Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade – PS5 Review

Another day, another roguelite. This time it’s Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade from 7Quark. Mixing Japanese history with demonic folklore is not a new thing but the repeatable structure and short runs do make for something potentially interesting. Unfortunately, it’s a game that devolves into repetition a little too soon and, whilst I do enjoy the combat, the simplicity of it really limits your options.

The story tries to mix Edo period set dressing with a demonic invasion. The land is now cursed and, to return things back to normal, one of three heroes needs to defeat the Nine-Tailed Fox. It is tonally daft with the heightened stakes being somewhat underplayed. There’s anime archetypes aplenty and I just can’t get on with it. It’s not something I can take seriously but it also feels too basic for me to engage with.

I don’t find it absorbing but I do enjoy the look of it. There’s a bright aesthetic used throughout with only the last two bosses delivering moodier undertones. There’s an escalation but, with only a handful of bosses, runs can be over before really mulling over the narrative. There is more to it but it’s delivered in specifically gated stages. It’s forgettable but it’s all so light-hearted.

As you complete runs, more story is delivered to you. Typically, it’s conversation with townsfolk, the other main characters and downed foes. It’s presented in a visual novel style which doesn’t always grab me. It’s voiced well enough but it feels very wrote. I do find the boss designs to be fantastic. They take inspiration from Japanese mythology and their mechanics do offer some much needed variety. There’s some smart animations and it does look lively.

Comparisons to Hades are a little unkind. Yes, there’s a rogeulite structure and an isometric perspective, but the combat doesn’t delve far into complexity. You have three characters to pick from. Shigure deals with swords and can switch between two weapons on the fly. Those swords can be imbued with each other’s passive abilities. Sara is a bubbly idiot who carries twin-blades. Her style is more aggressive with powered-up dash attacks. Taketora rounds the trio out as a more ranged class.

Whilst they do attempt to deliver distinct flavours of action, the weapon variety tends to converge for all of them. They’ll always have an elemental set of weaponry they can forge. Fire has been my go to with Sara’s drill attacks being tremendously violent. Upgrading them to bounce off obstacles can make cluttered arenas a glorious kill box. Taketora’s arrows allow you maintain a distance between foes but I prefer to be up close and personal.

Combat keeps things simple. You have a light and heavy attack with some basic combos to operate with. There’s a parry which can be a key element of the fight but I found the timing to be just the wrong side of tricky. When you nail it, there’s typically a chance for a riposte and you can charge your parries to deliver even more devastating attacks. I didn’t see it as vital to success but certainly advantageous.

That’s primarily down to enemies following routine patterns. Strikes that can be parried are telegraphed with a yellow flash and your ability to dash can create or close distance effectively. The same applies for bosses with their size making for an okay spectacle. Movement feels smooth and the controls feel responsive. Dashing is my favourite way to get around but it is restricted by timers. It’s easy to follow, even at its most chaotic and I do wish more was done with it.

The structure delivers plenty of repetition. Each character’s story involves three chapters. Completing a run with tick that chapter off and start the next. Each chapter is about 20 minutes long, assuming you have the build to reach the end. Each new loop tweaks the enemy composition but not in a way I’d consider interesting. Typically, there’s more of them with a few more beefed up through armour. Bosses have bigger health pools but operate exactly as they did prior.

I don’t find it compelling and it’s made worse by the rigid environments you traverse. Everything becomes familiar too quickly and there’s a real lack of variety. After completing an encounter, you’re rewarded with soul orbs. These are randomly pulled abilities that can augment your weapons. They all seem helpful, although I opt to settle on the same build. I’d say they do appear to lean towards particular styles of play but, like the environments, there’s not a lot of them. As such, I can max out the ones I want during a run. At least there are enough opportunities to pivot, should an upgrade path not work out for you.

You can also find weapon fragments and talismans to boost things further. In-between areas, there’s a chance for respite with vendors and spas to replenish any lost health. There’s plenty of useful stuff on offer and gold is usually in steady supply. I always felt I had options available to me. When a run is finished, courtesy of death or victory, there’s a more permanent upgrade tree that unfortunately plays into the repetition. With each new chapter, this grows but the tiers of upgrades exponentially take longer to unlock.

As a result, the second chapter feels like a slog. Success would be just out of reach but the new skills that would make a difference felt just too far out of budget. Again, runs are short but their lack of diversity can bring on a grind. A smoother ramp would’ve helped. You can hit max level with a weapon relatively quickly but other skills can take an age to reach the next rank. New chapters don’t quite feel like returning to square one but the distance to cover is a little too great.  And there’s no new surprises, at least as far as combat and progression is concerned.

With a little more substance, Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade could’ve been something intriguing. As it is, the light-hearted but basic story and the inevitable repetition take the shine off the experience. I enjoy the simple combat but the lack of diversity in the environments and the slim options for upgrades makes the whole game run its course very quickly.