Ganryū 2 it is the sequel to the game Ganryū made by VISCO in NEO-GEO in 1999. The universe takes place in a feudal fantasy Japan heavily inspired by the history of Takezo Musashiwhose adventures take place in a series of books (mainly The stone and the sword).

This saga transports us to those of us who enjoy classics like the saga shinobiwhere Ganryūan arcade game from 1999, has now been revived by Storybird Studio. Like the original, this spiritual sequel is a feudal Japan-themed hack and slash platformer.

Meridiem Games has put on sale the editions for Switch Y Playstation 4, in perfect Spanish where lovers of retro and samurai culture get into this action game.

The history

In Ganryū 2 You play as Miyamoto Musashi traveling through a 17th century fantasy Japan, from north to south to the island of Ganryu-jima, where it all began between Musashi and Kojiro.

After his victory against Kojiro, Musashi decides to meditate in the north of Japan, in the province of Hokkaido. During one of his meditations, a spirit contacted him: “Miyamoto Musashi, our fight is not over, I am waiting for you to finish our fight once and for all! All of Japan will pay for your insult! I’m waiting for you Miyamoto Musashi!”

For Musashi there is no doubt that the voice was that of Sasaki Kojirō. His body was defeated, but his spirit remains, and his intentions remain destructive. Miyamoto Musashi then understood that he had to tour Japan from north to south and go to the island of Ganryû-jima, where he first defeated Sasaki Kojirō, to fight again and free Kojiro’s spirit forever.

Deep, with well-adapted nods to samurai culture

Mechanically, it is a deep game and offers a great ensemble cast of maneuvers for the player to play and enjoy. Throwing knives, double-tap dashes, rapid-fire sword blasts, instant-death dashes, and a host of magic attacks complement your basic sword-carving combos. You can double jump and spin your sword on your way down, ping between walls and recover in the air for flashy kills and nimble ledge negotiations.

We explore a fantasy Japan of the 17th century through the seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter, using our special abilities, the kamis, to take advantage of our enemies and collect Hanafuda cards through the levels.

Graphically it’s very nice, it looks much better in motion than on screenshots, with strong background elements, weather effects, nice palettes and a variety of enemies. Bigger, burlier opponents also dot the landscape, and on top of that, the bosses look good and offer fun and strategic pattern-based skirmishes.

Ganryū 2 perhaps it sins in some aspects where it is not easy at all, for example, when you get to chase a mine car, which sometimes gets a little desperate. Despite this, moments of successful runs and hits, knife throws and quick evasions will make us enjoy the game once we get the hang of those complicated moments.

It is designed to be quite challenging, requiring focus and reflexes to create magic and get around traps.

The edition

The game is sold in a simple edition for both systems at a more than appetizing price, so it is surely a title that lovers of retro and games of this theme are going to have in our collection.

In conclusion

Ganryū 2: Hakuma Kojiro It offers us a commendable arcade action adventure, with good mechanics, a variety of scenarios, great bosses and nice graphics, albeit with some moments in which we will need agility to overcome this difficulty.

Players who have enjoyed the first game or titles like shinobi 3 either Shadow Dancer, They are going to discover a new challenge to put hours into the game with which they are going to enjoy, despite some technical thing, from minute 1 and it arrives translated.