Way of the Samurai 4 is a single player, 3rd person Action-adventure game where the player controls a nameless Rōnin throughout the fictional town of Amihama. Through use of combat and various dialogue options, the player may choose one of ten paths to follow in order to achieve an ending. Each ending is dependent on choices made by the player throughout the play through.
Controls[]
- Default Controls
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Difficulty Settings[]
There are a total of four difficulty settings in Way of the Samurai 4, Easy, Normal, Hard and Harakiri. Hard and Harakiri modes are each unlocked through the unlock menu on loading a previously saved game.
As the game goes from easy difficulty, through to harakiri, enemies will progressively become harder to kill and will cause more damage to the player per hit. This is noted through an increase in combat proficiency by have higher stats on their weapons and, starting from Hard difficulty, will have better and rarer weapons equipped. They will also drop rarer items upon death as the difficulty is increased.
There are some weapons, items and styles that are only obtainable in Hard or Harakiri mode and there is an achievement/trophy for completing the game through any one of the endings for each of these modes.
Obtaining better weapons and styles and upgrading weapons at the blacksmith will help players to be able to successfully complete the higher levels.
HUD[]
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Figure 1: The HUD from Way of the Samurai 4
The HUD consists of five different components (see Figure 1); the vitality bar (purple, left), the life bar (green, right), the spring harvest gauge (centre), the weapon durability display (bottom left) and the current item (top right).
Life/Vitality[]
The Vitality bar is a new feature of Way of the Samurai 4[1]. As long as the player has vitality, up to a maximum value of 1000, they can hold block or move around to restore life, which is also to a maximum of 1000. The rate at which life is restored depends on how much vitality is remaining, either quickly with a full vitality bar or very slow with low vitality bar or not at all with no vitality left in the bar.
Vitality will decrease as the player performs moves, fast travels or heals themselves by moving or holding block. Stronger moves, such as those performed by pressing 
, 
or 
, will lower vitality faster than using weaker moves, such as those performed by pressing 
, 
or 
. Vitality can only increase through consuming vitality increasing items, eating various food items at the various eateries, sleeping at the inn or one of the many sleeping spots around Amihama or having a weapon equipped that has the Life&Death charm.
Spring harvest gauge[]
This gauge slowly fills as the player makes successful hits and kills and enables the player to enter Spring Harvest mode when the gauge is half filled or more (See: Spring Harvest). The gauge can be filled faster or made to deplete slower with certain items.
Weapon durability[]
The weapon durability display will show the durability of the currently equipped weapon. The display will show the type of weapon, katana, spear or other, and will show a colour based on how damaged the weapon is, purple/white for no damage, yellow for medium damage, red for severe damage and dark grey for broken. The display will also show if the player has enabled reverse mode by showing the text REV on the display (See: Combat Basics). If the weapon breaks, it will need to be polished at the blacksmith before using again, otherwise it will do no damage at all to the opponent.
The durability of weapon can be increased by certain items, such as the whetstone and polishing powder, and can be temporarily disabled by using items such as blade oil or by having the unbreakable appraisal available from the blacksmith. The maximum durability can be increased by taking the weapon to the blacksmith and paying to make the weapon harder, up to a maximum of 2000 points.
Item display[]
The item display will show the currently held item and it's amount, if applicable, as well as the total number of items held, up to a maximum of 10. Certain items may be used or thrown by pressing up on the D-Pad or the Up-Arrow on the keyboard. Left and right on the D-Pad, or arrows on the keyboard, will cycle to the previous and next items respectively. If the player has any bait in their inventory, they may begin fishing by having the bait displayed on the item display, approaching a water source and then pushing the OK button (
, 
or 
) (See: Way of the Samurai 4 Fishing).
Combat[]
Basics[]
Combat is initiated through events or by pushing the draw weapon button (
, 
or 
) and approaching a potential opponent who also draws their weapon. If there are multiple opponents, the player will target the nearest opponent, who will be highlighted with a white glow, otherwise a different opponent can be targeted by using the free run button (
, 
or 
) and running towards the desired opponent. Unless a requirement is set by a particular event, the player may either kill their opponent by using their weapon in normal mode or wound their opponent in reverse mode. If the opponent is killed, the player may retrieve the opponent's weapon and any items they were carrying as well as try to search the body by pressing the OK button (, or ) or by kicking the body using guard and weak attack together (
+ , 
+ or 
+ ). Looting corpses adds to the unsuitable conduct stat, which is shown at the end of the play through and can affect the title earnt by the player. If the opponent is wounded, the player is not currently within an event and the opponent is not a named NPC, the opponent will kneel and a dialogue option will appear which will have the options of "Get out of my sight", "I'm not done with you yet" and "I'm making you my pupil". Choosing the first option will make the opponent run away, the second will resume combat and the third will make the opponent stand up, who will then either bow and accept to be your pupil or kick you and run away; the player must own the Dojo to successfully recruit pupils.
Styles[]
Each weapon type, katana, spear, gun or hand-to-hand, will have a number of different styles that can be used. In each style is a moveset, which the player can view through the status screen and it displays each move and the combinations required to perform that move. Every new style will start at the first rank and will only have very basic moves unlocked. The player can rise in rank by using the moveset and by killing/beating opponents which will increase the skill points for that moveset. Upon unlocking new ranks, the player may perform certain actions, as specified inside the moveset, to unlock further moves. The highest achievable rank before unlocking all moves is fifth, which will allow the learning of all unlearnt moves provided the right conditions are met. Once the player has learnt all moves in a set, the rank changes to Master, indicating that all moves have been learnt.
Defence[]
The player may either block (, or ) or dodge by pushing guard and cancel ( + 
, + 
or + 
) and pushing the direction of the dodge. If guarding, the player may try to push or pull the opponent by holding the direction of the opponents attack while guarding. For example, if the opponent uses an attack that is listed in the moveset as having a combination of forward and attack, the player can then pull that attack by holding back and guard at the same time. Likewise, in reverse, if the opponent uses a move that has a combination of back and attack, the player can push by holding forward and guard. Certain moves cannot be guarded, such as kicks and other hand-to-hand style attacks and guard breaking moves cannot be pushed or pulled against; they will instead break the guard and leave the blocker vulnerable for a short period of time. A successful block will also degrade a weapon faster which can lead to the weapon breaking and becoming unusable (see: Weapon durability).
Spring Harvest[]
Spring Harvest is a new feature of Way of the Samurai 4. Activating with the guard and draw/sheathe buttons ( + , + or + ), time will slow down to enable the player to make a rapid succession of moves to mostly helpless opponents. The player's strength will increase as well as their moves becoming guard-breaking while spring harvest is active. While spring harvest mode is active, the gauge will deplete until it is empty, but can still be filled as normal by hitting/killing opponents and by using items. Spring harvest can be cancelled at any time by sheathing the weapon or by using the same combination used to begin (guard and draw/sheathe). If the gauge is allowed to empty, the player will stagger and become vulnerable for a short period of time, before returning to normal.
Proof of Life[]
The proof of life feature in Way of the Samurai 4 is where actions made in one playthrough affect the game in the next. Affected things include the status of the Dojo, collected weapons and their statuses, items, crime rate, whether the Language School, Casino or Hospital are open or closed, the level and status of styles and any money collected. All collected weapons in the weapon sack, items and money from previous playthroughs can be retrieved from the closet at the Dojo, but do not require the player to currently own the Dojo which must be re-owned every playthrough. The Dojo will retain all of the recruited pupils as well as Sensei if she has been recruited.