Cladun Returns: This Is Sengoku!

Cladun Returns: This is Sengoku was an above average game, but not for the reasons that typically make a game land in that category. There was a lot about it that I really enjoyed. The gameplay took a very classic hack and slash approach that you could easily get into, and the amount of customization for a game like this was staggering. The good is counter-balanced by the not-so-good, however. I’m not over the moon about level design later on in the game, and Magic Circles feel like a chore. Still, I wouldn’t let either of those things stop you from trying this out. So long as you can accept your good with a little bit of less-than-good (I don’t even consider anything to be “bad”), then Cladun Returns: This is Sengoku is a free-spirited (literally!) and fun romp through Japan’s spirit world.

65%Game Brain Score

story, gameplay

graphics, grinding

64% User Score Based on 67 reviews

Critic Score 62%Based on 2 reviews

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About

Cladun Returns: This Is Sengoku! is a single player and multiplayer hack and slash game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by Nippon Ichi Software, Inc. and was released on June 5, 2017. It received mostly positive reviews from both critics and players.

Cladun Returns: This is Sengoku! is the latest entry in the Cladun fantasy action RPG series. You as the player will meet classic heroes from Japan's Sengoku Era and help the souls of the dead settle their unfinished business. Grant peace to these souls by traveling across feudal Japan and fighting your way through dungeons filled with monsters and traps!

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Cladun Returns: This Is Sengoku! screenshot

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64%

Audience ScoreBased on 67 reviews

story6 positive mentions

grinding16 negative mentions

The game features a deep and customizable character creation system, allowing players to create unique pixel art characters and experiment with various builds.
Gameplay is engaging with a mix of action RPG and rogue-lite elements, providing a satisfying grind and rewarding character progression.
The retro aesthetic and vibrant pixel art, combined with a solid soundtrack, create an enjoyable atmosphere for fans of the genre.

The game is plagued by frequent crashes and bugs, leading to potential loss of progress and frustrating gameplay experiences.
Keyboard controls are poorly implemented, making it difficult to play without a gamepad, which limits accessibility for some players.
The story is minimal and forgettable, lacking depth and engagement, which may disappoint players looking for a narrative-driven experience.

story
58 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
85%
5%
The story in the game has been widely criticized for being poorly executed and forgettable, with many reviewers noting its lack of depth and memorable characters. While some new story missions and post-game content offer additional challenges, they do little to enhance the overall narrative experience, which feels minimal and disjointed, especially for players unfamiliar with the Sengoku era. Overall, the storyline is seen as a significant disappointment compared to previous entries in the series.
- “New story missions and new post-game dungeons provide new challenges.”
- “Unfortunately, the additions from Cladun X2 aren't very noticeable in the main campaign, and the storyline in X2 is far more complete and interesting than the plot in Returns, especially for those who aren't well-versed in the Sengoku era of Japan.”
- “The downside is that the story is almost non-existent, especially for western audiences.”
- “Now I'm not saying Cladun 1 and X2 had amazing stories, but at least they were enjoyable and interesting, and had a couple of memorable characters. Here in Sengoku, there is none of that; story cutscenes only happen at the start and the end of a chapter, so it barely feels like a story is going on.”
- “It does get a little bit better in the later chapters with some cutscenes before and after boss fights, but still, the story expects you to care about the characters when they are so forgettable and have so little screen time that it's really underwhelming.”
gameplay
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
47%
9%
The gameplay in "Cladun Returns: This is Sengoku" is characterized by its deceptively simple mechanics that evolve into a deep and engaging experience, allowing for multiple playstyles through character swapping and the innovative magic circle system. While the game retains familiar elements from its predecessor, "Cladun X2," it introduces new weapon types and offers a satisfying grind, though some players may find the difficulty curve and repetitive elements a drawback. Overall, it provides a fun and customizable ARPG experience that appeals to both casual and dedicated players.
- “Overall, Cladun has amazing gameplay with fun mechanics and a ton of depth; heck, it even makes grinding fun!”
- “The combat system and overall gameplay is deceptively simple, but there's so much to it: the way your characters level up makes you constantly swap between them, allowing you to experience multiple playstyles.”
- “Cladun is, at its core, a lot of fun, and manages to take the most basic of gameplay loops and make something eminently worthy out of it.”
- “The gameplay is the same as in Cladun X2; classes and enemies got renamed, and there are like 5 new mobs.”
- “The combat system and overall gameplay is deceptively simple.”
- “Gameplay can get repetitive, with too many trips to the hub world, and the difficulty may seem to scale poorly as the game progresses.”
music
29 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
28%
62%
10%
The music in the series is highly praised, particularly for its traditional Japanese influences and innovative remixes, especially in Sengoku, which features standout tracks like the arena theme. While some fans believe that Cladun 1 has the best overall soundtrack, Sengoku is still recognized for its impressive musical contributions. However, there are mixed feelings about the newer music, with some players preferring the classic tracks and expressing a tendency to disable the newer compositions over time.
- “Sengoku, being themed on feudal Japan, has a clear traditional Japanese focus on the music, but it still manages to make some really cool remixes out of this music style. Some tracks from the traditional Japanese music sound just great (like the arena theme). I personally think that Cladun 1 still has the best overall soundtrack, but Sengoku did an amazing job on its own.”
- “Cladun has always had amazing music.”
- “What transforms Cladun from being an okay-looking game with good music into a fantastic game you can waste your life away on.”
- “However, I feel like the new music isn't on par with the old.”
- “You can still play the old music in ran-geons (which is the only dungeon that matters, let's be honest), but I feel that I'll be disabling most of the newer music as time goes on.”
- “Not much to say here, music is a bit too subjective for potential ratings.”
graphics
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
64%
18%
The graphics of the game are characterized by a simple 8-bit pixel art style, which some players appreciate for its customization options, while others find it decent but not exceptional, rating it around 6.5/10. Although the retro aesthetic may not appeal to everyone, it effectively supports the gameplay mechanics and nostalgic feel reminiscent of classic titles like Legend of Zelda. Overall, while the graphics are functional and fit the game's theme, they are not considered groundbreaking.
- “Like mentioned before, the game's aesthetic is that of 8-bit pixel art. Cladun uses the 8-bit's simplicity to its advantage, allowing players to customize their characters literally from head to toe.”
- “Simple pixelated graphics give a Legend of Zelda feel to the battle system and overall design. The job system and skill building are nice, and it features bonus dungeons with random floors up to 100 levels for grinding, along with cameos from all my favorite Sengoku era characters.”
- “I think the graphics work for the game.”
- “If you don't love the series, or think that 40 is way too much for this kind of game (retro graphics, etc), then wait for it to go on sale for 20~25 dollars, it's worth it.”
- “Simple pixelated graphics, Legend of Zelda feel to battle system and works design, the job system and skill building are nice, it has bonus dungeons of random floors up to 100 levels for grinding.”
- “Simple pixelated graphics, Legend of Zelda feel to battle system and works design, the job system and skill building are nice, it has bonus dungeons of random floors up to 100 levels for grinding.”
grinding
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The grinding aspect in "Cladun Returns" is a mixed bag; while the game features enjoyable combat and mechanics that can make grinding feel fun, it also allows players to achieve significant power early on through a new blacksmith feature, which diminishes the need for extensive postgame grinding. Many players find the new enemy types and their mechanics tedious, leading to a sense of frustration rather than challenge. Overall, the game offers a balance of grindy elements with engaging gameplay, appealing to those who appreciate a bit of grinding in their dungeon-crawling experience.
- “Due to the fact that Cladun Returns allows you to add these titles to sufficiently powerful weapons through a new feature at the blacksmith shop, it's very easy to achieve effective immortality very early into the postgame if you know what you're doing, making any further grinding completely pointless.”
- “Given the entire premise of NIS games is endlessly grinding in the postgame to grow stronger, the title additions undercut the game's entire premise - why take 300 hours to boost your stats to absurd levels, when you can be handed total immortality in 30?”
- “(For example: one of the new enemy types, a giant multi-headed serpent based on Yamata no Orochi, appears in the third chapter of the main storyline - due to its wonky stat scaling you can barely scratch it, so the 'best' way to fight it is to stand directly behind it so it whiffs with all of its attacks and plink it to death over the course of 4 minutes. A lot of the other new content is equally tedious, with many of the new enemies relying on lengthy invulnerability phases - the only new content that seemed to be worthwhile and fun were the new weapon types, and to some extent the new dungeon varieties.)”
humor
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is described as self-aware and somewhat addictive, providing a quirky charm that may not appeal to everyone. While it adds a layer of enjoyment, it doesn't significantly enhance the overall story, which feels more like a backdrop for the gameplay.
- “But I'll be darned if it isn't a little addictive and funny. It's pretty self-aware, although this doesn't help the story much.”
- “It's a weird little game that won't be for everyone, but I'll be darned if it isn't a little addictive and funny. It's pretty self-aware, although this doesn't help the story very much since it's just an excuse to go through bite-sized dungeons.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, with numerous bugs reported by users, leading to a general consensus that it cannot be recommended in its current state.
- “While the game could've been okay, it's too buggy to recommend.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The optimization for keyboard and mouse gameplay in this game is lacking, with users recommending alternatives like Dragonfangz and Touhou Genso Wanderer: Reloaded, which offer better performance and controls for non-controller users.
- “If you're playing with keyboard and mouse, try looking at Dragon Fang Z or Touhou Genso Wanderer: Reloaded. They're fairly similar games but much better optimized for play without a controller.”
- “If you're playing with keyboard and mouse, try looking at Dragon Fang Z or Touhou Genso Wanderer: Reloaded. They're fairly similar games but much better optimized for play without a controller.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game boasts high replayability due to its engaging co-op mode and the challenge of improving personal best times in dungeons, alongside its impressive visuals.
- “It has little to no faults, it looks gorgeous, and it also has huge replay value with co-op and trying to beat your best times in dungeons.”

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62%Critics’ scoreBased on 2 critic reviews

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Frequently Asked Questions

Cladun Returns: This Is Sengoku! is a hack and slash game with fantasy theme.

Cladun Returns: This Is Sengoku! is available on PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Steam Deck and others.

Cladun Returns: This Is Sengoku! was released on June 5, 2017.

Cladun Returns: This Is Sengoku! was developed by Nippon Ichi Software, Inc..

Cladun Returns: This Is Sengoku! has received mostly positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its graphics.

Cladun Returns: This Is Sengoku! is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include Nioh 2, Heroes of Hammerwatch II, Disgaea 5 Complete, Tales of Zestiria, Tangledeep and others.

Cladun Returns: This Is Sengoku!

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