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Review: Toukiden: The Age of Demons

Take one part Onimusha, two parts Dynasty Warriors, and an extra healthy serving of Monster Hunter (with Monster Hunter sides, and perhaps a second helping of Monster Hunter), and you’ve got Toukiden: The Age of Demons, a new… umm… monster hunting title by Omega Force, exclusively for the PlayStation Vita.

Set in a fictional Japanese-themed locale, players assume the role of a newly appointed “Slayer” — a member of a demon hunting force that has been defending the lands throughout history. An event 8 years prior resulted in a resurgence of Oni (demons) attacks on the populace, which destroyed major towns and put the humans on the back foot. As time progresses within the game, the Oni threat gets worse and worse, and of course, you the player are here to save the world. The story itself starts out very thin, and only becomes somewhat interesting around 20 hours in. I’m still not convinced I was engaged – I really just wanted to fight me some monsters.

Playing out essentially as a third-person beat-’em-up, players choose missions to attack with up to 3 NPCs (which can also be real people, if you chose to play online/local multiplayer). These are mostly “kill the bad guy” missions, with some based on a target number of a certain enemy unit, and others based on taking out a single, large Oni (these play out like boss fights). There are a number of battlefields that missions play out on – each representing a different ‘age’ from Japanese history (although the game is technically not set in Japan, so the references are confusing). Strangely, though, the battlefields are broken up into small sections as opposed to one large area, which is similar to the Monster Hunter series. I would have preferred a little more variation to the battlefields – or even just a large open world, but I’m sure that would have taken considerably more development time (and, to be honest, resulted in a different game).

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After customising their character, players can choose from one of 6 weapon types, each with their own pros and cons – some are good ranged weapons, for example, while others are quite powerful, but very short range. Weapon type can be changed at any time, and there is no statistic that governs weapon proficiency – this means that there is no punishment for deciding to change weapon on a whim. “Slots” on the weapons can be filled with Mitama – souls of historical warriors that can be recovered from vanquished enemies. These provide additional skills – essentially magic – that can help turn the tide of battle. However, they must be chosen carefully to match play style — there is no “safe” choice; it’s either all support or all offence (or defense and so on) and not a mixture of types. This was a welcome idea, but with only 6 skill types available to hundreds of Mitama, I was at a loss to understand the need for such variety in this particular area.

On defeating enemies, players can ‘cleanse’ their bodies or body parts (in the case of the larger boss-type Oni), acquiring items that can be used to create new weapons or armour, which is done in the hub world where you can unwind, progress the story, and choose missions. The item upgrade system is interesting, and there are numerous items to collect, with clear ‘recipes’ to create weapons and armour, but no real way to know where to find them, which was frustrating. With the addition of side quests (each of which is essentially a fetch quest), this aspect of the game tends to feel very grindy the deeper one gets. I guess this is the nature of the product, but it was painful at times.

In terms of enemy variety, while there are a number of different Oni, many of them are simply the same design in a different colour. There just isn’t enough variety, and I found myself fighting the same demons over and over again. This only helped to increase the grind… Larger Oni, while more enjoyable to fight, were also always the same – one Manhunter this level, a Windshredder the next, and another Manhunter the one after – it really got quite repetitive. More are of course added throughout the game, but given each takes around 20-30 minutes to defeat, encountering them more than once is already too many times.

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Graphically, Toukiden is beautiful. It manages to capture a lot of the beauty of Japanese landscape (even if it is a little battle-damaged), and the large Oni are highly detailed. As players progress through the game, they will create new armour and weapons, and there is quite a lot on offer – these kinds of games tend to rely on grind to unlock the more powerful weapons (and considering the game continues after completing the main storyline, fans of monster hunting titles have a lot to be excited about). The weapons and armour pieces themselves are highly detailed, and characters become more and more badass over the course of the game. Certainly – this is a Vita game, so there are some low detail textures and jaggy structure, but overall, it’s great to look at. The music is a pleasure as well, and never gets annoying.

Most important, though, are the fighting mechanics. Each weapon has essentially a light and heavy attack (which manifests in different kinds of attacks depending on the weapon – a spear, for example, has a thrust and a swing attack). Another button provides a dodge function, while yet another will access a special move. The right shoulder button puts the character in a kind of trance, which is used to cleanse defeated Oni, and also provides access to your Mitama’s special skills (assigned to the face buttons). The left stick toggles auto-aim, with the thumbsticks handling movement and aiming. While it is a system that works, occasionally the buttons can get in the way – particularly because aiming is mapped to the thumbstick on the same side of the controller as the attack buttons (seriously, it’s virtually impossible to hold one of the face buttons and use the right thumbstick to aim). Another issue is that the aiming reticule depends on where the character is facing, not where you have directed the screen, so pressing the left trigger will occasionally reset your view – even after you seemingly lined things up prior. It’s very frustrating and takes some time to get used to.

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Toukiden is one of those games that’s hard to put into a box – and given the restrictions of scoring in a review, that’s precisely what I need to do. In terms of gameplay, it can be frustrating as a result of the controls, but conversely, given the amount of a beating that the larger Oni require, it can also be quite satisfying to take one down. The grind that is required to improve weaponry and armour is overwhelming, but the weapons and armour themselves are varied enough to be desirable. The story is a bit lame overall, but there was a part of me that wanted to see the next chapter – if only to see what the next “big bad” would look like. I guess, in a way, Toukiden is a game of contradiction… which is conflicting.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with Toukiden — even given its numerous issues. Gameplay is deep and requires careful, practised attacks (I would recommend playing on a more challenging difficulty, as normal wasn’t terribly satisfying – although it does get MUCH harder over time). The scope is enormous – those with time up their sleeves can pour in days of their life and there’ll still be room for more. It has it’s foibles, but for fans of the genre, there is much here to like.


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About the author

Greg Newbegin

Proud father of two, and a lover of games. Retro collector, writer, and fan of all things Japanese. I love all gaming machines equally.