, a real challenge in waves, where the player will be forced to choose whether to continue or not depending on the health and difficulty of the last defeated beast.
Both additional challenges add up to the online Phases, in which up to four players will be able to collaborate in the Oni massacre, just as they did on PlayStation Vita last year: each missionmate can then be selected as a Bot for the story mode team.
Toukiden: Kiwami in addition to the possibility of importing data from The Age of Demons, it also guarantees cross-play between different versions, favoring both those who want to play comfortably on the sofa, and those who want to slaughter Oni anywhere on their portable console.
The voice of the Oni
From the visual point of view not much has changed since The Age of Demons: on PS4 the title is not among the best graphically, but it manages to do its dirty duty in the polygonal models of characters and monsters; the lion's share is again the artwork (and the character design) which are pleasant and impactful, even if greatly influenced (especially Mitama and characters) by the Warriors series.
Even the soundtrack has remained practically the same as last year, although Kiwami presents new tracks it still fails to become indelible in the player's ears, unlike the original Japanese dubbing that is imprinted again in the action scenes and during the battles. , finally all the texts of the title are once again only in English.
✓ Also suitable for novices of the genre
✓ Possibility of cross-play and to import saves x Viewfinder still not very technical
x AI not very awake in "tough" missions
