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http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n269/BobbyAnalog_2006/Tenchu4banner.jpg It's the ten-year anniversary of Tenchu! To celebrate this, the original team that made Stealth Assassins returns to make Tenchu 4. Controls will be reworked to make use of the amazing waggle-wand. http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n269/BobbyAnalog_2006/tenchu4box.jpg Title: Tenchu 4 Platform: Wii Release: 23-10-2008 (Japan), Q1 2009 (US and Europe) Players: 1 Developer: Acquire Publisher: From Software Ubisoft will publish Tenchu 4 in the US and Europe as Tenchu 4: Art of the Ninja 1up TGS08 Preview IGN TGS08 Preview Screenshots from TGS08 on IGN Tenchu 4 trailers and walkthroughs here at the Gametrailers Tenchu 4 page Short Japanese TV ad for Tenchu 4 http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n269/BobbyAnalog_2006/tenchu4screen01.jpg http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n269/BobbyAnalog_2006/tenchu4screen02.jpg http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n269/BobbyAnalog_2006/tenchu4screen08.jpg http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n269/BobbyAnalog_2006/tenchu4screen06.jpg

Mersey Remakes Some lovely 8 bit remakes on this site plus lots of good indie news Indiegames weblog Fantastic site with news and links to the finest games Shoot The Core (STC) THE dedicated site to all things shmup. Tigsoruce Indiependent Gaming source. Insert Credit The 2 Bears Game Giveaway of the day THE INDIE DATABASE PM me to add your favorite homebrew site.

The company behind the Tenchu, Way of the Samurai, and Akiba’s Trip series will showcase its past and future in this stream. Company president Takuma Endo will also be present. WATCH THIS TENCHU FILLED TEASER More info here It will probably not be Tenchu because afaik From Software has that ip now BUT there's precedent - that really shitty waggle Tenchu game on the Wii was made by Acquire and published by From. Could be the same deal again. Remember that Sekiro started out as a Tenchu reboot before they decided to change course. So there's definitely some interest within From to do something with the ip, but maybe not themselves because they're focused on Souls Souls Souls. I'm going to be losing my mind for the next couple of days unreasonable or not. Thanks to @Quest for the tip!

According to Twitter according to GAF: http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1088670 I'm all in for this if true, FFXII was the game that broke my original PS2 so I didn't get far and I enjoyed it a lot more than FF13. PS4 and Vita, please. Eurogamer Article: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-08-03-looks-like-final-fantasy-12-hd-remaster-is-real Final Fantasy 12 looks set for the high definition remaster treatment. Arnie Roth, the conductor for a Final Fantasy Distant Worlds concert held in Pittsburgh, mentioned the word "remake" at the event (check out the slip in the video, below). We suspect Square Enix isn't giving Final Fantasy 12 the full-on remake treatment it's giving to Final Fantasy 7, rather a HD Remaster lick of paint, as it did with Final Fantasy 10 and Final Fantasy 10-2.That's according to conductor Arnie Roth, who breathed word of a Final Fantasy 12 "remake" at an event in the US held over the weekend. Whoops! Rob Fahey reviewed Final Fantasy 12 for Eurogamer all those years ago, awarding it a 10. "It's not hard to see us looking back in five years time and seeing FFXII as a pivotal, changing moment in how RPGs are designed; a game which drew on the experience of Final Fantasy's branches into tactical strategy and massively multiplayer, as well as on the more mature storytelling of other mediums, and folded it back into the number series, to wonderful result," he wrote. "Fans will, of course, debate the merits of Final Fantasy XII for a long time - but our own experience with this game fully justifies giving it the highest accolade we can award." UPDATE: The composer who let slip Square Enix is working on a Final Fantasy 12 "remake" has issued a statement saying the term was used "in error". Over the weekend Arnie Roth set tongues wagging when he said the words "Final Fantasy 12" and "remake" with the same breath during the Distant Worlds: Final Fantasy concert. We took that to mean Square Enix is making a HD Remaster, as it has done with Final Fantasy 10 / 10-2 - not a full-blown remake. Here's the statement, just published to the Distant Worlds Facebook page: Dear friends, In response to comments posted by fans, I want to rectify a statement made from the stage Saturday night at our Distant Worlds: music from Final Fantasy concert in Pittsburgh. Following conversations with composer Hitoshi Sakimoto regarding new concert arrangements of music from Final Fantasy 12, regrettably, the term "remake" was used in error during one of the announcements that took place from the stage during the concert. We sincerely regret any confusion this has caused. Arnie Roth Producer and Music Director Distant Worlds: music from Final Fantasy Of course, Roth's statement fails to pour cold water on the suggestion Square Enix is making a HD Remaster of Final Fantasy 12. We'll have to wait and see!

Last updated: 21-02-2014 The New and Improved Rllmuk Thief Trilogy Patch & Mod Guide ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thief Gold Available from GOG and Steam, both work perfectly on modern PC's but I do recommend installing the GOG version as admin (right-click on the gog installer and select 'run as administrator') and you have to install either version somewhere else than your Program Files folder (or any protected Windows folder) to avoid problems, and to be able to use the mod which makes it widescreen and all nice. Mine is installed on E:\ for example and I haven't had a single problem using Win 7 64-bit. When you install a game on Steam nowadays, you can select to install on somewhere other than C:\ TTLG forum user voodoo47 gives us TFix, all the mod you need for Thief Gold which incorporates NewDark, the new amazing patch for dark engine based games. What's in TFix: If you've already modified Thief Gold previously, I recommend a clean install. As I said, don't install in Program Files. Steam users need to disable the automatic updating: right-click on game title->properties->updates-.Always keep this game up to date [change to] Do not automatically update this game For the first two Thief games games you need Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86) and DirectX End-User Runtimes (June 2010) if you don't already have them. Download the latest TFix here Run the TFix_exe as Admin (right-click, run as admin). In the Choose Components Screen select everything except the Dromed Editor (unless you want to make mods and levels yourself) and then point it towards your Thief Gold install folder, for Steam users this is [...]:\Steam\steamapps\common\thief_gold\ Steam users will note that the Steam Overlay now works with the game. There are also modern keybindings provided with the mod, try them out and modify whichever one is closest to what feels right for you. Update 11 February 2014: there's a new HD texture mod out which is compatible with the most recent versions of TFix and looks really nice. If you have an old TFix install, update to the most recent one and then follow the instructions below: Before we install the Thief Gold HD Texture Mod, we're going to take advantage of the improved objects and textures from Thief Enhancement Pack 2.0. You can find the latest version here. Download it and drop the single 'ep2.crf' file into your Thief Gold install folder (the one which also contains THIEF.EXE). Then you can get the Thief Gold HD Texture Mod here, the most recent version is at the one at the top with 'full version' in the title. Download it, run the installer and point it towards your Thief Gold install folder. Let it run and then you're almost done. At the time of writing the HD Texture mod is at full version 0.9.1 and there's a patch to update it to 0.9.2. Until there's a full version of 0.9.2 or higher available, you'll have to install the full version first and then the patch on top of it. Version 0.9.2 brings with it a 'NewDark graphics settings tool', you'll find a shortcut called 'NewDark Graphics Settings' in your Thief Gold install folder. Run it, and then you'll see a handy menu which allows you to set the AA, turn post-processing on or off etc. There's even a few colour+bloom configurations, I recommend clicking on the previews to the left before deciding. Config 2+bloom is nice imho. In the Thief Gold install folder you'll also find a 'Water_Mod_Tool' shortcut now. Run it and you'll be able to choose a water type from a total of five different version after playing a demo clip. I chose water type 3 for now btw. That's it! The game should now work flawlessly and look all nice and beautified. To go back to vanilla TFix, just delete the 'ep2.crf' file, run Tfix again and delete the 'HDMOD' folder. Thief 2: The Metal Age The best stealth game ever made, in gameplay and ambition it's still unsurpassed even after 13 years and it's as playable and atmospheric as it ever was. I can't recommend this game enough. Available from GOG and Steam, same as with Thief Gold I recommend installing the GOG version by right-clicking and selecting 'run as administrator'. Install either version, GOG or Steam, somewhere other than in the Program Files folder on C:\. What you need for Thief 2 is Tafferpatcher, made by the lovely people of the Thief fan community over at the Looking Glass forums, nowadays it also incorporates the NewDark patch, bringing the game up to v1.19. Included patches: If you've already modified Thief 2: The Metal Age previously, I recommend a clean install. As I said, don't install in Program Files. Steam users need to disable the automatic updating: right-click on game title->properties->updates-.Always keep this game up to date [change to] Do not automatically update this game For the first two Thief games games you need Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86) and DirectX End-User Runtimes (June 2010) if you don't already have them, but unlike TFix for Thief Gold, Tafferpatcher checks whether they are installed correctly when running the patch. Download Tafferpatcher from the first download link here Run TafferPatcher_TMA_207_beta.exe as Admin (right-click, run as admin). Point it towards your Thief 2 install folder, for Steam users this is [...]:\Steam\steamapps\common\thief_2, you can ignore the options below that - those are for installing from a disc (disc? Pfft bwhaha). Select Full Installation on the Select Component screen and the uncheck Dromed Mission Editor (unless you;re going to mod yourself). Next you can select whether you need shortcuts, but you can ignore the registry options if you're following this guide and therefore aren't moving folders about. That's it! The game should now work flawlessly and look all nice and beautified, just select your desired resolution in the in-game options. Like with TFix the Steam Overlay now works, but unlike TFix it doesn't come with handy bindings. Thief: Deadly Shadows The third game, Thief: Deadly Shadows is available on Steam and GOG. It was not made by Looking Glass and it shows. It's still enjoyable for what it is and it has a few outstanding moments (The Cradle) but it's nowhere close to the first two games and it hasn't aged as well. If you follow this guide I can help you out with that last one however. You can tell Deadly Shadows isn't as popular by the available mods not being quite as user-friendly or all-encompassing. There is however the Sneaky Upgrade which we will combine with John P.'s Collective Texture Pack. About Sneaky Upgrade: Again, I recommend a clean install. If you've already got the texture pack, uninstall that first (Start Menu->All Programs->Eidos->Thief - Deadly Shadows->Collective Texture Pack) because if you don't the pack refuses to install again unless you fiddle with registry settings - and nobody wants to do that. Steam users need to disable the automatic updating: right-click on game title->properties->updates-.Always keep this game up to date [change to] Do not automatically update this game Download the current version of Sneaky Upgrade here Run Setup_T3SneakyUpgrade_1.1.1.1.exe as Admin (right-click, run as admin). Point it towards your Deadly Shadows install folder, for Steam users this is [...]:\Steam\steamapps\common\Thief Deadly Shadows. In the Select Additional Tasks screen, select the top three options: Extra multicore fix for T3.exe: This will set T3 to run on core 0. There has been one report of this being necessary, and it cannot hurt... Disable Alt-Tab while playing: For some reason the GUI text can grow large or disappear if the Thief 3 window loses focus temporarily. Even with this enabled you can still reach the desktop using Alt-Enter to switch to windowed mode Disable desktop effects while playing to prevent the desktop from showing: The game restarts itself every time a level is loaded. While that is happening a full-screen window is shown to prevent the desktop from appearing in between. Desktop effects can interfere with this You don't need: fan mission selector, Specify the path for fan mission installation, Set the game root to the chosen path, or Desktop icons. For fan missions you'll want to use The Dark Mod (see below), not this game. After installing the Sneaky Upgrade, start the game and go to the options screen to select an appropriate resolution, but resolution changes take effect only on the next restart or reload. In the in-game graphical options select AA instead of Bloom, because the game restarts each time you go into a mission and I can't get forcing AA through the Nividia control panel to work because of this. Unlike the first two games, modding Thief: Deadly Shadows causes the Steam Overlay to not work anymore. Now it's time for tweaks! Go to your Deadly Shadows install folder (to be exact here: [...]:\Steam\steamapps\common\Thief Deadly Shadows\save\SaveGames\User Options, GOG users - just ignore the first three paths) and open SneakyOptions.ini with Notepad. Change this: To this About the tweaks: The HUD is fucking huge, so that is essential and all the other tweaks just make the game better and a little more like the old ones. The lockpicking HUD just zooms you in, which breaks immersion - you can lockpick without it and it's much better for it. Now for John P.'s Collective Texture Pack! Download it here Right-click on CollectiveTexturePackv1.0.3.exe and run as admin. Point it towards your Deadly Shadows install folder, for Steam users this is [...]:\Steam\steamapps\common\Thief Deadly Shadows\. In the select options screen you can choose a face for Garrett in 'Garrett faces', large scar is the default look but choose whichever one you want, even the loading screens are adjusted accordingly. In 'Garrett outfits' you can choose 'equipment & weapons' in combination with one of the other three options (bare arms, clothed arms, thief 1 inspired). For 'N.P.C.s', 'Menu and gameplay specific',and 'environment' - just select everything. That's it! The game should now work better and look a lot nicer. Extra: The Dark Mod Dark Mod uses the Doom 3 engine and makes a Thief game out of it. It's standalone and completely free! You can download and play lots of different missions from within the main menu and some of them are truly mindblowing. It looks great, has all the advanced physics you expect of modern games plus all the gameplay mechanics of Thief 1 and 2 - some of them even improved, like the lockpicking which now requires you to listen whilst poking around inside a lock. Get it now! The recommended mission that comes with The Dark Mod, 'Tears of St. Lucia', has basically everything you want from a modern Thief game. 'A Score to Settle' is also really good, but just try them all out yourself! Anyone interested in this: website is here and the download link is here Handy links Links to all the recommended Thief sites in one handy list! Official Thief 4 website Thief: The Dark Wiki All things Thief on the TTLG forum T2X: Shadows of the Metal Age ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original post: This rumour I just saw on videogaming247 has gotten me more excited than any GTA or Halo hype ever could. Apparently Eidos Montreal is working on a "big new game" that "starts with the letter T", and now it seems that "If you check the Facebook profile pic of Stephane D'Astous, the general manager at Eidos Montreal, you'll see that the letter 'T' Thief logo is displayed." Oh man, I know there are other Thief fans on this forum, and although part 3 was a bit disappointing, a new Thief game is something to really look forward to. I just hope Eidos Montreal doesn't fuck it up.

Sounds fun maybe. Just found the Kickstarter concept video: http://youtu.be/zPhDWWGbaNU

By Fool's Theory (ex-CD Project Red) Steam Release Date: 1 Dec, 2017 ABOUT IMAGES VIDEOS How can this not be totally great?

That turned out well, huh?

Steamed hams but it's Metal Gear Solid

I discovered this by watching a Matt Lees vid, it's neat! By the chap what made Ben There, Dan That. Youtube of Matt Lees' Let's Play: What is it? It's a platformer roguelike, in which you rob money from procedurally generated houses / warehouses etc over the course of a 100 day end-game time limit. Oh and it's steampunk London and has brilliant music. As you rob places, you'll find money laying about (relatively small amounts) and computers to hack (relatively large amounts). If your character dies, or you complete a heist by returning to base, a day passes. Enemies in the stage are lethal but low risk (it's not really Mark of the Ninja levels of stealth initially, but it doesn't really need it) When you are spotted, the police are alerted and reach the level within a (seemingly random) amount of time. The police have guns and can kill you instantly; but you still have a chance of getting back to your escape pod to keep the money you've nabbed. Hell, you can even continue robbing a level for a short while before things get dangerous. You decide when to leave a level; it's not always possible to reach every bit of cash when visiting a level, and you can land yourself in situations impossible to escape. You use the quids you steal (literal use of pounds as a game currency, btw ) to upgrade your thieves with better abilities and get more stealing options. Very basic examples of these are capability to hack doors, or unlocking new districts in the city to visit. The progression of difficulty is ace, as it seems to work both on the time passed (i.e. certain enemies appear once you've reached a number of days left) and on location (i.e. second area has new tech preventing easy entry to buildings). It's fucking sweet, basically. Lessons Learned I want to keep a journal of the lessons I learn while playing this, consider them 'noob tips' but you may not want to read this spoiler if you enjoy working this stuff out yourself: Reviews: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-07-27-the-swindle-review http://www.pcgamer.com/the-swindle-review/ http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/PS+Vita/The+Swindle/review.asp?c=66715 Steam Page: http://steamcommunity.com/app/369110 Out now, 10.19 on Steam until Aug 4th. PSN Store Page: https://store.playstation.com/#!/en-gb/games/the-swindle/cid=EP4395-CUSA02311_00-THESWINDLECROSSB PS3, PS4 and Vita too! And the same price! Xbone Verison out on Friday 31st.

In case you missed it, I was very enthusiastic about Styx: Master of Shadows last year because it was 'a stealth game actually about stealth'. Nowadays most games which get billed as 'stealth games' in fact only use a simplified implementation of stealth as a minor part of the overall gameplay experience. Allow me to quote myself: In short, despite its low-budget looks and lack of polish, Styx: Master of Shadows is very much a stealth game like they used to make and it features a focus on verticality in the design of its environments, which reminded me of Tenchu in a good way. I always hoped that publisher Focus Home Interactive would let Cyanide take another shot at it and that's exactly what they have announced: This is the one screenshot they have released so far: Apart from Cyanide taking another stab at it, the good news is that they're getting a bigger budget to do so. The low-budget aspects were the main drawback of the original, so if they are able to retain the quality of the gameplay but offer it in a bigger, better, more polished package then I'm all for it. As long as the stealth remains 'pure' but going from the press release it sounds like we don't have anything to worry about. So. Anybody else except me excited about the return of the Styx?

I suspect not a lot of people are going to be interested in this thread, but what the hell. Styx: Master of Shadows is a stealthgame from Cyanide Studios, they usually make cycling games but have been branching out to other genres since a few years back. You may have heard of Of Orcs and Men, their b-game RPG that didn't click with me at all, despite a few interesting concepts. The sneaky goblin Styx also appears in Of Orcs and Men, it's the same setting and I suspect Master of Shadows is a prequel. But I'm not completely sure since the story is pretty bad. In fact, there are a lot of bad things about Styx; the human character models are terrible, the voice acting is bad, the story is badly told, the A.I. can be pretty stupid when patrolling guards walk into each other and simply keep walking until they 'unstick', grabbing and hanging from ledges is unnecessarily fiddly (but you get used to it quickly, I found) and the last boss of the entire game is atrocious. But here's the good part: apart from Mark of the Ninja (which is a 2D spin-off of a genre that has been defined by the act of carefully navigating 3D environments since 1998) Styx is also the only proper stealth game in over a decade. That I can remember at least. Sure, there have been games like Assassin's Creed, Dishonored, Metal Gear Cutscene, Thief 2014 (urgh), but they all use a simplified implementation of stealth mostly as minor part of the overall gameplay experience. They use the idea of stealth to complement the fighting, the set-pieces, the platforming and etcetera, but none offer the same focus on stealth as the actual stealth classics from way back when and therefore lack the fantastic nail-biting tension these games offered. Sure, traditional stealth games are not for everybody as it requires patience and a methodical approach, but the beautiful contrast of being horrendously overpowered while you remain undetected (you're basically one-hit killing everybody) and shockingly vulnerable once you are seen, is unique to the stealth genre and I love that. At any moment, with just one tiny mistake, you can instantly go from being an overpowered hunter, to an underpowered and insignificant prey. All of the modern titles I mentioned above, which use stealth as minor part of the experience, completely lack this defining contrast. Anyway. Despite its low-budget looks, production and lack of polish, Styx: Master of Shadows is very much a stealth game like they used to make. You can sort of think of it as a combination of 90s Thief and Tenchu, it has the careful concealment in darkness and focus on tools to maintain or expand that darkness of the former, and the fast acrobatics to avoid enemies and navigate environments with a focus on verticality of the latter. In fact, it's the verticality of the level-design which impresses most, the environments are huge and each one feels like a sandbox unto its own.Usually I hate games which use indicators to tell me where to go, but in Styx it doesn't matter - there are so many ways to reach the goal that choosing a path is almost a puzzle in itself. In one area I remember spending a long time getting past a heavily guarded room, lots of saving and reloading, but when I arrived there a second time I discovered an alternative route way above the same room - and I mean like six or so stories above it, making that dreaded room look tiny. The stealth itself is enjoyable if you like that sort of thing. It's a shitty thing to say, but that is what it boils down to - do you enjoy traditional stealth games? if not, stay the fuck away and wait for a new Metal Gear Dialogue or Dishonored instead. Styx is difficult and punishing, but enjoyably so. You get lots of options and tools to navigate past patrolling AI, like one-hit kill throwing knifes - but you can only carry two at most. Or tiny sandballs moistened with spit to put out torches from a distance - but you can only carry five. You can use amber, some kind of magical stuff with its own limited bar, to turn temporarily invisible - but you can carry only two amber-restoring potions. You can also create clones which you can control from a distance and once you level up you can use those to create traps - put a clone in closet and order it to kill the first guard that passes by. Amber always regenerates to a minimum amount so that you're at least able to create one clone or activate amber vision. This last power lets you scan the environment, it lights up enemies and hooks which you can use to climb up wall. Like the waypoint indicator this would usually annoy the fuck out of me in any other game, but the environments can be so sprawling and the enemies so difficult to avoid or kill, that you actually need to use it and so it becomes part of a challenging and satisfying stealth experience. Also, there's no distinction between a lethal and non-lethal way to dispose of enemies. Rather brilliantly you can choose from a quick and loud kill or a quiet but agonisingly slow kill. With the slow method you won't alert the other nearby guards (although they can be alerted if they're close enough to hear the body hit the floor) but while you're slowly killing one of their colleagues there's always a chance that another guard will walk by and see you. It adds a lot of tensions and it forces you to be even more strict with your timing that you usually would in a stealth game. After you've killed someone, you can pick up the body and hide it somewhere. Always a plus in any stealth game. You can also do stuff like drop chandeliers on unsuspecting guards below or poison the drinks or food - but beware that the poison takes some time to kick in. Each mission can be ghosted, there's even a reward for that, but it makes it even more challenging of course. You can replay every mission form the hideout, even after completing the game, and use any newly bought skills to actually stand a chance of ghosting earlier missions. I should also mention that all the environments of the first half of the game are recycled in the second half. They're even more enjoyable second time around because they've have made them more difficult, forcing you to get more creative, but it's jarring nonetheless. And the otherwise wonderful level design is sometimes spoiled by specific choke points, instead of having the usual freedom to go wherever, however you want - you're instead forced to navigate past a narrow hallway or door in a handful of specific ways. In short, Styx: Master of Shadows is flawed and low-budget, but its heart is in the right place. Cyanide Studios made a proper stealth game, like the ones we used to enjoy. If you can look past the flaws and enjoy it for what is, then you have a fun and challenging old school stealth experience to look forward to. It helps that it's also being sold digital-only, at half the price of a full retail game. The PC version is the one to get since the load times are really fast, which is pretty damn essential in a game which makes you use F5 and F9 as much as Styx does. In the Giant Bomb Quick Look they mentioned that loading times are really long in the console versions, and although I can't confirm this, that is enough to recommend PC. I mapped F5 to clicking down on the left stick on my 360 controller and F9 to clicking down on the right stick - it works great. So yeah, make of this what you will and I wonder how many responses this thread will get (For all the Dutch people: you can also read my review here)

By Wonderstruck Games Official Site Release Date: It's out! ABOUT IMAGES VIDEOS Saw like 2 minutes of the GB Quick Look immediately started working on a thread. I was very much pleasantly surprised by what I saw. The stylized visuals and excellent soundtrack alone are enough to make me put this on my wishlist and combined with the super easy control scheme (you only need a mouse) this seems like a winner! Secret Santa, take note! (actually don't as the current price point is a bit too steep I find) I'm honestly a sucker for these types of visuals. Just love me some stylization! So much so that even Escape from Dead Island thing looks enticing to me

This is so bought: Although it does mean giving money to the current team of nincompoops at IO Wonder what they did with Contracts, I'd imagine they simply took the offending song out. Which is what they should have done ages ago to get the game released on Steam and GOG.

I miss the thread subtitles And why is there no [stealth] tag goddammit, or should I tag this as a FPS or something? Anyway, Shinobido is a game some of you might remember from the PS2 days. It was never released in the USA, but for some reason they did bother with a PAL version. The game was made by the original Tenchu devs, who you might also know from the Way of the Samurai series, and who went on to make Shinobido (translated: Way of the Ninja, with 'shinobi' meaning 'ninja' faq fans!) after losing the Tenchu ip as a sort of spiritual successor. It took the best elements of Tenchu, i.e. the open levels in which you could devise your own routes and approaches, and turned it up to eleven. The protagonist of Shinobido was a lot more nimble than Rikimaru, had access to loads more items with which to outwit your enemies, the game featured an alchemy system to craft those items, you could freely select which missions to take on from multiple employers, and loads more. Since then there has been a Shinobido game for the original PSP but that was fucking awful imho. Anyway, with the release of the Vita comes the long-awaited (well, awaited by me at least) release of Shinobido 2! Check out the gameplay trailer below: As you can see, it looks like more of the same but the new features that stand out are the ability to float and a special move to freeze time and go in for an extra gory stealth kill. The way the game works is that there are multiple warlords at each others' throats (I think three in total) and you can accept missions from any one of them. Doing a mission for the one warlord will lower your standing with the other two, however. Furthermore, you choice of mission and employer could have an impact on the way the story unfolds. During missions you have a main goal (assassinate someone for example) but your rewards increase if you achieve optional goals and earn a higher score at the end of the mission - for example, by not being seen at all. You earn experience points with which you can improve your stats and abilities and gold to buy items. Items which you purchase and find during missions can be combined into new items, proper ninja items to use in missions, using alchemy. Better abilities and stats and items open up new tactical possibilities, thus leading to better rewards and even more stealthy awesomeness! Unlike Tenchu there are a lot more ways of luring and distracting guards thanks to the vastly expanded move and item lists. Your ninja also moves like lightning through the levels compared to Tenchu, he's a lot more nimble, but he also has access to old faves like the grappling hook. Be warned that the usual downsides of these Acquire ninja stealth sims will probably be present once again: wonky controls and camera which take a bit getting used to, and not entirely convincing AI. If you enjoyed the early Tenchu titles back in the day and you're able to look past that and immerse yourself into the Ninja stealthy goodness and the surrealistic historical Japanese atmosphere, this might be worth a go. I will post my thoughts on the game once I've had a chance to play it, so you could always wait for my verdict if you want to know what a fan of Acquire ninja stealth games makes of it. In the meantime, enjoy some screens: Link to the original Shinobido on PS2 thread Link to the All Things Tenchu thread Link to the Way of the Samurai series thread ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rllmuk Final Results screens Mr. Gerbik: Shynra: Doc NI, normal: And Doc NI, hard: