Tag: Koei Tecmo
News Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition Defies Naming Logic in Surprise Rating
Super Turbo Ultimate Definitive Complete Deluxe Game of the Year Edition
You've heard of Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate. You've heard of Definitive Editions. But have you heard of Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition? No, this isn't some kind of meme — it's an actual name that was just given a rating in Australia (as spotted by Gematsu)...
Cauldron of Dreams
The Atelier games are a somewhat niche Japanese RPG series so it might surprise some to know that it's actually been around for 25 years, with 23 games in the main series and a heck of a lot of enhanced ports and side games. To celebrate this impressive achievement, developer Gust has decided to go back and continue the story of...
Fallen empires
After the disappointment of Dynasty Warriors 9 and its cardboard open world, we desperately wanted Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires to be good — to finally get Koei Tecmo's flaship franchise back on track. And while Empires is easily a better game than its predecessor, it still suffers from many of the issues that Dynasty Warriors 9...
Hands On Atelier Sophie 2 Seems Like a Very Promising JRPG Sequel
The story continues
Atelier’s Mysterious Trilogy was recently re-released on the PlayStation 4 but Gust has obviously decided that it isn’t quite finished with that story. Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream takes place in between the first and second games, and we were recently given access to the opening couple of hours on...
News Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires Demo Is Incoming
Hack and slasher still set for February
Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires has a new gameplay trailer, alongside news that a playable demo is coming soon. The hack and slash action-strategy title is set to launch on the 15th February for both PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. In Japan, however, it releases in just a few weeks, on the 23rd December. So, if...
Mini Review Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water (PS5) - Remaster Is More of a Trick Than Treat
Camera shy
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water wasn't anything special back in 2015 on Nintendo Wii U, and it's no better six years later. A sub-standard remaster ports the horror title to PlayStation 5 to conveniently coincide with Halloween, but for as creepy as it can be, it's not a particularly enjoyable game to actually play. If we were offered...
News Team Ninja's New Action Game Is Based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Koei Tecmo publishing
Nioh developer Team Ninja has revealed that it's working a new action game alongside publisher Koei Tecmo. The news comes via a recent livestream celebrating the 40th anniversary of Kou Shibusawa, who founded Koei all the way back in 1978, and is the company's current CEO. Shibusawa will be overseeing this new project, it...
News Bloodborne Producer Masaaki Yamagiwa Teams Up with Team Ninja
A stranger of paradise
A top producer from Japan Studio – who left Sony when the team was disbanded earlier in the year – has joined Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin developer Team Ninja. Masaaki Yamagiwa – whose credits include Bloodborne, Déraciné, and Tokyo Jungle to name just a few – was
News Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires Charges to PS5, PS4 in February 2022
A new stratagem
Well, Koei Tecmo did keep its promise of Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires releasing this year. Kind of. The strategy-tinged action title launches on the 23rd December... in Japan. Here in the West, we're going to have to wait a bit longer. 15th February 2022 is the date, adding to the already ridiculous early 2022 release schedule...
News Samurai Warriors 5 Pushes Series Past 8 Million Sales
Samurai spirit
Koei Tecmo's long running Samurai Warriors series has just smashed through 8 million sales thanks to the recent release of Samurai Warriors 5. The franchise started life on the PlayStation 2 in 2004, and has spawned 19 hack and slash Samurai Warriors games since — most of which have been spinoffs or typical Koei Tecmo upgrades...
News Fatal Frame Producer Wants to Make a New Game in the Series
Hoping Maiden of Black Water does well
Fatal Frame producer Keisuke Kikuchi is pinning his hopes of a new entry in the series being produced on the upcoming re-release of Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water. Should this new version perform well saleswise, he "would love to do a new title". It releases for PlayStation 5 and PS4 digitally on 28th...
Castle crashers
11 whole minutes of gameplay footage from upcoming hack and slasher Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires has appeared online. As you'd expect, the video is of particular interest to fans who were disappointed with Dynasty Warriors 9 — ourselves included. So what are the key takeaways here? Well, the battle doesn't take place within a huge...
News Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water Hits PS5, PS4 Just Before Halloween
Packaged with bonus content
Following its surprise confirmation for both of Sony's current consoles, Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water will release on 28th October 2021. The new overview trailer embedded above announces the date and provides a fairly detailed look at what the horror title from Koei Tecmo has to offer. It touches on the spooky story...
Review Samurai Warriors 5 (PS4) - Rebooted Hack and Slasher Is Fantastic Fun, for the Most Part
Incident at Honnoji
It's been seven whole years since the last mainline instalment in the Samurai Warriors series, and as far as we're concerned, 2014's Samurai Warriors 4 is still one of the best Warriors games on the market. Samurai Warriors 5 has quite the legacy to live up to, then, but is a rebooted storyline, a fresh art style, and a slew of...
News Samurai Warriors 5 Demo Out Now on PS5, PS4
Progress carries to full game
Ahead of its release on the 27th July, Samurai Warriors 5 now has a free playable demo available on the PlayStation Store. It's a pretty decent demo, too, letting you play through two different story more stages as five different warriors. If you're interested in the upcoming hack and slasher, then this demo should give...
News Samurai Warriors 5 Demo Slices onto PS4 Next Week, Save Data Carries to Full Game
Samurai spirit
Samurai Warriors 5 will receive a playable PlayStation 4 demo next week, on the 20th July (that's seven days from its actual release). The demo will include two stages from main character Nobunaga Oda's storyline, and you'll be able to try out five different fighters: Nobunaga, Hideyoshi Hashiba, Nō, Ieyasu Tokugawa, and Toshiie...
Hands On Samurai Warriors 5 Has the Potential to Be a Special Musou Game
Destiny intertwined
It's crazy to think that the last mainline instalment in the Samurai Warriors series — Samurai Warriors 4 — released almost seven years ago. There have been a few spinoff titles since, but after so long, it's clear that Koei Tecmo wanted to do something relatively new with the franchise. And so we have Samurai Warriors 5,...
News Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires Reappears with New Trailer, Still on Track for 2021 Release
Character creation shown
Following its delay back in March, Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires has finally reappeared with a short Japanese overview trailer. The video provides a glimpse into the title's more tactical action, and also gives us a peek at its character creation system. However, Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires still doesn't have a locked release...
News Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water Haunts PS5, PS4 This Year
Project zero
Despite originally being funded and published by Nintendo, re-release Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water will haunt the PlayStation 5 and PS4 in 2021. The game – known as Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water in Europe – first released on the Wii U in 2014, but is being resurrected for Sony’s current crop of consoles. “Take on...
Review Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection (PS4) - Cut-Throat Action, Old-School Design
Ninja star
Ryu Hayabusa has been enjoying an early retirement ever since the Ninja Gaiden series was put on ice years ago. Team Ninja has been busying itself with the Nioh games in the meantime, a more deliberate style of action title that takes things in a different, yet more modern, direction. Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection brings Ryu back with...
News Samurai Warriors 5 Final Japanese Trailer Is Easily Its Best Yet
Sharpened steel
Samurai Warriors 5 is out near the end of the month in Japan, and the game's received a 'final trailer' to drum up some late hype. Complete with a catchy J-rock music track, this is probably the hack and slasher's best trailer. It's certainly got us itching to mow down hundreds of enemy troops with just a few flashy moves. The West...
A growing army
Koei Tecmo previously revealed that Samurai Warriors 5 would have 27 playable characters — but that's not entirely accurate. The real total is actually 37, and that's because ten "supporting cast" characters are being made playable. But before you get too excited, it should be noted that these characters aren't as in-depth as the...
A "rewrite" of the first game
It's been seven years since the last mainline Samurai Warriors game, and Samurai Warriors 5 is attempting to revitalise Koei Tecmo's hack and slash series with a number of innovations. To find out more about the upcoming action title — which launches for PlayStation 4 on the 27th July — we asked Koei Tecmo president...
News Nioh Series Sales Cut Through Five Million Units
Samurai smash
Nioh’s series sales have now surpassed five million units across PlayStation 5, PS4, and PC, with digital sales of Nioh 2 now topping two million units alone. The original Nioh launched in 2017 on PS4, before being ported to PC, and was subsequently followed by a sequel in 2020. Both games were then remastered for PS5 this year...
News Samurai Warriors 5 Gameplay Shows Over 20 Minutes of Mostly Uncut Action
The battlefield awaits
Samurai Warriors 5 isn't out until the end of July, but it already feels like we know a lot about Koei Tecmo's new action title. Last week, all 27 playable characters were confirmed, and now, we've got over 20 minutes of raw gameplay to examine. The video above comes from Dengeki Online, while the shorter clip below is from...
News All Samurai Warriors 5 Characters Revealed, New Story Trailer Shows Some Style
27 samurai
We now know the identity of every playable character in Samurai Warriors 5. The roster is made up for 27 fighters, and Koei Tecmo has only just finished revealing the last few. You can see every playable character in the game's cool new story trailer, which we've embedded above. We've gone ahead and listed all of the playable characters...
Deluxe treatment
Koei Tecmo has re-released yet another Atelier Trilogy, this time giving the Mysterious series the ‘Deluxe’ treatment. Unlike the Arland and Dusk trilogy, this threesome is already on PlayStation 4, so it does seem a little strange that they’re being released again on the same console. However, this is now the most complete...
News Samurai Warriors 5 Slashes into Action with First Uncut Gameplay
Nobunaga and friends
Koei Tecmo just hosted a livestream for upcoming hack and slasher Samurai Warriors 5, giving us our first proper look at extended gameplay footage. If you played Samurai Warriors 4, it'll look fairly familiar, but we definitely think that the new art style helps keep things fresh. Special attacks have simply never looked better,...
News Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection Gets Digital Deluxe Edition, Pre-Order Bonuses
Ninja'd
Koei Tecmo is gearing up for the return of Ryu Hayabusa with some digital goodies. Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection is coming in a few months' time, and pre-orders are already live on PlayStation Store. For the most dedicated ninja fans, the publisher has just announced a digital deluxe edition with some extra bits and bobs. This deluxe...
News Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection Will Run at 4K, 60FPS on PS5 and PS4 Pro
High Ryu-lution
In case you'd forgotten, a batch of Ninja Gaiden games are getting re-released on PlayStation 4 this year. Called the Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection, the package brings Sigma, Sigma 2, and Razor's Edge to Sony's last-gen console — and of course, PS5 via backwards compatibility. When it was announced, there was no word on...
News Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires Delayed Beyond Early 2021 Release Window
Tactical retreat
Having heard next to nothing about Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires since it was announced in September of last year, we figured a delay would be incoming — and here it is. Koei Tecmo has confirmed that the hack and slash strategy title will be pushed beyond its original 'early 2021' release window. The publisher says that a new...
News Samurai Warriors 5 Has 27 Playable Characters, July Release Date Confirmed
Plus a PS4 gameplay trailer
Koei Tecmo has dropped a lot more information on Samurai Warriors 5 — the hack and slash prequel that was announced last week. For starters, it's got a confirmed release date: the 27th July, 2021. It's also got a new PS4-specific gameplay trailer, which you can watch above. It shows off quite a lot of stuff, and it's...
News Play as Ninja Gaiden's Ryu Hayabusa in Nioh 2 Starting Today
Just download patch 1.26
Here's a cool little surprise for fans of both Ninja Gaiden and Nioh 2: you can now play as the classic assassin Ryu Hayabusa in the Yokai-slaughtering PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 title from today after downloading patch 1.26. The free update is available to download now and allows you to adopt the skin of the famous...
News Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection Finally Brings the Series Back on PS4 This Summer
Sigma, Sigma 2, and Razor's Edge in one package
It feels as though Ninja Gaiden fans have been waiting for eons, but their patience has finally been rewarded. Koei Tecmo has announced the tough-as-nails action series is coming back with Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection on PlayStation 4. The package contains a trio of adventures with Ryu Hayabusa:...
News Samurai Warriors 5 Slashes onto PS4 This Summer, Has a New Story, New Art Style
A "re-imagining"
Samurai Warriors 5 has just been announced, and it's not what we were expecting. Koei Tecmo is looking to refresh the hack and slash franchise, describing it as a "re-imagining". Despite having a '5' at the end of its name, this new instalment is technically a prequel. It follows series mainstays Nobunaga Oda and Mitsuhide Akechi in...
News Nioh 2 PS4 Patch Adds Cross-Save Support for PS5
Transfer your progress
Koei Tecmo is bringing The Nioh Collection to the PlayStation 5 this week, and it’s sharpening up the existing PlayStation 4 version ahead of the next-gen iteration’s arrival. Patch 1.24 is available to download now, and it incorporates cross-save functionality, so that you can upload your progress to the cloud and pick up...
Review Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy (PS5) - Another Solid Alchemic Adventure
Cooking up a storm
Just two years after her first game, Reisalin "Ryza" Stout is back with Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy. This time, she’s on an adventure from her home of Kurken Island and has travelled to Asha-Am-Baird to investigate mysteries surrounding some ruins while reuniting with some familiar faces. Atelier Ryza 2...
News Nioh 2 PS5 Remaster Looks Slick and Savage in New Gameplay
Nioh Collection coming soon
Koei Tecmo has just released some new gameplay footage of Nioh 2's PlayStation 5 remaster, and yeah, it's looking good. You can watch the new video above, which contains nearly 15 minutes of 4K, 60 frames-per-second footage of the PS5-enhanced action RPG. The original PS4 version was no visual slouch of course, but the...
News All Nioh 2 Owners to Get Free Armour to Celebrate PS5 Release
Gold
Koei Tecmo will celebrate the release of The Nioh Collection – which launches 5th February on the PlayStation 5, and includes Nioh 2 Remastered: The Complete Edition – with free armour sets for everyone. Make sure you have a version of the game installed between 5th February and 26th February, and you’ll pull a patch for two new outfits:...
News Persona 5 Scramble Localisation in Doubt After Title Is Missing from Koei Tecmo Report
But we wouldn't worry
Persona fans have started feeling a little uneasy about the yet-to-be-confirmed localisation of Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers. The action title, which released in Japan near the beginning of this year, featured in a Koei Tecmo financial report back in July, essentially pointing to a Western release at some point in...
News Koei Tecmo Cancels Atelier Ryza 2's Physical PS5 Release in Japan
Shelved
Koei Tecmo has cancelled the physical PlayStation 5 release of Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy in Japan. The title – which was due out shortly after the next-gen console’s launch in Japan, on 3rd December – was due to receive a Blu-ray run in the region, but the publisher cited “various reasons” for its...
News Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires Announced for PS5, PS4, Targeting Early 2021
Command and conquer
Koei Tecmo promised some Dynasty Warriors news for Tokyo Game Show 2020 Online, and here it is: Dynasty Warriors 9 will be getting its own Empires title. It'll release on both PS5 and PS4 in "early 2021". You can watch the brief teaser trailer above. For those unfamiliar with the Empires spin-off series, they add a strategic...
News You Can Now Rock Out to Over 700 Dynasty Warriors Songs on Spotify and Other Music Services
March!
The Dynasty Warriors series has a long, long history of cheesy (but often very enjoyable) rock music — and now the lot of it is on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. Koei Tecmo has added over 700 tracks to these services so that you can listen to bangers like 'March' and 'Theme of Lu Bu' while cleaning the house. The publisher's press...
News Ninja Gaiden Sigma Trilogy Listed for PS4 by Hong Kong Publisher
Coming March 2021?
Hong Kong's biggest game publisher and distributor has uploaded and quickly deleted a listing for a Ninja Gaiden Sigma Trilogy. The product page mentioned a PlayStation 4 release in March 2021 before being pulled. That's all the information we have to share right now, but if someone in the know speaks up or the collection is...
News Dynasty Warriors Series Producer Teases Multiple Game Announcements
No more Dynasty Warriors 9
Dynasty Warriors series producer Akihiro Suzuki has teased a number of game announcements via a new Famitsu interview (as translated by Gematsu). In celebration of the property's 20th anniversary, Suzuki says: "I hope to be able to announce a 20th anniversary title in the near future." He adds: "By the way, there is not...
News Koei Tecmo Celebrates 20 Years of Dynasty Warriors with Nostalgia-Driven Trailer
Now that's a dynasty
20 whole years of Dynasty Warriors. A few more if we're counting from the original Japanese release. But either way, that's a lot of hacking and slashing, and to celebrate, Koei Tecmo has released a trailer that's got us feeling all nostalgic. The video covers just about every Dynasty Warriors title released in the West over...
Mini Review Fairy Tail - Faithful Anime Adaptation Is a Fan Pleaser
They lived Happy-ly ever after
Fairy Tail follows the plot of the anime, set from around the end of the Tenrou Island arc to approximately the end of the Avatar arc. For the uninitiated, that spans around 160 episodes from about 122 onwards. You're therefore much better off going into Fairy Tail with some knowledge of the property already, but there...
News Persona 5 Scramble Is Planned for a Western Release According to Koei Tecmo Report
Get up, get out there
According to publisher Koei Tecmo's latest financial report, Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers will be heading West at some point. The title is listed as one of the company's Western projects -- Koei Tecmo being the developer -- and while we were always expecting Scramble to launch in North America and Europe eventually,...
News Anime RPG Fairy Tail Gets Over 20 Minutes of English Gameplay
Magic
Upcoming turn based RPG Fairy Tail is back with almost 25 minutes of uncut English gameplay. The footage shows a bit of exploration, a lot of dialogue, and a few flashy looking fights. The video gives us a decent idea of the title's structure, so it's well worth a quick watch if you're interested. Fairy Tail was recently hit with a delay,...
News Fairy Tail RPG Delayed Into July Due to Coronavirus Disruptions
Delayed just over a month
That promising looking Fairy Tail role-playing game has been delayed, Koei Tecmo has announced. The turn based title was originally due to launch next month, on the 25th June, but it's now been pushed back to the 30th and 31st July in Europe and North America respectively. As you'd expect at this point, the ongoing...
