With Ghost of Tsushima, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and the recently announced Ghost of Yotei, the feudal Japanese setting is well accounted for in games these days. But considering the rich mythologies, aesthetics, and customs found throughout Japanese history, it’s a tad surprising that developers haven’t thought to merge that with more traditional RPG mechanics.
Enter Owlcat Games, publishers of the Pathfinder series and Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, who have teamed up with Another Angle Games to deliver Shadow of the Road, an isometric-presenting RPG that sees you mingling with yōkai in a dark-fantasy world inspired by Japanese folklore.
In a press release, the publisher has revealed more details about the game, as well as a trailer showing off some lovely yōkai monster designs, a cast of brooding characters, and ninjas ambushing what’s presumably our protagonist in misty rain-glossed forests.
It looks like Shadow of the Road’s story will overlap with history too, taking place in an alternate 19th-century Japan where yōkai lurk in the dark places of the world and steampunk technologies exist, all against the backdrop of a power-struggle between the Shogun and the Emperor. You play as the Tokugawa shogunate’s spymaster, and are tasked with protecting a child with mysterious powers. The game promises choices that will “guide characters along unique paths,” turn-based tactical combat, a relationship system between characters that can have an impact both on the story and the battlefield.
Weird fiction fan that I am, I have a soft spot for RPGs that take a historical setting and chuck a bunch of demons, strange tech, and other oddities at it. The Thaumaturge, set in a 1900s Poland where demons and magic exist, is low-key one of my favourite games of this year, and Shadow of the Road looks like it’s applying a similar coating of strangeness to the well-trodden setting of old-timey (though not technically feudal) Japan.
Shadow of the Road is listed on Steam, but is yet to get a release date.
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