Enter a land infested with endless warfare, monsters and evil spirits. Master the lethal art of the samurai as a rogue mercenary cursed with the powers of the supernatural yokai. Hunt your enemies as you try to survive the treacherous Sengoku era and the nightmarish Dark Realm in this brutal masocore action RPG. Prepare yourself and unleash your darkness.
| Move character: | left stick |
| Move camera: | right stick |
| Dash: | button + left stick |
| Interact: | button |
| Fast attack: | button |
| Strong Attack: | button |
| Evade: | button |
| Guard: | button |
| Lock-on to target: | button |
| Change lock-on target: | right stick |
| Ki Pulse: | button |
| Burst counter: | button (hold) + button |
| Sheathe/ unsheathe Weapon: | button (hold) + button |
| Aim ranged weapon: | button (hold) |
| Zoom while aiming ranged weapon: | button |
| Fire ranged weapon: | button |
| Change ranged weapon: | button (hold) + button |
| Change melee weapon: | button (hold) + button |
| Yokai Shift: | button + button |
| Use shortcut items: | Directional buttons |
| Switch shortcut items set: | button + / button |
| Status menu: | touch pad button |
| Gesture menu: | OPTIONS button |
Combat stances are different poses that influence your fighting style. Each stance has strengths and weaknesses allowing for different attacks and actions when combined with specific weapons. Changing your stance can alter the effects of the same weapon.
| High stance: Powerful attacks that drain more Ki. |
button (hold) + button |
| Mid stance: A balanced technique ideal for defensive tactics. |
button (hold) + button |
| Low stance: Well suited to dodging enemy attacks. |
button (hold) + button |
| Yokai Shift: | button + button |
| Guardian Spirit Skill: (only available whilst in yokai shift) |
button + button |
| Yokai ability #1: | button (hold) + button |
| Yokai ability #2: | button (hold) + button |
| Burst counter: | button (hold) + button |
You can unleash these powerful abilities in your yokai or human form, as long as you have enough Anima.
Prepare for the perilous journey ahead from your home base.
A place for quiet reflexion that can be customised to your personal tastes. Give your samurai a whole new look; store and retrieve your items or manage all of your equipment to create unique loadouts. You can also view illustrations and models of yokai and other characters.
Level up your stats by spending accumulated Amrita, purify and attune your Soul Cores, choose and change your Guardian Spirit and save your progress. Make sure you look out for more Shrines during your adventures. Paying your respects at these holy places is vital to your survival. Praying at Shrines found outside of the Starting Point will recover all of your health. If you die, you will respawn at the last Shrine you visited.
Hire the skills of the talented blacksmith to create and modify equipment – or see what they have to trade.
Even the deadliest warriors need to train. Practise your moves and abilities before heading into battle. See if you can master the different tutorials and training missions.
Form clans to pledge allegiance with fellow samurai and engage in ferocious online battles against enemy camps.
Rank-up your samurai and your clan by earning Glory from defeating Revenants at Bloody Graves. To gain clan rewards you need to donate specific items that your clan needs on a daily and weekly basis.
By joining a clan you will also gain passive benefits for the main campaign.
Help other samurai in their quest by stepping through the Torii Gate to be summoned straight into someone else’s game online in Visitor mode. You can create or join online multiplayer rooms to play with up to two other samurai on a mission in Expedition mode. The Assist Gauge is your lifeline, so pay careful attention to it throughout your mission. The gauge drains with each death your party suffers. If the gauge completely empties, or if all of your party die before being summoned back by teammates, the Expedition is over. Praying at Shrines can replenish part of the Assist Gauge.
To survive your deadly ordeal you must continuously develop your skills, abilities, weapon prowess and magical powers. Delve into the Status menu to check out and upgrade core stats like constitution, courage and strength; improve your proficiency with your favourite weapons and much more. Press the OPTIONS button for more information on each stat.
Ki is an energy source you call upon to perform attacks, evade enemies and block incoming blows – represented by the on-screen green bar. As the bar depletes, you’ll quickly become exhausted and very vulnerable, so manage your Ki carefully.
Ki regenerates over time – but you can instantly recover a significant portion by mastering the following Ki Pulse technique: press the button as blue lights appear around your character after completing an attack. Timing is critical.
Beware the yokai realm. This pool of energy instantly drains your Ki while also strengthening your enemies. However, the same Ki Pulse technique can be used to instantly purify and dispel the yokai realm pool.
Earn Amrita to level up your abilities and take on the yokai form by completing missions, defeating enemies, opening chests, destroying crates and making offerings at Shrines. When the Amrita gauge is full, you can trigger the yokai shift. See the YOKAI and GRAVES sections for more information.
The on-screen purple bar is your Anima Gauge which fuels your yokai abilities and burst counter. Build up this meter by taking down your enemies. See the YOKAI section for more information.
Everyone, everywhere from the smallest child to the bravest warrior lives in constant fear of the supernatural yokai.
Born somewhere between human and yokai, you are burdened with the ability to channel and take on the yokai form.
Mastery of your yokai abilities is vital in your fight for survival in human form. Unleash these abilities against your enemies to greatly decrease their maximum Ki level.
| Yokai ability #1 | button (hold) + button |
| Yokai ability #2 | button (hold) + button |
Find and attune Soul Cores at Shrines to access different yokai abilities.
Yokai can launch devastating burst attacks that can suddenly turn – or even end – any battle.
Draw upon your own powers, whether in yokai or human form, to pull off a timed burst counter at the moment of impact to stand any chance of surviving.
| Burst counter | button (hold) + button |
Activate your yokai shift when your Amrita Gauge is full to trigger the metamorphosis from samurai to yokai. While in yokai form your health, Ki and Anima bars are replaced by the yokai shift gauge – the fuel for your new and more powerful attacks.
| Yokai shift | button + button |
| Guardian Spirit skill | button + button |
| Absorb Amrita to gauge | button + button |
| Absorb Amrita to weapon | button (hold) |
The type of your yokai shift, and the combat and actions you perform will depend on the type of your Guardian Spirit.
Brute: charge into battle armed with a heavy weapon and the ability to repel attacks.
Feral: dodge enemy attacks while chaining together your own rapid combos.
Phantom: launch projectiles from distance and execute close follow-up attacks.
Defeated yokai can drop a Soul Core imbued with yokai powers. Search for a nearby Shrine to purify and attune Soul Cores to your chosen Guardian Spirit and strengthen their abilities. Absorbing Soul Cores also restores part of your Anima bar.
Guardian Spirits are mystical entities that empower you with unique abilities, such as increasing your resistance to fire attacks. You can choose, improve and change your Guardian Spirit at any Shrine. Your faithful Guardian Spirit will keep vigil at your grave when you die, protecting your Amrita and unpurified Soul Cores. Your choice of Guardian Spirit dictates your yokai form.
If you fall in battle your Amrita and impurified Soul Cores will be stored inside your grave –watched over by your Guardian Spirit. Find your Grave to restore everything you had; but if you die before reaching this marker your Amrita will be lost.
Final resting places of deceased adventurers. If you play online you will also see the Name, Level, Cause of Death, Type of Equipment and Guardian Spirit attached to the player. Interact with a Bloody Grave to fight a powerful Revenant – victory will see you rewarded with valuable items and equipment.
Interact with any Benevolent Graves you discover to call forth an Acolyte to fight by your side for a limited time by using Ochoko Cups. Find and use the precious stone Righteous Jasper to spawn Benevolent Graves for other players to interact with online, earning you special rewards.
Mysterious, sinister and deadly.
The Dark Realm is a strange plane of existence and home to the yokai – empowering the demons with enhanced abilities.
Generated by the impure energy of creatures or objects, the Dark Realm can suddenly draw unsuspecting travellers in from the real world.
Full of evil spirits and monsters, the Dark Realm also houses hidden Shrines and treasure chests – and can only be purified by defeating or destroying the source.
By using this software, you agree to the licence terms. Our full licence terms can be read here: www.playstation.com/legal/software-usage-terms/. Here are some of the highlights: