SEGA’s Tenchu series, which debuted on the PlayStation with Tenchu Stealth Assassins, has many admirers. Though the stealth genre is much more expanded now than it was at the game’s inception, there are still lamentably few which allow you to play as a deadly ninja, a career which has been glamourised by no small number of videogames throughout the history of the medium. The games have followed the tale of the small kingdom of Goda, and in particular the adventures of the ninja heroes Rikimaru and Ayame.
With her clan-brother Rikimaru apparently dead, Ayame wanders the land in search of wrongs to right. One day she comes across the smouldering remains of a settlement, where apparently every inhabitant has been murdered. As she surveys the scene, Rin, a young girl, returns from ninja training to her home and mistakes Ayame for the perpetrator of this most vile crime. They fight, and the skilful Ayame defeats her without harming a hair on her head. Now, as Rin vows vengeance on the true culprits, Jyuzou and his gang, Ayame too feels that she must play her part in the resolution of the tragedy.
Play as Rin or Ayame, both highly trained warriors, against the fiendish Kuroya, and use an amazing array of weapons to exact your revenge. Armed at all times with a grappling hook, the pair also have access to all manner of weaponry, from exploding clockwork mice and poisoned rice cakes to more conventional equipment: knives, shuriken, armour and hand claws. There are spells to enable you to hide from the enemy, disguised as one of them, and your character can breathe and swim underwater using a bamboo tube as a snorkel, or you can use a magical dog bone to summon a powerful demon ally. As well as these, each character has their own unique selection of special attacks, from Rin’s savage Wolf Fang attack to Ayame’s devastating Red Phoenix move. And the powerful ninja-esses are rendered in the most glorious and atmospheric graphics to grace the series yet. We’re very excited about Tenchu: Fatal Shadows, and if you like ninja, you should be too.