* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Aragami
アラガミ
A third-person stealth-action game developed by Spain's Lince Works, released on 4 October 2016. The shadow-manipulating assassin spirit Aragami teleports from shadow to shadow, taking down enemies with a single blow.
Description
Overview
Aragami is a third-person stealth-action game developed by Lince Works, an indie studio based in Barcelona, Spain. It was released on 4 October 2016 for PlayStation 4, Windows, macOS and Linux, and later expanded to Xbox One (2018) and Nintendo Switch (2019). Originally developed under the title Twin Souls: The Path of Shadows, the game was praised for its Japanese, ninja-inspired world in which shadows can be freely manipulated, and for its high degree of stealth in quietly hunting down enemies.
An Assassin Who Commands Shadows
The protagonist, Aragami, is a shadow spirit summoned by the captive girl Yamiko, and he disappears when exposed to sunlight. He can teleport from shadow to shadow, and with learned techniques can temporarily make himself vanish. Late in the game, it is revealed that his true identity is the soul of Ryo, the first shogun of the Light Army Kaiho, and Aragami faces his final battle wielding his former sword.
A Blade Born from Shadow
In terms of game systems, Aragami can kill an enemy within reach in a single blow, but he falls if he is hit even once by an enemy's attack. The additional content "Nightfall" (2018) is a prequel starring the shadow-side assassins Hyo and Shinobu.
Reception and Expansion of the Series
The game was praised for the exhilaration of "quietly taking down enemies in a single blow" and for its unique world combining ninja and Japanese-style fantasy. Its Metacritic score was 71/100 (PC and PS4 versions), and while reactions were mixed, it sold more than 500,000 copies by March 2020. A sequel, Aragami 2, was released in 2021, introducing cooperative play and new swordsmanship and combat systems to expand the series. Its original stealth mechanic of moving from shadow to shadow is regarded as having added new expression to the Japanese-style stealth-action genre.
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This page is intended to introduce Japanese sword culture and is not affiliated with any of the works mentioned.