PROJECT SAKURA WARS
These shiny mechs put cherry blossoms to shame
“SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE HOW MUCH EMPHASIS YOU GIVE A PHRASE.”
Jazzy music and steam machines – this might not be the Tokyo you know, but this fictionalised steampunk version of the city in the 1940s is full of intrigue. Not that you have much time to take in the sights of the Japanese capital, as looking for the Ginzabased Imperial Combat Revue you bump into Sakura, a member of its Flower Division Troupe, who offers to show you around.
Your character, Seijuro Kamiyama, is here on a mission: to take over command of the talented, allfemale group and help them win the international mech-piloting World Combat Revue tournament.
As you explore the HQ and its surroundings you can take on side-quests from other characters, and engage in conversation to increase your bonds, which is then reflected in how well they fight at your side. There are dialogue options, but sometimes you have to choose how much emphasis you give a phrase. For instance, after listening to a character’s woes, you can exclaim “that’s terrible”. Get too into it and you might flail around and seem offputting, but appear too subdued and it might come across like you don’t care. ( Finally, a game that captures the sort of social anxiety we deal with on a daily basis.)
VALKYRIE RISING
If social sims aren’t your sort of thing, you might find the game’s other aspect – fast-paced mech hack-and-slash – more appealing. You and the Flower Division don’t just have the tournament to worry about, there are demons to deal with too. The action is rapid as you string together light and heavy attacks, jumping up onto enemies to pull off air combos. Fights also look fantastic, with blue energy spewing from your mechs’ thrusters, and sparks flying from their feet as they shoot over the ground.
For our hands-on, we’ve got two characters in our team, and we can switch between them at the touch of a button, with the AI taking charge of the one we’re not controlling. Kamiya and Azami play differently enough for us to want to explore the moves of both. The former uses a katana for cloud-clearing strikes, while the Flower Division’s ninja can lay down a more specific kind of pain with dash kicks and uppercut strikes. Action sequences break up the fights: at one point we’re chased by a demon snake, and at another we’re forced to slide across walls. Just a few months until we can hop into the pilot’s seat…