Aragami Review – The Stealth Game for Stealth Fans

(Aragami, Lince Works)

(Aragami, Lince Works)

<p>Stealth games are a mixed bag in terms of whether the games in a genre are consistently good or not&period; There are games like <em>Dishonored<&sol;em> and <em>Hitman<&sol;em> that many people enjoy&comma; but there are also games that just never quite reach their intended goal&period; A stealth game SHOULD be about making you feel awesome even if you are not the stealthiest gamer around&period; This is where <em>Aragami<&sol;em> comes in&semi; <em>Aragami <&sol;em>is a game created by Lince Works where you play a vengeful spirit &lpar;called <em>Aragami<&sol;em>&rpar; who can control the shadows&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Aragami<&sol;em> is summoned to the city fortress of Kyuryu by a girl named Yamiko who hopes that <em>Aragami <&sol;em>will be able to help her complete her plan to escape&period; The story that unfolds grows deeper and becomes more than just a tale of escape and rescue&period; According to the developers&comma;<em> Aragami<&sol;em> boasts 8-14 hours of consistent play&comma; though it can be longer depending upon your skill level&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;113835" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-113835" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-113835 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;02230629&sol;screenshot&lowbar;06-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;&lt&semi;em&gt&semi;Aragami&lt&semi;&sol;em&gt&semi;&comma; Lince Works&rpar;" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-113835" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Aragami<&sol;em>&comma; Lince Works&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><em>Aragami <&sol;em>offers multiple ways to play&period; While all of these revolve around stealth&comma; how you approach stealth is up to you&period; If you want to simply remain undetected for the entire level&comma; that is achievable&period; Or you can kill every enemy&period; There is a wide array of shadow powers&comma; from teleporting to and from shadows&comma; to creating decoys&comma; or summoning shadow creatures to kill your foes&period; There are two skill paths that you can take&period; The Ghost Path is set up so you can remain undetected&comma; while the Demon Path is all about killing your foes&period; A mix of both can also be used&comma; and there is no penalty for favoring one over the other&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Aragami<&sol;em> has settings to turn off blood and multiple language options as well&period; The blood setting is especially useful for parents who are cautious about what their kids can play&comma; or even want to play a violent&sol;bloody game in front of their kids without feeling bad about it&period; <em>Aragami<&sol;em> also has two player co-op to enable you to enjoy the game with a friend&period; The multiplayer is also cross-platform&comma; so if you are playing on Playstation 4 and your friend owns the game on Steam&comma; you can still play together&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;113836" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-113836" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-113836 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;02230719&sol;screenshot&lowbar;04-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;&lt&semi;em&gt&semi;Aragami&lt&semi;&sol;em&gt&semi;&comma; Lince Works&rpar;" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-113836" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Aragami<&sol;em>&comma; Lince Works&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><em>Aragami <&sol;em>has a gorgeous atmosphere and visuals&period; These visuals serve a dual purpose&semi; not only do they work as a beautiful aesthetic&comma; but the game also gives you visual feedback as to your light level and your energy level &lpar;used for utilizing your shadow powers&period;&rpar; When<em> Aragami<&sol;em> is cloaked in black shadows&comma; you are out of the light and are in full shadow&period; When Aragami’s outfit has color&comma; you are not cloaked and if you are standing in the light&comma; the designs on his cape will recede along with your energy level&period; Aragami’s cape also shows what power you have equipped&comma; and how many uses that power has before you need to recharge with a shrine&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This prevents the need for a complex UI&comma; and also focuses more on artistic style rather than utilities that might break the immersion of the game&period; The only visible UI element is a reticle that lets you know if you can teleport to a designated area or not&comma; but the reticle doesn’t break the immersive atmosphere all that much&period; The visuals almost remind me of games like <em>Journey<&sol;em>&comma; while also providing a rich&comma; extra layer of crisp color and depth that makes <em>Aragami <&sol;em>a feast for the eyes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This is the point where I mention that I am normally pretty terrible at stealth games&period; The stealth in <em>Aragami <&sol;em>is very fair and very satisfying&comma; though&period; Even with my lacking skill level&comma; I still felt pretty awesome utilizing aerial kills&comma; stealth kills&comma; and other moves&period; The controls are set up well&comma; it doesn’t feel forced or unwieldy&comma; and the combat elements are fluid and smooth&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;113837" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-113837" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-113837 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;02230759&sol;screenshot&lowbar;19-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;&lt&semi;em&gt&semi;Aragami&lt&semi;&sol;em&gt&semi;&comma; Lince Works&rpar;" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-113837" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Aragami<&sol;em>&comma; Lince Works&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Direct combat isn’t advisable&comma; as your enemies are well equipped to repel a frontal assault&period; This means that every action you take needs to be well calculated&period; Planning your moves is key in <em>Aragami<&sol;em>&comma; and keeping a keen eye on your surroundings is just as important&period; Sound also plays a large role&comma; as you can listen for enemy positioning and other important elements&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I honestly have very few issues with <em>Aragami&period;<&sol;em> From someone who normally dislikes stealth focused games&comma; I found that it stands on its own fairly well&period; The only issue I had is that sometimes checkpoints can be placed too far apart&comma; requiring you to re-tread ground you’ve covered already due to one mistake&period; With that being said <em>Aragami <&sol;em>is fairly forgiving in terms of mistakes&comma; though I do wish that there were multiple difficulty levels in order to provide for gamers who just want to enjoy the storyline while feeling like an awesome ninja&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Aragami <&sol;em>gives you opportunities to recover if you make a mistake&comma; by either retreating and trying again&comma; or simply utilizing the skills and powers you have been given to work your way out of a problem area&period; <em>Aragami <&sol;em>is the stealth game I’ve always wanted&semi; despite the checkpoint flaw&comma; it is a well-crafted experience&period; Between solid controls&comma; a variety of play styles&comma; and an interesting story and premise&comma; <em>Aragami <&sol;em>is the stealth game for all sorts of gamers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong>A PS4 Review Code for <em>Aragami<&sol;em> was provided by Lince Works for the purpose of this review<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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