Toukiden 2, the latest installment of the Toukiden Franchise has been released on Playstation 4, Vita and Windows in europe on March 24th 2017. This is my first jump into the franchise, read on to find out about my experience of Toukiden 2.
Story
Demons have engulfed all of Nakatsu Kuni with miasma, and it’s the job of the Slayers to combat the threat. The early hours of the game sees your custom created character fighting through the “Awakening” and thrown 10 years into the future where the threat of the Oni have spread further across the country.
While this is a sequel, the above allows you to get caught up with the events of the original game so even though this is for a large portion, a hunting game. You become acquainted with the backstory and lore early on.
The game presents its narrative through a series of Japanese voices cutscenes and dialogue, together creating an authentic japanese experience.
Gameplay
The game includes 11 weapon types that range from Sword (or Great Katana) to Rifle, all of which comes with their own pros and cons depending on the situation you find yourself in. There is something so satisfying by cutting off an Onis leg with one swing of your sword.
Toukiden 2 features an extra layer of customisation in regards to Mitamas. Mitama are the souls of former heroes that were imprisoned by Oni. Slayers use these abilities to imbue their weapons and armor with additional powers.
When linked with your weapon, they can provide additional effects or when they are fixed to your armor you can gain new passive abilities.
Within the first our of the game you gain the ability to use the Demon Hand. This give your the ability to form a giant hand and attack large enemies, move quickly through the field or over certain obstacles. Everything added together, gives your a wide variety of methods on taking down Oni and really separates Toukiden 2 from other Hunting style games on the market.
Visual
The game boasts modest visuals when you consider that the game has been released on multiple platforms; across the whole playstation spectrum, including Playstation 3 in Japan only and has been released on Windows via Steam.
The character models look great with a wide variety of weapons and armors which can be bought and crafted, with little repeated styles. When you first create your character, you are presented with a wide variety of hairstyles and tweakable settings however I found that my created character looked nowhere near as “well designed” when compared to NPC Characters you meet throughout the story.
The environments themselves look polished, however the quality varies depending on where you are and how hard you look. If you try to find flaws in the quality, you will find them as some of the environments can look a little plain with some stretched or mismatched textures.
The overall presentation of the game varies as it brings together beautifully rendered japanese environments with some hints of steampunk design. The design of the Oni you’ll be hunting are where the game truly shines and are unlike anything that I would expect.
Final Thoughts
It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a Hunting genre game, or more specifically a monster hunter clone but I have really enjoyed my time with Toukiden 2 and I am going to enjoy getting some multiplayer time in with Luke a little later.
When I started playing Toukiden 2, I found myself choosing the great sword as this is the style of gameplay that I would use in Monster Hunter and while the combat that is on offer is so satisfyingly fast and more engaging I wanted to see what would happen when I switched to a faster weapon, Daggers.
The switch has meant that instead of using these more focused, powerful strikes to a rapid barrage of slashes and my flying through the air to deliver my combos and I haven’t been able to switch back yet. I’m left surprised how my original play style has switched from one to the other and I believe that this is one of the highlights of Toukiden, there’s so much variety on offer that it’s difficult to become bored.
While I have found that the shift to an open world hunting game has been beneficially to the franchise, I did find myself getting lost in the early hours of the game. I found that I would have to consult my ingame map quite often as I kept getting lost. I also found myself getting sidetracked as I would gather materials and kill of smaller Oni for their loot…
I will admit that this is the type of game that I find myself addicted to, and is one of the reasons I stay well away from hunting games. There is a lot to collect, see and do in this game. While I have invested a decent amount of time into Toukiden 2, there is still a lot more to be done.
Overall the game is truly addictive which a lot of content, meeting the expectation of a true hunting game.
The game brings together an incredible Japanese aesthetic mixed with some amazing monster and armor designs. The battle system is fast paced, customisable depending on the weapon you choose and satisfyingly fast – it’s a thrill to see your enemies appendages flying as you unleash a devastating strike.
8/10