SAMURAI MAIDEN

61%
Game Brain Score Based on 144 reviews
  • story
  • gameplay
  • graphics
SAMURAI MAIDEN Game Cover
A fun, lighthearted hack 'n' slasher with pretty girls and an atrocious framerate.
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In "Samurai Maiden," players control a shrine maiden who travels back in time to the Sengoku period. There, she teams up with legendary samurai Hattori Hanzo to fight against supernatural enemies. The game is an action hack-and-slash title with a focus on fast-paced combat and stylish combos.

  • Nintendo Switch
  • PC
  • Play​station 4
  • Play​station 5
  • Steam Deck
  • Windows
  • Play​Station
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

61%
Audience ScoreBased on 144 reviews
story19 positive mentions
grinding13 negative mentions
  • The combat becomes more enjoyable as players unlock new skills and abilities, providing a sense of progression.
  • The character designs and voice acting are well-received, with cute and engaging interactions between the characters.
  • The game successfully delivers on its yuri themes, offering genuine romantic moments between characters.
  • The gameplay is often criticized for being repetitive and simplistic, lacking depth and variety in combat mechanics.
  • There are significant performance issues, including frame rate drops and a lack of graphical options, which hinder the overall experience.
  • The story and dialogue are considered dull and poorly localized, with cringe-inducing phrases that detract from immersion.
  • story76 mentions

    The story in "Samurai Maiden" is generally viewed as average, with many players finding it simplistic and lacking depth, often presented through dialogues and character emotes rather than engaging visuals. While some appreciate the likable characters and emotional moments, others criticize the plot for being predictable and unoriginal, serving primarily as a backdrop for gameplay rather than a compelling narrative. Overall, the game is seen as fun and charming, but its story does not stand out as a highlight.

    • “Samurai Maiden is a fun JRPG, and though the combat isn't the most complex, the game makes up for it with a really fun story and characters.”
    • “The story is functional, the characters are very likable, and they got me genuinely emotional at times.”
    • “An enjoyable story that picks up quite a bit in the second half of the game.”
    • “I didn’t like how the story is presented only through character emotes, their dialogue, and additional sound design; there’s not a single freeze-frame visual used to illustrate the scenario the characters are in.”
    • “The story is there, it is not annoying but it is not a masterpiece; it is simply average and takes you from point A to B with as few surprises as a story can possibly have.”
    • “The story and presentation of it are so bland that I find myself skipping the entire dialogue only after the first hour.”
  • gameplay61 mentions

    Gameplay in "Samurai Maiden" is a mixed bag, with many players finding it simple yet enjoyable, particularly as they unlock more moves and engage with the character interactions. However, criticisms arise regarding its repetitive nature, clunky mechanics, and performance issues, leading some to suggest that it lacks depth compared to other hack-and-slash titles. While the game offers a fun experience for fans of the genre and its visual novel elements, it ultimately feels underdeveloped and could benefit from more refined mechanics in a potential sequel.

    • “Gameplay is fun once you start to unlock more and more moves through the album. I enjoy the visual novel aspect during the cutscenes, and the dialogue can be pretty funny at times.”
    • “The gameplay is simple hack and slash, but it's surprisingly fun at times.”
    • “It's a real shame because I actually enjoy the game; the characters are really cute and the gameplay is decent for a smaller budget melee action game.”
    • “Gameplay makes up about 40% of the game, and the rest is an uninspired visual novel.”
    • “The pretty graphics and accessible gameplay cannot save this game from its awful performance issues.”
    • “It feels confused as to whether it wanted to be a musou game or a character action game, so it gave you character action styled gameplay with an obscene amount of enemies.”
  • graphics26 mentions

    The graphics of the game are generally praised for their pleasing art style and overall visual presentation, with many users appreciating the character designs and aesthetics. However, a significant drawback is the lack of customizable graphics settings, which leads to performance issues and frustration among players, particularly those with high-end hardware. While the visuals are attractive, the absence of options to adjust resolution and performance hampers the overall experience.

    • “The graphics are pleasing to look at and the framerate rarely suffers.”
    • “I love the visuals and design of this game; I recommend playing it if you are a fan of anime-style game design.”
    • “Samurai Maiden is an enjoyable action hack and slash game that has great visuals.”
    • “The game is okay and all, but why can't I change my graphics settings? I'm running a 4090 and I can't set it to 4K; guess I'm refunding this game.”
    • “There are no graphical options besides changing the resolution from the splash screen.”
    • “It basically has no graphical options to speak of besides resolution (at least not ones easily accessible) and it has a ridiculous amount of chromatic aberration and a very bad MSAA that honestly just makes everything look blurry, especially at higher resolutions than 1080p.”
  • grinding13 mentions

    The grinding aspect of the game is widely criticized for being excessively tedious and monotonous, with players feeling forced to engage in repetitive tasks to upgrade weapons and earn currency. Many reviewers noted that the limited moveset and simplistic action contribute to the overall boredom, making the grind feel more like a chore than a rewarding experience. While some acknowledge that the game has potential, the overwhelming amount of grinding detracts significantly from the enjoyment.

    • “The moveset is rather limited, the action simplistic, the story is trite, and the whole thing is grindy as hell with little motivating factors to do so.”
    • “The level designs pretty much force you to grind in order to farm materials for weapon upgrades while doing these gold ratings.”
    • “Too much grinding is required for an upgrade.”
  • music10 mentions

    The music in the game has received positive feedback for its quality and thematic relevance, effectively capturing the essence of the game's era and levels. While some players noted a lack of variety, particularly in the early stages, the catchy main theme and overall soundtrack contribute to an enjoyable experience. Additionally, the music complements the game's aesthetic and character design, enhancing the overall appeal.

    • “The music is really good, shockingly so in fact. It felt like a shame the intro music didn't have an animated opening, but I know those can be expensive. The music felt thematically nice to the era and levels, and traversing them was typically quick and fun.”
    • “The main theme song is catchy.”
    • “Still, for what it's worth, it's a fun game with surprisingly good music that feels like an era that time has forgotten.”
    • “The soundtrack is also fire, although it feels like it doesn't have much variety, at least in the beginning.”
    • “The music is okay.”
    • “I love the characters, style, and music but I hope the above can be adjusted.”
  • emotional5 mentions

    The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by consistent character motivations and relatable, likable characters that evoke genuine feelings during key moments. While some players criticize the story for being functional and the game for its pricing and localization issues, the overall sentiment leans towards a wholesome and heartfelt experience.

    • “Character motivations are consistent and even lead to some emotional confrontations at times.”
    • “The story is functional, the characters are very likable and they got me genuinely emotional at times.”
    • “Just wholesome, I guess.”
    • “Many people were complaining about it being overpriced, with a boring story, cringe-worthy localized lines, and (mostly) the censorship on photo mode.”
  • humor4 mentions

    The humor in the game is characterized by witty dialogue and amusing cutscenes, particularly appealing to fans of the series. Players appreciate the lighthearted interactions among characters, especially in the context of visual novel elements, while the gameplay features create comical moments through exaggerated enemy stuns and visual effects. Overall, the humor adds a delightful layer to the experience, enhancing both character engagement and gameplay enjoyment.

    • “Gameplay is fun once you start to unlock more and more moves through the album. I enjoy the visual novel aspect during the cutscenes, and the dialogue can be pretty funny at times.”
    • “Players who know Kuroda would love to see Kiryu-chan have more screen time because he sounds funny when talking.”
    • “When you successfully combine the three abilities on a single enemy, it's a particle spectacle and also a hilariously long stunlock to various enemies; it's a sight to behold.”
  • optimization4 mentions

    The game suffers from significant performance issues, including a lack of graphics settings and a poor optimization for PC, leading to high temperatures and framerate drops. Players have noted that the absence of a performance-vs-resolution mode exacerbates these problems, making it particularly challenging for an action game. Overall, the optimization is deemed inadequate, impacting the overall gameplay experience.

    • “There's very little performance difference between Mono and IL2CPP builds in Unity in a lot of cases, and this game is more GPU-bound than anything, which makes its use questionable.”
    • “The pretty graphics and accessible gameplay cannot save this game from its awful performance issues.”
    • “I don't know what’s going on with this game, but the lack of a graphics settings menu or a performance-vs-resolution mode is warming my PC and causing framerate issues, which is a big problem for an action game.”
    • “Poorly optimized for PC, no graphics settings, and no way to actually exit the game from within the game.”
  • character development4 mentions

    Character development in the game is generally viewed as decent, with players appreciating the character designs, which are described as cute and appropriately quirky. However, some critiques mention that the character designs can be unremarkable, and while the combat is engaging, it may not fully compensate for the simplistic nature of the gameplay. Overall, the game offers a mix of exploration and side quests that contribute to the experience.

    • “Overall, it's a great game with great character designs. The hack and slash is a bit simplistic, but there are tons of exploration and side quests to do.”
    • “The combat can be engaging, and the character designs are cute, if unremarkable, with an appropriately weird story.”
    • “Despite all my gripes with it, I still love the character designs (except Hagane's goofy prosthetic arm).”
    • “But despite all my gripes with it, I still love the character designs (except Hagane’s goofy prosthetic arm).”
    • “Character design is decent.”
  • replayability1 mentions

    While the game offers a decent amount of replayability, with around 30 hours of content, some players feel the price is a bit high for the value provided.

    • “The price is a bit steep, though there is some replay value, and it took me almost 30 hours to get through all its content.”
    • “The price is a bit steep, though there is some replay value and it took me almost 30 hours to get through all its content.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

60% average critic score

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Play time

5hMedian play time
5hAverage play time
5-5hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs

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