Review: Toukiden 2 – PS Vita (8.5/10)

Toukiden 2 is the follow up to Toukiden: The Age of Demons and Toukiden: Kiwami, with the later being a re-release of the first game containing a new story, new weapons and new Oni. Compared to the prequels, Toukiden 2 is set in a huge open world which is divided into six distinct ages.

The story follows the events after Toukiden: Kiwami where a disaster known as the Awakening has destroyed the world and a new history with evil spirits began to devour. A vast numbers of monsters called Oni began to attack the northern located city of Yokohama and while some slayers where fighting them, a massive Oni appeared from above and one slayer was sucked into the Oni Gate. Ten years later, a slayer with amnesia appeared in Mahoroba, a village far to the west, and this is where the monster hunting begins.

In Toukiden 2, you play as the unnamed slayer with no memory, trying to find out what has happened to him and to free the world from the Oni. While other games within the monster hunter genre normally don’t focus much on story, this game’s narrative is surprisingly good and kept me entertained. As already mentioned, Toukiden 2 offers a huge open world where all missions and side quests take place. The good thing is that the game lets you decide if you want to focus on the story missions or if you also want to do side quests which can give you additional items.

As Toukiden 2 is a monster hunter game, the main object is to slay Oni. But thankfully, you don’t have to do it alone, other characters will join you on your mission to fight the monsters. New in Toukiden 2 is the demon hand which lets you attack Oni with a giant hand. You can also use it to destroy objects which block your way or to jump to other located areas. The demon hand adds more action to the game and I really enjoyed this new feature.

Besides the demon hand, you can choose between several available weapons. Depending on the equippment, your slayer will have more or less agility and while larger weapons deal more damage, I preferred a smaller weapon as this improved the attack speed. I never felt the need to change the weapon type often as this would have changed the slayer’s movement during a fight. New weapons and equippment can be bought in the shop or created and upgraded at the blacksmith using items you have found during missions and quests.

Like in the previous games, special skills are granted with equipped Mitama which are souls of former heroes that have been imprisoned by Oni. Several Mitama will be discovered throughout the game which will add extra battle styles, attack and evasion skills as well as boosts and upgrades. Portal stones are set in the six ages of the open world to speed up travelling but before being able to use a portal stone, you always have to fight an Oni that guards it against intruders.

Generally, the game’s missions are not very difficult with the main object to destroy and slay medium and huge Oni. Only some missions were a bit unprecise with its object and left me standing on what to do next. You can also encounter optional joint operations where other slayers are fighting against Oni and if you assist them they may accompany you as a show of gratitude. The game also offers a co-op mode where you can team up with other players to slay monsters in online multiplayer mode.

The art style of the game is absolutely beautiful and both warriors and Oni do look great. Unfortunately, due to the open world aspect of the game, the graphics of the PS Vita version have been a bit downgraded compared to the previous titles with less detailed environment textures. But still, the open world looks impressive on the PS Vita screen and the game runs generally quite fluid with a more or less stable framerate of around 25 FPS. The few cinematic cutscenes look great and appear at the beginning and when important story parts are triggered.

The game’s soundtrack and the Japanese voices are good, only a few conversations during some missions are not subtitled. This feels a bit odd as it seems that these conversations could be hints or additional information for a quest.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed playing Toukiden 2 2 on the PS Vita, exploring the huge open world and hunting the Oni. The demon hand is a great new feature that adds more action to the game. Toukiden 2 is not very difficult, for some it could be too easy, but there is lots of content with all the missions and sidequests. Weapons and abilities are also various but it’s not needed to switch them often. If you played the previous titles, you will find many similarities but thanks to the open world and the new demon hand feature, it’s still a worthwile experience.

Toukiden 2 PS Vita Gameplay:

The review was written and provided by Michael. All screenshots are taken from the PS Vita version.