Muramasa Rebirth

Muramasa Rebirth is a remake of the action game by studio Vanillaware, originally released on Wii, which received sharper visuals, a new translation, and later a series of additional chapters on PlayStation Vita. It takes place in a stylized Japan of the Genroku era and offers two intertwined stories: the ninja Kisuke, who has lost his memories, and the princess Momohime, whose body is possessed by the spirit of a foreign swordsman. Both cut their way through a land full of demons, gods, and cursed swords, with each of them seeing the same events from a different side. Both storylines can be played through independently of each other.

The gameplay is two-dimensional action with RPG elements: movement is fast, jumps are high, and combat takes place on a single plane against dozens of opponents at once. The core mechanic is juggling three swords at once — each has its own durability gauge, and after a few blocked or heavy attacks it breaks, forcing the player to switch to the next one immediately so the first can regenerate in the meantime. On top of that there's soul collection, forging hundreds of new weapons along a branching tree, and cooking food that temporarily boosts stats. Boss fights are a showcase of patterns that must be read. Outside of combat, you travel across long horizontal maps between which fast travel is available, and the game offers several possible endings depending on the player's choices.

The main reason to fire up the game, though, is its art direction. Vanillaware paints hand-drawn backgrounds with layered planes, bamboo groves, blooming cherry trees, and temples in the mist; on Vita's small screen it looks at least as good as it did on television. The music draws on traditional Japanese instruments and complements the slow, almost painterly pacing between battles. Reception at the time was very positive, with the main complaint being repetitive environments during the long journey. The additional chapters released later also brought new playable characters with their own combat styles. Today Muramasa is one of the most beautiful games ever released on a handheld console, and it still plays completely fresh.