Toukiden: Kiwami (PlayStation 4) Review

By Drew Hurley 12.04.2015

Review for Toukiden: Kiwami on PlayStation 4

With Nintendo wisely holding on tight to the exclusivity of the Monster Hunter franchise, PlayStation players instead get to try many of these hunting-style games. It could be argued that Monster Hunter was the very reason for the extreme popularity of the PSP, certainly in Japan, and its loss was definitely part of the reason for the disappointing sales of the Vita. Toukiden: Kiwami, the latest Hunting Genre game from Omega Force (creator of the Dynasty Warriors games), fittingly offers a faster, more arcade style version of the genre but with many pretenders to the Monster Hunter crown already, how will this one compare?

Toukiden: Kiwami is the updated version of the Vita game Toukiden: Age of Demons, this time released on both the Vita and PlayStation 4 with a bunch of new content, along with cross play and cross save functionality, too. There is the original Age of Demons game, remastered for both platforms with some striking visuals, two brand new weapon choices to experiment with, new items, new features, new characters and more. Upon completing the seven-chapter story of the original, the new story begins, consisting of six more chapters in an entirely fresh tale, which easily doubles the playtime.

The first game places people in the role of the survivor of a land ravaged by demons (or "Oni"). A group of warriors known as Slayers have managed to keep the Oni at bay for over 1,000 years, but now after an event known as "The Awakening," the Oni have tipped the balance. Although the story at the beginning seems shallow - much like the Monster Hunter games it seems to just be: kill creature, collect creature parts, make a bigger weapon, kill a bigger creature - the main story develops into quite an enjoyable yarn. Each of the characters in the village develops well with interesting back-stories and it becomes a decent enough story to at least keep players interested and to not just skip through the FMVs and story aspects between slaughtering demons.

The Kiwami part is set three months after the end of Age of Demons and introduces some great new characters along with new demons to battle and new places to do it as an elite force of Slayers tries to go about stopping a second "Awakening." Fans of the original will be happy to hear that if the game on Vita has already been cleared, bringing that save file across is possible here to skip all of the original chapters and fire straight into the Kiwami story, but the updated visuals, new weapons and new features make it worth experiencing. Transferring a save file from Age of Demons, or even from the demo of this, will also give a handful of bonus items to use later on.

Screenshot for Toukiden: Kiwami on PlayStation 4

The combat is fantastically swift and stylish, falling somewhere between classic Hunting games and the Dynasty Warriors franchise the development team is so well known for. It can be a little button-mashy and range of abilities are limited, but what is there looks fantastic, especially the giant anime-esque dramatic "Destroyer" attacks that tear up any enemies in the way. Experimenting with weapons manages to keep combat interesting if willing to try out at least a few of them. Each has unique abilities and combos, however, these are quite lacking in the long run and sticking with just the one or two weapons does get quickly repetitive and monotonous after a few chapters, even when using each of the Mitama to change up the moves.

Combat against the giant Oni is a real high point. They have some truly spectacular designs and are fun to battle - learning the attack patterns and using "The Eye of Truth" to show weak points that when dealt enough damage result in dismembering them. These can sadly feel very tedious early on - initially even chopping off every limb on a gargantuan Oni will still require a ton more damage to eventually take the big beastie down. However, it is worth persevering as when better weapons are unlocked and Mitama are levelled-up, the combat against them becomes a lot more enjoyable as the fights take less and less time.

There are nine weapons in total, and three of these brand new to this version - the Rifle, Club and Naginata. These new weapons are really fun to experiment with: the Rifle feels like something brand new, although ridiculously overpowered; the gigantic ogre-style club feels like hitting enemies with a tree; and the Naginata has some of the most stylish combos overall. Each of the nine weapons has numerous variations they can be crafted into, using the signature aspect of the genre to kill enemies and use materials from them in forging new versions of the weapons.

Screenshot for Toukiden: Kiwami on PlayStation 4

The other core aspect of the combat is the previously mentioned Mitama. These are the souls of warriors and heroes that are acquired in numerous ways and come in 10 different types: Attack, Defence, Speed, Luck, Healing, Deceit, Spirit, Space, Plunder, and Support. Each Mitama is attached to weapons and levelled-up during combat, giving the player both passive boosts and three active battle skills that are mapped to the face buttons. The abilities range from raining energy bolts down on the enemy to exploding off limbs, healing allies, and setting zones to debuff the enemies.

Mastering combat requires efficient use of both weapon types and Mitama types, and by combining the two, gamers can develop their character further to specific roles - use Defence Mitama with tanking skills along with a slow heavy weapon for a Tank-style build or the Spirit Mitama along with a ranged weapon for quick DPS build. This can be expanded on by selecting the appropriate NPCs to support such a role or much more so in multiplayer where each player can act in a different role.

Unlike Monster Hunter releases, finding friends to take on the biggest and baddest Oni isn't a necessity as most things are doable solo and, if necessary, there is the option to take NPCs into the party, too. Unlike most NPC party members normally, these are actually competent… in fact, a little too competent, making an easy combat system even easier. It's actually possible to hang back and let them do the majority of the work, and because of this, those looking for a decent challenge would be well advised to run through without NPCs.

If able to bring some friends along, the combat instantly becomes much better. Supporting each other and taking on the roles of support/dps/tank, along with the arcade-style action makes for a fantastic multiplayer experience. The multiplayer also brings the option of cross-play, allowing gamers on both platforms to play together. It's always great to see this feature taken advantage of.

Screenshot for Toukiden: Kiwami on PlayStation 4

Along with all of the story chapter missions, Toukiden also introduces two new types of missions: "Emergency" and "Infinite." Fans of other Koei Tecmo games will find these familiar. Emergency is based on the Retribution missions of Freedom Wars. These missions randomly appear with higher difficulty than the normal but with big rewards . "Infinite" is based on the Alice Maze levels from Soul Sacrifice Delta, and here the player is placed in a zone where the demons get stronger and stronger, with a chance to leave after every three rounds.

It's sad to see that the loading times remain, though, and although it's understandable on the Vita, surely with the power of the PS4 they are a little unnecessary. The maps are all split into numbered zones and jumping between each has a few seconds loading time. It would have been great to see each chapter or mission treated as a single large open zone and with a lot more enemies. The current amount of enemies, both designs and count on-screen at any one time, is another slight weakness, at times feeling sparse, which adds to the overall feeling of repetition.

For the completionists and the Trophy Hunters out there, get ready for a big investment! There are trophies that require the collection of all the Mitama. Many of these are random drops from specific Oni that mean a mammoth amount of grinding and praying to the gods of RNG. This, along with some other considerable time intensive trophies, means that a 100% completion will take literally hundreds of hours.

Alhough a solid game, and easily one of the best of the Hunting games, the main problem with Kiwami is the same problem with most games of this ilk - the formulaic nature leads to some severe repetition and grinding. There are only so many times the same couple of demons can be beaten on a stage over and over before getting tired of it. The extra weapons and abilities go a long way to help combat this, and multiplayer makes it a lot more enjoyable, but it's an issue that many players will have trouble getting over.

Screenshot for Toukiden: Kiwami on PlayStation 4

Cubed3 Rating

7/10
Rated 7 out of 10

Very Good - Bronze Award

Rated 7 out of 10

Fans of the genre will adore Toukiden: Kiwami, and this is a good entry point for those interested in getting into the hunting genre. The fluid arcade action brings a new spin and there is a ton of content for both players of the original and for those new to the franchise. Cross Save and Cross Play are great features for this sort of game, too, and the ability to grind out a few stages on the go, then return and enjoy the game on the big screen, is fantastic. The only real downside is the tedious repetition, but that is prevalent through all games of this ilk. In the absence of Monster Hunter, this is currently one of the best alternatives on PlayStation systems.

Developer

Omega Force

Publisher

Koei Tecmo

Genre

Action Adventure

Players

4

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  7/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

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