In other words, you have a life-span shorter than an under-performing EA developer.Īragami is linked to Yamiko through the spell that created him in the first place and he, therefore, sees visions of her past that gradually explain how she came to be captured by the Kaiho via these stunning images. All she can tell you is that aragami are weak to light and you will die when the sun rises.
Yamiko knew how to summon you in the first place but can’t tell you where you came from or what happens to you when you’ve accomplished your goal. You play as an aragami, who I’m just going to call Aragami from now on, summoned by a woman called Yamiko to free her and take revenge on her captors, the Kaiho.
It’s a shame, therefore, that such a cool concept is wasted by a terrible Switch port that has distracting aliasing and flickering throughout, a draw distance that hides enemies until it’s too late, and a frame rate that becomes so bad in the latter half that Aragami becomes almost unplayable. There’s also a decent story spread out over a sensible run time of around six to eight hours, with chapters punctuated by some excellent artwork. Once you’ve leveled up, you can throw shadow darts to kill distant enemies and summon monsters to do the killing for you. You play as an aragami, an undead assassin, who can move instantly between shadows and even create his own if necessary. In that respect, it plays like a puzzle game with only a handful of solutions and is more of a 3D Mark of the Ninja than a low-budget Metal Gear Solid. You die in one hit and, with the exception of a few special moves, you can only takedown enemies from up close.
There’s a refreshing restriction on player choice here. Aragami is a 3D stealth game which firmly resists the temptation to let players take an all-out action approach.
Which is to say, I was really looking forward to playing Aragami on the Switch.