It seems like every year, I find one hidden gem that really jumps out from the rest. This year, that game was Shurado, a new action game from Ganbarion. If that name is ringing a bell for you, it’s possible you saw it on any number licensed games based on properties like Dragon Ball or One Piece. Their most famous games in the West are probably the Nintendo DS Jump Stars fighting games that mash up a variety of manga characters. Shurado is something different for the traditionally console-based developer, but if what I played is indicative of the final game, they may have something big on their hands here.
The demo for Shurado has you playing as a mysterious warrior who is making his way through some creepy environments. You don’t have full control over the character, but you can stop or start their movement forward as you like. It works kind of like if you could make your Infinity Blade character stop along their pre-defined route at your leisure. The meat of Shurado comes when you run into an opponent. Both combatants will draw their weapons and the battle will begin. By tapping anywhere on the enemy on the right side of the screen, you can deliver targeted strikes at their limbs and other body parts. Pressing the left side of the screen allows you to block. If you both try to attack at the same time, you’ll go to a familiar clashing scene where you have to tap as fast as you can to win.
You can’t just attack non-stop, though. You have a meter that governs your stamina, and once it’s depleted, you’ll have to cool it with the strikes for a few seconds to let it replenish. You also have some special attacks at your disposal. As in the Infinity Blade games, there are bits of the surrounding areas you can tap on to grab power-ups, but I couldn’t see if the game had any of that game’s more complicated equipment systems. After three increasingly difficult battles, the demo was over. It certainly left me wanting more.
Luckily, I won’t have to wait too long. Ganbarion plans on launching the game by the end of 2017, and they are planning on making it a worldwide release. I’ll have to play a lot more of Shurado before I can give a proper verdict on it, but the brief demo was a lot of fun, with plenty of potential hooks to add some complexity to the battles. If nothing else, the game looks absolutely breath-taking. If they’re applying that level of effort all around, we could be in for a real treat when this game hits later this year. We’ll definitely have more on Shurado for you when we get more details passed to us.
