Summary
James Clavell’s novelShōgunwas about how English sailor John Blackthorne gets shipwrecked on the coast of Japan and gets involved in the daimyō Lord Yoshii Toranaga’s plans to rise through the ranks and become shōgun of the whole country. It’s loosely based on English sailor William Adams’ experience with Tokugawa Ieyasu, and was previously adapted for TV in the 1970s, and even for Broadway.
The latest adaptation, the long-awaited Hulu/FX miniseries, may be the best of the bunch. With Hiroyuki Sanada in the role of Toranaga and Cosmo Jarvis as Blackthorne, it takes a more intriguing and nuanced look at the novel and the feudal Japanese setting. It’s enough to get someone in the mood to explore these worlds for themselves, which they can with thesegreat historicalShōgun-esque games.
1James Clavell’s Shogun
Moby Score: 7.1
For players who want to get really retro, the aforementioned novel was actually adapted into a game,James Clavell’s Shogun, all the way back in 1986 for DOS PCs, Amstrad CPC, and the Commodore 64, among others. It’s an adventure game where players can pick any of the 20(!) key characters from the novel and help them become shōgun. To do that, they must collect items, build up followers, and fight off rivals.
Being an 8-bit game originally released on cassette tape, it doesn’t offer much more than that. Players can pick Toranaga or Lord Ishido if they want to start off with a few followers and items, or a random peasant if they want a challenge. Otherwise, they’re navigating screens for the right items to progress while beating up bandits. It’s simplistic, old school, gaming fun.
That said, if players want a more modern take onShogun, they’ll find it inLike a Dragon: Ishin!Like the 80s game, it involves fighting off bandits and collecting items, but there’s now a story to go with the gameplay. Based on theYakuza/Like a Dragongames, players help Ryōma Sakamoto track down the killer of his lord and father figure, Tōyō Yoshida, who’s hiding in the alleys of the capital city Kyōto (or ‘Kyō’ at the time). It’s also 3D, made for modern systems, and offers much more to do.
Players can take out their foes with 4 fighting styles: rout dungeonsfor the Shinsengumi, chat up geishas, and roam around 18th century Kyōto during the end of the Tokugawa shogunate and the start of modern Japan. It’s technically a remake, as the originalIshinwas a Japan-only PS4 release. But RGG Studio remade it for the same console and the PS5 console, adding new gameplay tweaks, refreshing the graphics, and more. Now they need to do the same for their earlier samurai releaseRyu Ga Gotoku: Kenzan!
Ghost of Tsushimagoes back further than the Sengoku era or Edo period to the 13th century. Here, Jin Sakai must protect Tsushima Island from a Mongol invasion. However, he’s torn between sticking to his warrior code and taking his foes on honorably, or dispatching them with sneaky, stealth moves. His skill at the latter makes him infamous among the islanders as ‘the Ghost.’
The game received unique acclaim. On top of its deep story and smooth gameplay, it impressedYakuza/LADcreator Toshihiro Nagoshi and may have played a part in getting theIshinremake greenlit. The real Tsushima Island even made the game’s directors tourism ambassadors for promoting the island worldwide with their game. Its only big drawback is that its side content is lacking compared to the main campaign.
Soulsborne fans got their own Sengoku-era adventure inSekiro: Shadows Die Twice. It sees the shinobi Wolf attempt to save his lord Kuro from Genichiro, who seeks to use Kuro’s innate divine power to create an immortal army. That way, they can fight off the Interior Ministry’s attempts to force them all under their rule. It goes for a more mystical story than a historical one, with magic, special abilities, and more.
That, and it spices up the Soulsborne gameplay with stealth skills, where the player can instantly kill enemies if they get the drop on them. That doesn’t mean it’s easy - as if they flub it - they’ll have to rely on upsetting the enemy’s balance to get an opening to hack them up instead. It’s a different take on Soulsborne gameplay, butit’s not any more forgiving.
LikeSekiro,Trek to Yomiis an Edo-era tale of revenge. Only unlike that game, it’s a sidescrolling action game that sees Hiroki try to avenge the death of his master, Sanjuro, and his love interest, Aiko, albeit with the catch that he’s already dead. He’s got to fight his way through Yomi, the Shinto land of the dead, to soothe the souls of the deceased to get a chance to return to the land of the living.
It uses a washed-out, black-and-white look to resemble classic samurai movies and mixes snatches of exploration with beat ‘em up-style sidescrolling fighting. Hiroki can use a bow & arrow, shurikens, and an ozutsu gun, but his life largely depends on his katana. With deft use, he canbreak an enemy’s guardwith a block, creating an opening to slash them up or run them through.
However, character-action games aren’t the only way to base a game around historical Japan.Total War: Shogun 2is a turn-based strategy game that puts the player in the role of one of the Sengoku era’s different warlords. Their goal is to overcome their rivals and unite Japan under their rule. Provided they know how to use their ashigaru, ninja, geisha, metsuke, and other units wisely on the field.
They could followShōgun -and history - by establishing a new shogunate under Tokugawa Ieyasu. But they may prefer the more loyal troops of the Shimazu Clan, the naval skills of the Mōri, or the warrior monks and trading advantages of the Uesugi. Each clan has its own advantages and disadvantages the player has to work with. It may not only be an improvement overTW:S1but may be the bestTWgame overall.
Shadow Tactics: Blade of the Shogunswitches things up by taking place during the newly established shogunate, where Oshiro Mugen and his crew must help keep it in place by uncovering the mysterious warlord ‘Kage-sama’. Except they don’t do it by commanding units on a battlefield or running around character-action-style.
Instead, it’s a stealth-based real-time strategy game where the player commands their team to navigate stages to gather key intel, sabotage equipment, or kill targets without being caught. They each have their own special skills, too, like Aiko’s disguises, Yuki’s death traps, or Hayato’s shuriken, which can swiftly slaughter enemies. They just have tobe used carefully, or they’ll be swarmed to death by samurai.
8The Nioh Collection
Metascore: 87
This list started with a direct adaptation ofShōgun, so it may as well end with an indirect one. Gathered together asThe Nioh Collection, theNiohgames are also loosely based on William Adams, but they add ki, yōkai, and other mystical elements to the proceedings.Niohsees Irish sailor William Adams join forces with Tokugawa Ieyasu and his ninja Hattori Hanzō against the machinations of the English occultist Edward Kelley.
Nioh 2switches protagonists to Hide, a half-yōkai who can be customized by the player, who works with the merchant Tōkichirō to find Amrita and the demon hunter Mumyō. Both are action RPGs where the player upgrades their skills with the yōkai’s Soul Cores, andboth are hard gamesto get through. But that’s what makes them engaging, pulling the player in to meet the challenge and exorcize feudal Japan.
