5 greatest video games like Shogun to maintain the historic Japan vibes going

Shōgun, the restricted TV collection based mostly on the historical-fiction novel by James Clavell, rapidly asserted itself as one in every of this 12 months’s greatest new collection, due to a charming forged of characters and a stirring efficiency by lead Hiroyuki Sanada as Lord Toranaga.

When you’re nonetheless devastated by this week’s collection finale and are on the lookout for a recreation to sate your want for extra nice storytelling set in historic Japan, we’ve bought you coated. We’ve hand-selected a few of our favourite video games to assist ease the transition right into a post-Shōgun world. Let’s dive in!

Shadow Techniques: Blades of the Shogun

Picture: Mimimi Productions/Daedalic Leisure

The place to play: PlayStation 4, Home windows PC, Xbox One

Typically, a veiled knife at the hours of darkness is price greater than 100 swords on the battlefield. Working example: The top of Shōgun’s second episode, when a shinobi disguised as a longtime home servant tears by guards and bystanders alike, leaving blood in his wake, earlier than being reduce down by Lord Toranaga. So, in case you’re on the lookout for a stealthy motion recreation the place technique and persistence are king, Mimimi Productions’ 2016 real-time ways recreation is a must-play.

Set in feudal Japan shortly after the reigning shogun has unified the nation, Shadow Techniques: Blades of the Shogun follows a gaggle of unlikely allies who band collectively of their frequent quest to take down a mysterious warlord that threatens the shogunate. It’s a wonderful and completely underrated stealth recreation that places emphasis on profiting from every talent your social gathering of playable characters brings to each problem. —Toussaint Egan

Complete Warfare: Shogun 2

Picture: Artistic Meeting/Sega

The place to play: Home windows PC

Shōgun takes place throughout the finish of the Sengoku interval, a time by which incessant civil warfare has divided the nation into numerous domains overseen by warlords trying to broaden their territories. The collection’ finale ends on the cusp of struggle, with Toranaga reflecting on what might be often known as the Battle of Sekigahara. When you have been upset by the shortage of an enormous battle on the finish of Shōgun, this basic RTS is the proper option to expertise that.

Artistic Meeting’s path to strategy-gaming dominance started in 2000 with the unique Shogun: Complete Warfare. After a decade-long romp by historical Rome and Europe, the developer returned to Japan in 2011 for Complete Warfare: Shogun 2. The consequence was a BAFTA award for greatest technique recreation, and the crystallization of a high-concept multimodal format that will go on to turn out to be the beloved trilogy Complete Warfare: Warhammer.

In Complete Warfare: Shogun 2, you’ll ship 1000’s of troopers, archers, and cavalry into pitched real-time tactical battles. Out of your hen’s-eye view over the battlefield, you’ll be able to get them organized to flank, hearth at, and cost the enemy. Then, within the turn-based overworld map, you’ll maneuver your forces to make the most of the terrain, utilizing it to unseat your AI-controlled opponents to dominate all of Japan. The timeline is an ideal match for the TV present, with items pulled from historic accounts of the sixteenth century.

To get probably the most bang to your buck, decide up the Complete Warfare: Shogun 2 collection on Steam, which incorporates the bottom recreation and its most important expansions. —Charlie Corridor

Rise of the Ronin

Picture: Crew Ninja/Sony Interactive Leisure

The place to play: PlayStation 5

When you’re on the lookout for a recreation the place you’ll be able to discover the attractive plains and rolling hills of Nineteenth-century Japan that Shogun solely briefly teased all through the collection, Crew Ninja’s first open-world motion journey is simply the sport to satiate your wanderlust. As a former anti-shogunate murderer turned ronin, gamers should traverse the countryside of Nineteenth-century Japan after their village is destroyed and their lifelong associate goes lacking. You’ll battle towards ruthless bandits, surly American troopers, and even ravenous canine as you try to carve out a brand new life for your self. Not solely that, however gamers are given the selection to forge bonds with vital characters and ally with clashing factions to resolve the destiny of Japan. If that doesn’t resonate with the themes of Shōgun, I don’t know what does. —TE

Nioh

Picture: Crew Ninja/Koei Tecmo

The place to play: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Home windows PC

Whereas loosely based mostly on true occasions, Shōgun is technically a piece of historic fiction, with John Blackthorne and Lord Yoshii Toranaga as fictional analogs for the real-life English sailor turned samurai William Adams and daimyo turned shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. When you’re on the lookout for one other, albeit extra violently exaggerated, tackle the occasions coated within the present, you must undoubtedly give Crew Ninja’s 2017 Soulslike Nioh a shot.

Set in a darkish fantasy model of 1600s Japan, gamers assume the position of an Irish sailor named William who arrives in Japan on a quest of vengeance towards Edward Kelley, an occult alchemist who seeks to perpetuate battle utilizing a military of oni. William rapidly allies himself with Ieyasu and his ninja servant Hanzo Hattori, who agree to assist him in his mission to take down Kelley in their very own quest to convey peace to Japan. It’s a wild and ridiculous motion RPG crammed with intense swordplay and scary bosses. It’s not precisely the equal of a slow-paced, emotionally wealthy status TV collection, however it’s a blast to play. —TE

Like a Dragon: Ishin!

Picture: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio/Sega

The place to play: PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Home windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Sequence X

The Like a Dragon (previously often known as Yakuza) collection has at all times had a repute for outlandish eventualities involving gold-hearted gangsters and over-the-top minigames. In 2014, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio took one of the vital radical steps within the franchise thus far, recasting the collection’ mechanics and concepts for an action-adventure spinoff set in Nineteenth-century Japan. Like a Dragon: Ishin! places gamers within the position of the legendary samurai Sakamoto Ryōma (modeled after common collection protagonist Kazuma Kiryu) as he fights to clear his title after his adoptive father is murdered by an murderer.

When you have been captivated by Shōgun’s meticulous rendition of Osaka Fortress, you’ll love exploring the sport’s huge and delightful model of the fort city of Tosa and Kyo, Japan’s capital metropolis throughout the Bakumatsu period. It’s a unbelievable recreation with compelling characters and nice fight, and with the current remake that permits gamers to get it on PC and current-gen consoles, there’s by no means been a greater time to attempt it out. —TE