Skydance Interactive announced during UploadVR’s Summer Showcase that the award-winning stealth-action VR game Arashi: Castles of Sin (2021) is finally making its way to major VR headsets this fall.
Developer by Endeavor One, Arashi: Castles of Sin is slated to bring its visceral melee combat to Quest 2, Quest 3, PSVR 2, and PC VR headsets for the first time.
Initially released exclusively on PSVR back in 2021, the studios say we can expect from the new ‘Final Cut’ version “improved visuals, updated enemy and boss behavior, revamped controls, and tons of additional quality-of-life features.”
Here’s how Endeavor One describes the action:
In Arashi: Castles of Sin – Final Cut, you’ll step into the shoes of deadly shinobi assassin Kenshiro and embark on a quest for justice, becoming one with the shadows as the last surviving member of House Arashi. This is your chance to experience feudal Japan in an era where the country is in chaos as the Six Oni of Iga have seized castles across the country, carving a bloody path of terror in their wake.
The game features a pretty wide assortment of weapons, tools, and techniques, all of which help you infiltrate conquered castles and outwit your enemies as you hunt down each Oni, the studio says.
Arashi: Castles of Sin – Final Cut is slated to arrive on the PSVR 2, PC VR and Quest platform sometime this fall. We’ll be keeping our eyes on the game’s new Twitter profile for more updates as they arrive.
PlayStation VR owners who like to own a physical copy for their virtual reality (VR) collections will be able to add another to that list today. Endeavor One has collaborated with Perp Games to create a physical version of its ninja experience Arashi: Castles of Sin, with a couple of special extras thrown in.
In this Special Retail Edition, you’ll not only get the videogame on a nice physical disc but you’ll also get a downloadable digital artbook with loads of awesome images, plus a digital soundtrack so you can get that Arashi: Castles of Sin vibe wherever you are.
Exclusive to PlayStation VR, Arashi: Castles of Sin drops you in feudal Japan as deadly shinobi assassin Kenshiro the last surviving son of the noble House Arashi. “Vicious bandits known as the Six Oni of Iga have seized control of castles across the country, carving a bloody path of terror in their wake,” the synopsis explains. “With the guidance of your cousin, Ayane, and your faithful wolf companion, Haru, at your side, liberate the land and vanquish the merciless despots staking their claim.”
Armed with an array of feudal-era Japanese weapons, including a bow, katana, blowgun, shuriken, poisoned food and more you have to infiltrate castles and kill these six bandits. Arashi: Castles of Sin provides multiple routes depending on whether you prefer a stealthy rooftop approach to quietly dispatch enemies or a more direct assault. Plus, with Haru by your side, you’ll be able to command the wolf to attack foes or create distractions.
Reviewing Arashi: Castles of Sin for its PlayStation VR launch, VRFocus said: “Arashi: Castles of Sin has some solid ideas and mechanics going for it, from the wealth of tools available to the ability to pick and choose how you attack each castle. Yet the issues do hamstring the experience and stop it from being the great VR ninja game it could have been.”
The Special Retail Edition of Arashi: Castles of Sin is available now in Europe for £29.99 GBP. It’s sold out on Perp Games’ own store but retailers including GAME and Amazon have it in stock. For further updates on the latest PlayStation VR releases, keep reading VRFocus.
Arashi: Castles of Sin launches today on PSVR, promising to give players a stealth-action sandbox set in feudal Japan.
Arashi: Castles of Sin comes from Endeavor One, the studio behind the Halo Recruit demo, VR attraction experience Dome of the Dead and others. Available starting today on PSVR priced at $30, Arashi: Castles of Sin is the studio’s most ambitious VR game to date, and one of the larger PSVR releases in some time. A physical version of the game will be available worldwide starting on September 3rd.
Arashi takes players to feudal Japan and promises to put them in the boots (or is it jika-tabi?) of a trained ninja who stealthily infiltrates bases to take out opponents. The studio says players can expect a wide range of weaponry like a “katana and tanto, shuriken, bow and arrows, grenades, grappling hook,” and more. You’ll also have a wolf companion to help take down enemies.
'Arashi: Castles of Sin' Screenshots
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Image courtesy Endeavor One
Image courtesy Endeavor One
Image courtesy Endeavor One
Image courtesy Endeavor One
Image courtesy Endeavor One
Image courtesy Endeavor One
Image courtesy Endeavor One
Image courtesy Endeavor One
Image courtesy Endeavor One
Image courtesy Endeavor One
Image courtesy Endeavor One
The game’s grappling hook has been shown to work both as a means of locomotion (quickly zipping from A to B), and as a weapon (pulling enemies off of ledges), making it an interesting tool in what the studio says is a “stealth-action sandbox” driven by a dramatic story about political intrigue and revenge.
When it comes to action videogames virtual reality (VR) developers have got you covered, there are loads of them. The same can’t be said for more stealth-oriented titles. A couple spring to mind like Espire 1: VR Operative or Phantom: Covert Opsbut what if you want to go a little more old-school, hiding in the shadows like a ninja assassin? For that you’ll want Arashi: Castles of Sin by Endeavor One, mixing thrilling storytelling and gameplay into one.
Arashi: Castles of Sin takes you back to feudal Japan, setting the scene where you play a deadly assassin for the House of Arashi. In a wave of violence six bandits known as the Six Oni of Iga have swept across the region killing everyone in their path. So you’re tasked with wiping out these threats, heading to their castles and dethroning these dangerous warlords.
And so starts an adventure in the shadows, utilising era-specific weapons to slice your way through armies or not, Arashi: Castles of Sin is a sneaky videogame after all. Levels are set out as one giant castle to infiltrate, get to the centre and slay the boss. Fairly linear, A to B-style approach with the flexibility to choose your own path – to an extent.
To begin with, you’re given a katana and grappling hook to aid those rooftop excursions with the tools soon stacking up with the addition of a box, shuriken, gas bombs, mines and more. Whilst supplies aren’t bountiful there’s usually enough scattered around each level that you can liberally mix and match, it all depends on how you want to tackle each area as plenty of those items are found next to guards.
Endeavor One has sought to give you as many options as possible when it comes to tackling each of the castle grounds. Obviously, the stealth approach is the best tactic as you can leap across roofs or hide in the long grass to fire a deadly arrow or a well-placed shuriken. Those little pointy stars of death are deadly and have an auto-aim so as long as you throw in the general direction they should hit first time.
However, Arashi: Castles of Sin doesn’t feel that versatile, to begin with, you need to give it time to develop. The first couple of levels don’t have anywhere near the same scope as the later ones do, offering only a basic selection of choices. Once you’re halfway through the gameplay really opens up, where you can select your loadout before each mission and then really get stuck into exploring the verticality of the levels.
You’re not alone either. While you might have thought a shadowy assassin would’ve worked solo you’ve got a companion in the form of a wolf called Haru. It’s clear Endeavor One put a lot of work into your furry buddy, adding charm and warmth into what is mostly a cold, expert killing experience. In the hub temple, Haru will come up for attention and play ball with you, whilst out in the field Haru can cause distractions or be made to attack guards. Unfortunately, there is a downside to Haru. The wolf bounces around the fortified encampments as if was natural for this animal to just be wandering through, with none of the guards batting an eyelid. So that ultimate sense of stealth is washed over because you’re running along in the shadows or up on a roof and there’s your pet wolf laughing at these heavily defended fortresses.
This leads into another area where Arashi: Castles of Sin falters. The enemies aren’t as sharp as those katana’s they’re holding. Two can be stood right next to each other, you’ll kill one and the other won’t flinch as their mate lets out a dying scream. Yet one 200 meters away on a rock will spot you very quickly. They have a specific vision cone so outside of that you’re good. Quickly walking up behind them won’t alert them, only activating run will do that, and for the most part, running isn’t really needed.
What was pleasantly surprising was the good implementation of PlayStation Move. It’s a controller that doesn’t always bode well for smooth locomotion titles, turning and general walking can be finicky. Yet the “Virtual Controller” system generally feels fairly fluid, whether that’s sneaking across a courtyard or climbing a set of vines. So it must be said Arashi: Castles of Sin should be considered an intense experience, even with all the comfort controls supplied.
Also on the plus side, it’s nice just being inside Arashi: Castles of Sin. There’s lots of attention to detail inside your home temple and the enemy castles, being able to plunge an area into darkness with a tap of your sword on a nearby fire. And the story delivery looks beautiful, with hand-painted scenes between levels enriching the videogame as a whole. It would’ve been nice if there was English dubbing as subtitles always distract, but that’s a minor annoyance.
Far more infuriating is the swordplay. There are VR titles that expertly showcase sword fighting in VR, Arashi: Castles of Sin isn’t one of them. The system is very basic so you never feel like your properly duelling, simply boiling down to block, parry to put the opponent off, then hit. You can’t get a hit in any other way. What’s worse is this is how each boss encounter plays out – albeit with a slight attack variance – making them very repetitive.
Arashi: Castles of Sin has some solid ideas and mechanics going for it, from the wealth of tools available to the ability to pick and choose how you attack each castle. Yet the issues do hamstring the experience and stop it from being the great VR ninja game it could have been. You’ll get a good 5+ hours out of Arashi: Castles of Sin, and whilst you can retackle levels however you wish, there’s no incentive to go full stealth or completely on the offensive. Scampering across rooftops flinging shuriken is still fun though.
Endeavor One, the virtual reality (VR) studio best known for Halo: Recruit is about to launch its biggest project to date, the PlayStation VR exclusive Arashi: Castles of Sin. Today, the studio has released a brand new trailer confirming the launch date will be tomorrow.
Set in feudal Japan, Arashi: Castles of Sin you step into the role of Kenshiro, a deadly shinobi assassin and the last surviving son of the noble House Arashi. “Vicious bandits known as the Six Oni of Iga have seized control of castles across the country, carving a bloody path of terror in their wake,” the synopsis explains. “With the guidance of your cousin, Ayane, and your faithful wolf companion, Haru, at your side, liberate the land and vanquish the merciless despots staking their claim.”
As an elite ninja, you have to kill these six bandits using stealth and your handy wolf companion, Haru. Arashi: Castles of Sin will allow you to tackle areas however you wish, taking to the rooftops to quietly dispatch enemies with your bow or sneak through villages on the ground and use your katana. With Haru by your side, you’ll be able to command the wolf to attack foes or create distractions.
Endeavor One is keeping things authentic by offering an arsenal of feudal-era Japanese weapons, so alongside the bow and katana, there’s the blowgun, shuriken, poisoned food and more. All designed for silent killing to avoid direct combat. But as the trailer clearly highlights, when needs must you can have full-on sword fights in Arashi: Castles of Sin.
Arashi: Castles of Sin arrives on 10th August for PlayStation VR. The samurai adventure isn’t the only title launching tomorrow for Sony’s headset, Kluge Interactive’s rhythm action game Synth Riders finally drops. And there’s plenty more for PlayStation VR owners to look forward to this month with Fracked, I Expect You to Die 2 and Traffic Jams on the way.
For further PlayStation VR updates, keep reading VRFocus.
The developer of the upcoming Arashi: Castles of Sin wants to grow the game beyond its upcoming PSVR debut.
In a Q&A with UploadVR (which we’ll be posting this weekend), we asked the team’s Tom Doyle if there were plans to bring the game to more platforms beyond PSVR. Doyle was tight-lipped, but did suggest there is a future of the game in some form.
“We have a lot of ideas on how we want to explore and grow Arashi,” replied, “but right now it is only available on PlayStation VR.”
Hopefully we’ll see the game reach other platforms, then. Arashi holds a lot of promise, offering up a full single-player campaign in which players infiltrate six castles set in feudal Japan. You utilize stealth and combat to work through open levels and take down a series of bosses. With a range of different weapons to utilize and an animal companion to pet, we’re hoping it’ll deliver some Tenchu-style thrills.
If you’re looking to find out more about the game make sure to catch our Q&A this weekend, where we’ll find out more about the basics of the mechanics and Endeavor One’s plans for the game.
Will you be checking out Arashi: Castles of Sin when it launches on PSVR? Let us know in the comments below!
Arashi: Castles of Sin is an upcoming stealth combat game set in feudal Japan, where you take on ruthless bandits in effort to recapture castles that rightful belong to your noble House of Arashi. It’s just been announced for PSVR.
Seattle-based developer Endeavor One says in a PS blogpost that Arashi was “built from the ground up for VR,” and that it includes “state-of-the-art movement and a deadly arsenal of feudal era weapons.”
Here’s how Endeavor One describes the setup:
Assume the role of Kenshiro, an elite shinobi and the last surviving son of the noble House Arashi. Castles across feudal Japan have been captured by ruthless bandits, the Six Oni of Iga. With your wolf companion, Haru at your side, exact revenge for their merciless destruction and reclaim the castles for good. It is a time of warring states, and the land cries out for justice. It’s up to you to deliver it.
Like many sandbox-style stealth combat games, Arashi is said to let player choose how to defeat enemies. You can distract, side-step, stealthily kill, and go with a more ‘head-on’ approach. You’re also set to have a furry wolf companion names Haru, who helps you take out enemies. We sure hope Haru is quiet.
On your journey as a ninja, you’ll be able to scale rooftops, repel and strike from above, wield an arsenal of authentic feudal-era Japanese weapons, use the instincts of Haru, an “[i]mmerse yourself in a suspenseful drama rife with political intrigue and revenge,” the studio says.
Arashi: Castles of Sin is slated to land on PSVR headsets sometime in summer 2021.
Microsoft held a press conference for the upcoming launch of the Windows Mixed Reality platform today, confirming the existence of the Samsung Odyssey and launching the pre-order campaign for the numerous head-mounted displays (HMDs). However, the arguably biggest news is that the platform will arrive with its own entry in the Halo franchise: Halo: Recruit.
“I’ll admit it, when VR first became a “thing,” I was skeptical, [sic]” states Kiki Wolfkill, executive producer at 343 Industries, in a recent update to Halo Waypoint. “The idea of putting on a headset seemed claustrophobic and the promise of truly inhabiting a virtual space felt far away… boy was I wrong. There are precious few opportunities as a creative team to get to explore a truly brand new medium – the mixed reality space is exactly that, and it’s magical. Here at 343 Industries, we are just starting to dip our toes into the mixed reality space but we are hugely passionate about the potential to truly explore and play in our universe with this technology.”
Halo: Recruit was announced as a launch title for the Windows Mixed Reality platform today, set to be launched via the Windows Store for free. In-store demonstrations of the title will also be available, but no details on the gameplay were initially revealed. This has now changed, as Wolfkill has revealed exactly what Halo: Recruit is.
“It is a light introduction to the world of Halo and some of its most iconic characters… oh, and its weapons and maybe a Warthog,” states Wolfkill. “The point is, it was a chance for us to start to play with Microsoft’s amazing new technology and for you to get to stand toe-to-toe with an Elite (yes, I may have whimpered a little my first time in).”
The five minute experience was developed in conjunction with Endeavor One, a Seattle based virtual reality (VR) company focused on entertainment based experiences and social gaming.
Halo: Recruit will launch on 17th October 2017, exclusively for the Windows Mixed Reality platform. VRFocus will keep you updated with all the latest details on this and other videogame titles heading to Windows Mixed Reality HMDs.
Halo: Recruit will launch on 17th October 2017, exclusively for the Windows Mixed Reality platform.