Aragami puts you in the shoes of the aptly named character; Aragami, who’s summoned by Yamiko, a ‘mysterious girl’ imprisoned by the Kaiho, the army of Light. Operating in stealth, you’ll navigate through levels in any way you choose. Aragami: Shadow Edition includes the base campaign, as well as the campaign expansion; Nightfall.

A stealth focused title with plenty of backstabs and teleporting between shadows, Aragami takes influence from games such as Tenchu and Thief. Whether it’s attempting to smoothly dispatch all enemies, or using your powers of evasion, fans of the genre will find a lot to like here.

Whilst the story isn’t crucial for enjoying the game, it does provide context to each mission. The cutscenes and dialogue between characters also do provide some personality to the world.

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Interactions between Yamiko and Aragami were frequent and sometimes even entertaining, both in cutscenes and as you progress through missions, Yamiko acted as a narrator of the environment, providing understanding to the areas of each chapter.

The Nightfall expansion however takes place before the events of Aragami, and whilst it doesn’t necessarily need the original to play; I would certainly recommend doing so.

Visual and Audio/ Artistic design

The environments are beautiful here. Due to the story taking place over the course of one night, all chapters are moonlit, but they still manage to offer variety in their level design.

Immediately when playing Aragami, I noticed the lack of movement sounds; which fits smoothly with the stealth tone. The ambient sounds, and the music fit perfectly with the feel to the game. Conversations between guards can also be somewhat entertaining.

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In Nightfall, animations are improved and environments more detailed; overall Nightfall feels more polished in terms of visual style. I appreciated the change in scenery, straight away on the first chapter there’s a new tileset that doesn’t disappoint, both retaining the original artistic design whilst feeling fresh to the base game. Additionally, shadows seem more detailed and it’s far clearer what surfaces you’re able to shadow leap to.

Game mechanics – Functionality

There are essentially 2 main resources that you’ll use; firstly ‘Shadow Essence’ enables the use of Shadow Leap and the ability to create shadows. Additionally you gain Shadow Techniques, which are unlockable through skill points.

You unlock skills by collecting scrolls throughout each level, some are fairly tricky to find (this only applies to the main campaign). You can however acquire the ability to highlight scrolls through the world, and there are enough to unlock everything.

Shadow leaping can only be done when aimed at shadows, but with the way levels are set out, you’ll find yourself able to move seamlessly across areas. You also gain the ability to create shadows early on in the game; which allows you to create temporary shadows that can then be used to shadow leap onto. Staying in the shadows enables your shadow essence to recharge; whilst shrines can replenish your shadow techniques.

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The aiming for Shadow Leap rarely felt awkward, and can be forgiving if you act quickly on a mistake, for example, getting an enemy suspicious can bring them to your location, allowing you to quickly adjust to the situation.

The gameplay in Nightfall feels instantly familiar as you run and leap, using the same mechanics from the original. However this time you already start with four abilities; with no option to unlock more. There are also passive abilities you normally have to unlock which are given to you by default, a nice addition in my opinion.

Game mechanics – objectives & enemy types

In order to reach your goals or achieve objectives, you will often have to navigate around roaming and stationary guards, archers and guards who have what can only be described as a floating orb of light around them.

Eventually coming across ‘light-mines’ that will latch to you if you get too close, draining your shadow essence and killing you if you fail to escape it.

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Throughout the campaign you will encounter light barriers that will block you from passing, or narrow the scope you can use the map. Finding a way to deactivate them helps you reach the objective, or opens up new paths to use. This may feel overused at times, but it certainly adds to the challenge in most occurrences.

It’s surprising in a game such as this to include bosses; being detected by these bosses thankfully doesn’t count towards the ‘undetected’ requirement, as they technically always know your whereabouts.

The new expansion offers more in terms of objectives; ranging from intel gathering, tailing a target and more. These additions are welcome, presenting new challenges with each task, however bosses were unfortunately removed, and the final battle remains as a well polished cutscene instead.

Game Pacing

The pacing of Aragami can vary significantly depending on playstyle; aiming for a no elimination playstyle, or maybe even an ‘undetected’ run, can be slow paced, as you methodically weave your way between enemy patrols with the tools you have. Alternatively, if you’re spotted and need to make an escape the game quickly speeds up, as you frantically and strategically try to escape and remain out of sight. Once this has happened, guards in the area will remain vigilant and alerted, so getting around after this becomes a little bit trickier.

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The main thing to mention in combat is that you can be killed in one hit, there are no upgrades in health or any way of surviving more hits, you simply have to rely on staying hidden, and your own ability to avoid being hit. Naturally you’ll react with added caution when traversing each level, knowing the risks of being spotted; in my opinion this makes the game more engaging. Don’t think that simply taking refuge on high ground to escape guards will save you, as they have ranged attacks that can reach you if seen.

Difficulty

The game weighs in at around 10-12 hours, though it can be shorter/longer depending on your playstyle and difficulty setting.  If you enjoy aiming for a stealth, no takedown run, you can subsequently try it again with the objective to eliminate all guards or vice versa, allowing a good amount of replayability. I started on the hardest difficulty, not really knowing what I would be in for, and to put this in perspective; you kill in one hit, and die in one hit, so think twice before you decide to ‘Rambo’ through entire levels from the get go.

There are no bonuses for completing the game on hard; with no XP system, all skills are unlocked by collectables. I would recommend playing the game on hard only if you want the most challenging experience from the game. This will at times be frustrating, but evermore satisfying when you finally beat an area you may have been struggling with.

Upon completing each chapter you’re given a rating of how you performed; deaths, detections and kills etc, which all contribute to your overall score. This best serves purpose if you are interested in leader boards or fancy some indirect competition with friends. Any chapter that has been completed is available to be replayed. If you wish to improve your scores, find more scrolls to unlock skills or earn the medals, you can easily replay a mission.

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Nightfall’s Difficulty

Nightfall was shorter than the main game clocking in at around 3 – 4 hours for myself. Though the typical chapter in Nightfall lasted longer than the average main game chapter; this was due to the level length as well as an increase in difficulty over the predecessor.

The ability which allowed you to see enemies and their vision cones through walls from the base game was no longer available, as a result, I frequently found myself overreaching in sections and being caught out without the safety net. I appreciated this though, as it made the expansion more challenging, and forced you to play less recklessly.

In Nightfall completing mission objectives and gathering collectables saves your progress. Unfortunately this is open to potential abuse, allowing you to throw yourself at the objective then immediately get caught and return to a save area – with the objective still completed. If you enjoy the challenge of doing it without being detected and stealth, you may be disappointed that the game allows you to do this. However this certainly doesn’t take away from the initial challenge. This doesn’t occur in the base game.

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Multiplayer

If you get the chance to play multiplayer, it’s probably best doing so in a private match with a friend that you can coordinate with, though I would recommend discussing what playstyle you’re going to take before you start.

The game feels completely different in Multiplayer. You can challenge your buddy to see who kicks the bucket first, or see who can get the most eliminations. In Nightfall you’re able to choose from one of two characters; Hyo and Shinobu, as opposed to both playing as Aragami. Nightfall in particular has been well thought out for both coop and single player; changing one of the techniques for single player use.

You can play through the entire base game, and Nightfall expansion, in co-op. There’s even cross-platform multiplayer included for Xbox + PC / PS4 + PC play.

Potential bugs

Whilst experiencing a few different bugs, I never encountered any game breaking issues. There are areas where the framerate tanks, especially in multiplayer, when starting at specific checkpoints – both on an Xbox One S and X consoles.

I encountered a minor bug that’s worth pointing out; when I loaded the game back up the difficulty had been lowered without any prompting. This happened on two separate occasions.

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Overall impressions

Nightfall retains the original’s strong gameplay and an emphasis on stealth. However, whether you enjoy stealth to achieve the objective, tactically eliminating opponents or just full blown slicing your way through the chapters; the game is enjoyable and does not penalise you for choosing one method over another.

Nightfall is perhaps a bit short and left me wanting more, even though the story ties in nicely with Aragami’s. I would be intrigued to see where the game could go from here.

Pros

  • Shadow leaping, and using combos to move around levels is satisfying
  • Great visual style
  • Strong musical score
  • Game length, never overstays its welcome

Cons:

  • Occasional stuttering and frame rate issues
  • Fairly weak story
  • A couple of inconvenient bugs
REVIEW OVERVIEW
Overall Score
VIAGame provided by publisher for review
Notorious teller of gaming tales. A completionist through and through. Steve is a staff writer for Gaming LYF.
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