The PlayStation Vita is arguably becoming the best console for the Monster Hunter genre. Sure the console may not feature the flagship series Monster Hunter, but with that came the birth of variety. The Ragnarock Odyssey, Soul Sacrifice, God Eater, and now the Toukiden series have all become major successes for the console. Toukiden: The Age of Demons is the latest game in the genre to be released, and has already achieved great financial and critical success. The game will be releasing in NA on February 11, 2014 and in EU on February 14, 2014. I have had some time to play around with the demo for Toukiden: The Age of Demons, and overall it has been very enjoyable.
Gameplay
The most impressive part of my experience was easily the combat. The fighting mechanics in Toukiden are a lot faster than most games in the genre: I would even say it is even faster then Soul Sacrifice. It feels like a mixture between Devil May Cry and Dynasty Warriors, but it still keeps the core of the genre’s gameplay with the dodging mechanic. In addition, the classes all seemed to work with the speed of the game regardless if they were slower based. I mostly played with the dual blade class, which really took advantage of the fast nature.The game also has a wide variety of inputs which helped the combat feel varied and fresh between all classes. The only real issue I seemed to notice was with the difficulty in multiplayer. The game didn’t seem to get progressively difficult when more players were added, so having a group of 4 slayers really seemed like overkill. This is a demo however, so the true difficulty curve can’t honestly be determine. Multiplayer does have a lot of support however which is certainly a huge plus.
The combat is not the only exceptional part of the game however, as I found the crafting and mitama mechanics to also be enjoyable. Crafting weapons and armor is a staple of the genre, and this game makes it simpler then most. There was less of a focus on micro managing materials, which made the crafting system more approachable. In addition, finding material seemed to be easier as well. This might be a downside to hardcore fans, but I still found it to be enjoyable and it does make the game more welcoming to newcomers. The mitama feature of the game is something that every player should enjoy however. Mitamas are souls of fallen slayers who are based on actual Japanese figures. Players find these souls throughout the game and can equip them to increase certain abilities or gain new skills. I thought this was a really creative way to level up characters, and it helped contribute to the overall theme of the game. This made the class system really standout, and I think it will add a nice collecting aspect to the game. Overall, the gameplay for Toukiden seems to be some of the most engaging in the genre as it combines aspect from other games in the same category.
Presentation/Story
The story was another surprising high point to the demo, even though it didn’t seemed to be anything superb. It was interesting and it did manage to pull me into the setting of the game. I don’t believe it is going to blow anyone away, and I don’t think it is going to be as good as Soul Sacrifice: However, I can say that I found the storyline and setting to be entertaining. They included a book that retells the storyline, which is great if you put the game down for awhile but want to hop back into it later. The graphics for the game were also appealing, but nothing that wasn’t expected for a Vita game. The environments and enemy designs were really creative and well done however. The game has a certain feeling from it that distinguishes it from other games in the genre. I am very interested to see where this game goes with it’s themes of oni demons and slayers.
Overall
Toukiden: The Age of Demons seems to be another great monster hunting game on the Playstation Vita. The combat seems to have had a lot of time invested into it, and it’s mitama mechanic is very creative and fun. Experience fans and curious consumers should highly consider picking up the game when it is released in February. Toukiden: The Age of Demons might just become the biggest name in the genre since Monster Hunter.
