Samurai Maiden is a bishoujo action game where samurai and ninjas kiss to enhance their abilities
Written by. Nick Mosier based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-08-03 13:47 JST)
D3 Publisher has officially announced Samurai Maiden for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC (Steam). The game is scheduled to launch this winter. Toward the end of last month, D3 Publisher teased a new title but announced it as ******* Maiden, obscuring the first word. They touted it as a groundbreaking new bishoujo game and have now revealed the full title to be Samurai Maiden.
Samurai Maiden is a samurai action game that sees a female high school student and her ninja companions running through the Underworld beneath Honnō-ji. The game is set during Japan’s Sengoku period in 1582 at the end of Nobunaga Oda’s life. In reality, Honnō-ji is where Japanese feudal lord Nobunaga Oda committed suicide as hostile troops closed in to assassinate him.
The game’s protagonist is Tsumugi Tamaori, a high school girl who is skilled with a sword. One day, when studying history after school, Tsumugi thinks to herself about how she’s glad she wasn’t born during the Sengoku period. However, she then somehow finds herself at Honnō-ji during the Sengoku period surrounded by fire and smoke with a man who introduces himself as Nobunaga Oda. With sword in hand, she prepares herself to clash with the incoming skeleton soldiers.
The Underworld beneath Honnō-ji where Tsumugi Tamaori finds herself is crawling with enraged corpses that she fights together with 3 female ninja companions. Tsumugi herself wields a sword while the ninjas use knives (Kunai), ninjutsu, and other ninja techniques and tools. Players will need to use the right sword and ninjutsu techniques to match the situation at hand.
Samurai Maiden also has a power-up system called Devoted Heart. This will temporarily power up Tsumugi through her ninja companions sharing their energy with her. To unleash Devoted Heart, characters must be touching their hands, faces, or bodies together, with kissing having the strongest effect. Characters will start by touching hands but can kiss once their bonds are at a strong enough level.
The game is being developed by Shade. In recent years they’ve been involved with titles like Kandagawa Jet Girls and Bullet Girls Phantasia, so we can likely expect expressive bishoujo action from Samurai Maiden as well.