Review: Aragami: Shadow Edition (PlayStation 4)

You are Aragami, a vengeful spirit with the power to control the shadows. You’ve been summoned by Yamiko, a girl imprisoned in the city fortress of Kyuryu. Embark on a dark journey full of blood and secrets to discover the truth about Aragami. Infiltrate the occupied city of Kyuryu with your supernatural powers and fight Light with Shadow. Uncover a story about twin souls bound together by destiny that surpasses time and memory.

Pros:

• Cool cell shaded graphics.
• 8.74GB download size. DLC is around 1.6GB.
• Graphics options-AA, Gamma, and V-Sync option.
• FOV slider.
• Two new characters for the DLC- Hyo, and Shinobu
• Opening tutorial with a help section on hand.
• Can invert controls.
• Platinum trophy.
• 12 new trophies for the DLC.
• Stealth action puzzler gameplay. Use the shadows to leap between the darkness and take out or avoid enemy encounters.
• DLC is the same gameplay as the base game but introduces new levels, New stealth attacks but maintains all the core mechanics.
• Cape/hood feature where it has a design on it that fills up when you have charge and able to jump between shadows, It also has icons to show how many abilities uses you have. It’s a cool feature that was first used in Journey with the scarf.
• Scrolls can be found in levels and are used to unlock and upgrade new abilities like make dead bodies disappear or decoy to name but a few of the many abilities you can get.
• Checkpoints throughout the level.
• Can play the game how you want, Take enemies out or avoid them it is up to you. Levels are big enough where you can take your own routes.
• Earn points by kills, Disposing of bodies into the darkness and finishing levels.
• Seals: Awarded at the end of the level you can earn up to 3 and they are given for finishing the level and hitting the criteria. The 3 seals are finish a level without being detected, Killing everyone and killing no one.
• Newly hidden collectibles for the DLC.
• DLC- You can turn seals on and off to affect the gameplay like harder enemies or more health.
• Can replay levels, Even doing so without messing up your story run through as it’s in a separate section.
• Rewarding experience.
• Oozing in atmosphere and really scratches the Tenchu itch.
• Decent loading times.
• Loading screens have tips on them.
• Online co-op with join/host options and an invite and private option. Including region.
• Loads of replayability.
• DLC has four new chapters.
• Can skip cutscenes.
• Decent AI behavior for the most part, They can investigate noises and go on alert status and hunt for you.

Cons:

• Slight stutter when entering a cutscene.
• Bad performance in the DLC it has constant screen tearing irrelevant to the graphics options.
• Few issues with screen tearing in built-up areas.
• Shadow leaping is awkward at first and has a slight learning curve especially with ledges.
• AI line of sight is a bit messed up with some ability to see further than others.
• Difficulty spikes.
• Enemies can sometimes go on alert on an already found corpse.
• Aiming shadow leap is clumsy and hard to judge.
• Says him when you are playing as a girl.
• A slow starter in terms of abilities.
• Make noise ability AOE seems a bit on the large side.
• Random glitches like clipping and scenery popping in and out.
• The show objective button spins the camera but its a short glance and disorientates more than it helps.
• Stealth animations are long.
• Looking around corners and general observation stuff is hard due to pop in or the way in which the camera works.
• Easy in most cases to just run through to the objective with little penalty.