Looking for something new in the roguelite scene, my attention was caught by a handsome tiger warrior in the trailer for Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade, an action RPG with roguelite elements by 7QUARK. Beyond that, the game oozed style and fast-paced action that begged to be experienced. Thankfully, that game has finally arrived on Steam. Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade is full of character, captivating gameplay, and just as intriguing storytelling. If you’re a fan of Asian art styles and lore, this game will be a must-play for you.
Three Figures, Three Tales, Countless Options
You can choose to play as three very distinct warriors each with their own personal story, fighting styles, and enhancements. The main reason we’re here reviewing the game on Gaming Furever, Taketora, is a cuddly on the inside but tough on the outside demon tiger man who uses his paws and archery skills to conquer his foes. There’s also a dual-blade wielding Immortal Ninja named Sara and an Oni Emissary blade user who darts around the battlefield. Each character has a melee and ranged attacks, but their own individual weapons and upgrades to enhance them. Getting to test the different synergies that could combine to do the most damage, while also allowing for some mercy at the hands of the damaging enemy strikes, was rewarding, as I found my experimentation more often than not led to tangible results. It took me a few runs before I finally made it through “Round 1” of the story. Each “Round” consists of an area to set up your fighter with their specific weapon choices. From there, you proceed into the roguelite part of the game, where you face waves of enemies on a stage. After you defeat them, you’re rewarded with some ingredients, currencies that last throughout runs and can be used to improve weapons and skills, and “Soul Orbs” that you use to choose new buffs for your weapons and abilities. These only last throughout the run and reset at the end of your attempt, when your health reaches zero. It’s these 3 sets of abilities, per weapon, that are the driving force of the game. That, paired with each weapon’s specific bonus ability, creates the satisfying blend of melee and ranged combat combos that you can combine with swift dash attacks to dodge and defeat your foes.
Besting Bosses
Every few regular levels, you face off against a boss (or set of boss enemies.) These are artfully crafted characters that have their own gripe with your chosen protagonist, or a reason they’ve been enthralled by the overarching “evil” entity. Each boss fight comes with its own set of obstacles, whether it be bullet-hell like projectiles, snaking torpedoes of pain, or large sweeping swathes of damage from swords of all types. The first couple times you face one of these impressive foes it may seem overpowered. However, with better weapons or buff selection, along with additional experience with their move sets, you learn how to more consistently conquer them. This is a sign of a great roguelite; one where your patience and pursuit of perfection is rewarded with progress. Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade does a great job of giving you story moments, permanent rewards, and the experience of seeing new levels, enemies, and more when you manage to proceed to the new level, boss, and round within a run. This goes for each time you play through the game as other characters, too.
A Reprieve and Renewal
After you beat a boss, and at other times within a run, you’ll be able to stop at a little festival. These serve as a reprieve from the action, and allow you to refill your health a bit, along with potential chances to use your acquired currencies on upgraded skills and buffs. Each festival can also feature a ramen chef, which can add some very beneficial buffs for the low price of some collected ingredients from chests at the end of each level, along with a few coins. These were a neat addition, and I enjoyed seeing the different types of ramen I could partake in. You can switch your ramen choice during a run, too, which definitely helped me feel more comfortable with choosing a maybe less powerful buff at the beginning, whilst knowing I could dig in for more later when things got tougher. Also at the festival, you have the chance to take on a Challenge Level. These levels had specific win/loss conditions, like beat the level before time runs out, or don’t die, or don’t get hit. They’d involve dodging a bunch of enemies for half a minute, or taking out a large horde within a certain time, or defeating a boss quickly. The reward for finishing the challenge was worth the chance most of the time, since it gave you buffs and other rewards. However, losing meant losing half of your current health. This risk/reward was enjoyable, and I definitely attempted the challenge more than I passed up on it, because I was able to face it in the festival, where I could also refill part of my health for free and pay to refill it even more if I failed. A bit of a reward at the midsection of a run if you’ve done well enough to have a high health bar once you arrive at the festival.
Stylish Settings and Artful Choices
As I mentioned, I enjoyed the boss fights, and the bosses are a treat to face because of their special designs and battle arenas. Their attacks aren’t cookie-cutter and felt fair and fun to adapt to. The use of special graphical effects to convey danger zones was effective, with fading dark zones, flashes of caution indicators, and other methods being employed to show times when you needed to get out of the area, or perhaps into it. The better your weapon power and abilities get, the less that large health bar seems intimidating. Outside of the boss battles, the levels and enemies themselves are interesting and artistic. Though they aren’t usually long (on purpose) they are filled out with environment appropriate decorations and architecture. Some of it is even destructible, and can house extra enemies or surprises. Verticality is even integrated, with some enemies being above you on a staircase or behind a section of the level. The enemies can be just as varied as the bosses, too. Some provide buffs to others, others will dash at you very quickly, and a lot take ranged shots at you. Deciding who to take out first factored into my fighting approach more than anything during the regular stages. This dance of destruction was engaging, and the introduction of new enemies consistently forced me to evolve and improve my choices within combat.
Appropriate Edo Audio
On the audio side of the game, what can I say except it’s pretty close to perfect. There is setting-appropriate background music for levels, boss fights, dialogue, and cutscenes that is thoughtfully chosen and adds to the experience. Weapon attacks and landing hits are satisfying and layered well with other audio. Nothing is left out other than full voice acting, and that’s fine. There are enough little touches of sound to emphasize specific parts to the storytelling, which makes them stand out. Enemies also swiped and attacked with audible flairs, and the whole game sang with everything going on.
Wanting More
As far as shortcomings go, I would say that though the game was heavy on story beats and character complexities, along with a defined art style that strung together every facet of the game, it was a bit lacking in brand new levels after you managed to make it through the full set. Because the game expects you to experience all three stories, that’s treated as sort of the core serving of meat in the package. The enemies and bosses during the regular “rounds” you play through with each of the three characters remains the same for the most part, that I could tell, and that makes your runs after the first character you choose a bit easier, but a bit more repetitive. However, that’s really my only gripe, as everything else within Yasha is very well done and expansive. But, at its full asking price of $29.99, it may not be enough varied enviroment content for your liking.
In Conclusion...
Overall, the game is a complete package that plays like a few other quality action roguelites do, but with a setting and style all its own. The Japanese Edo period is a stylistically wonderful place to put a game like this, and the characters and stories the game tells are deep, mysterious, and pull you in. Though it has its minor flaws, Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade pulls off its mission of providing a swift-paced, action-packed, story-driven adventure across three distinct characters that are all uniquely exciting to play as.
