I absolutely love this game and was suprised to see it getting released on Steam. You start out as a lowly samurai doing jobs for your daimyo (fighting in top down zelda style battles, battling in one on one sword duels and even going on assassination missions and whatnot) until you're promoted to Daimyo yourself at which point it becomes more of a strategy game where you have to birth heirs (or face game over with your death) and slowly start conquering every province of Japan until you can claim yourself emperor in one giant RTS battle. There are so many facets to this game and even in this crude state it still brings me hours of fun. Check the credits closely and see even the great Sid Meier worked on this one. It'd be a definite classic if they'd put his name on it but I don't think he had that kind of clout yet back then. I have looked for years and can say there is no game out there that fully encompasses everything this game has to offer and I wish someone would make an updated remake or at least try something as ambitious as this game was.

I originally bought this game in 1990 while I was on vacation with my family in Bermuda at age 13. Despite the tropical paradise surrounding me, I spent a lot of time sitting in the hotel room reading through the extremely well done manual, excited to get home and give it a try. And, of course, when I finally did get home to try it, I played the living crap out of it.

I've always felt this game never got the recognition it deserved. I'm glad to see that it's available on Steam at a low price so those who missed out can give it a shot. Obviously, this is an old game and if the older graphics are a problem for you, you may not enjoy it. But if you are into the kind of gameplay provided by other Microprose games like Pirates!, you don't want to miss out on this.

Personally, I think a modern remake is in order.

I appologize, this ins't so much a review as a love story.

When I was interviewed at game companies well into the early 2000's I was often asked what my favorite game of all time was. At the time, I immediately answered Sword of the Samurai. It was an immediate buy for me when I discovered it tonight. It was (is) a very deep game for it's time and had many different, and fun elements. Heck, if you are ok with minecraft graphics, then you should have no problems with these. And don't forget, Sid Meier was invloved with this game. He helped develop the AI and the dueling. Long Live Microprose! And that! Don't forget the long history of amazing Microrpose games. Look it up. Who can't afford a few dollars for an amazing classic?

This game has been a favorite of mine since I first played it over 20 years ago. The depth, especially for a game of that time, is simply amazing. Diplomacy, duels, warfare, and personal missions exploring an enemy castle to sabotage, humiliate, assassinate, or take a hostage (or get one of yours back!). And while the graphics show their age the writing is still well done and I think the artwork in the still shots is still enjoyable. But it's the gameplay that I'm buying this for, not for pretty pictures.

There's some tricks to the game of course and the enemy AI has its weaknesses. The battles especially are easy to win at once you learn a few tricks. The enemy AI isn't very aggressive and will sit there and let you surround it and hit it's army from both sides at once, guaranteeing victory. And with the duels you can pretty much win by just hammering away. But the AI is much stronger in the diplomacy section with enemies working against you. The first time someone shows up with a pack of ninjas to kill you, you'll probably die.

It's in the over-head battles/adventures that the game's AI really shines especially while sneaking into an enemy castle. If you're not seen or kill the guards before they sound the alarm you can actually succeed just by stealth. Usually tho you'll end up with the alarm being sounded and you'll have to fight your way through. That's when you learn to hate the spear wielding enemies and that's when you see the enemy AI be smart, especially on higher difficulty. I generally will set up in a long hallway and use my bow to kill enemies as they charge at me but after a while the guards will notice the pile of bodies and do two things: they'll try and work their way around and hit you from another direction and they'll start to wait for you as reinforcements arrive. Time is on THEIR side and if you wait until there's three swordsmen, an archer and a spearman waiting for you, you're in trouble Charlie. On higher difficulty settings the number of enemies increases until even today I find those types of fights a challenge on highest difficulty.

And on that note I'd like to recommend the roleplaying aspects of this game. When you're in that type of battle you can take two hits before losing and/or dying but when you get hit the first time your character starts to move noticeably slower as his wounds slow him down. Your enemies have morale and if you slay enough of them the others will run away like cowardly dogs! The writers had a good understanding of Japanese culture and it shows in the diplomacy and how you go about getting ahead in society. That's the kind of thing you just didn't see that often in games of that time. There were individual games that had these aspects, but few that combined them all.

So... if you're more interested in gameplay than graphics, give it a shot! You'll be glad you did. And of course ignore the limited number of hours it shows me as having played this game, I've played it for hundreds and hundreds of hours, just not on steam ~_O

Please do a remake! Also, fully compatible with the XBox 360 Controller in case anyone wondered.

Sword of the Samurai is an unbelievably deep and charming game. The ancient graphics hardly distract from the incredibly solid mechanics, especially since retropixel style is all the rage these days. Sword of the Samurai offers essentially three minigames under an umbrella of casual strategy roleplaying. The one-on-one duels, one-on-many melees, and full-scale battles all have their charms, but by far the most satisfying (and difficult) play experience is to be found in the melees.

Sometimes you'll be minding your own business when you come across a band of uppity ronin whose heads need to part ways from their necks. Sometimes you'll be stealing into your lord's mansion in the dead of night to stab your way to a promotion when a tripped alarm turns your stealth mission into Kill Bill Volume 1. Sometimes your psychotic father-in-law keeps breaking into your house to kidnap your son. It's delightful!

That said, the strategy roleplaying layer that connects these minigames is nothing to sneer at either; even taken on its own, it's more interactive than some RPGs. What's truly remarkable about Sword of the Samurai - especially for its age - is the depth of agency it grants to the player. Your goal is to become Shogun, naturally, but your means of doing so are entirely up to you. Diplomacy, conquest, and subterfuge are all valid paths to success, and a successful player can make use of whatever tactic suits the present moment. It's little wonder that a young Sid Meier (yes, *that* Sid Meier) had a hand in its creation.

The least attractive aspect of the game has to be its control scheme, which is somewhat opaque and unintuitive even with the help of the manual and technical supplement. (PROTIP: The keys you will be using most are the arrow keys, Enter, Backspace, Escape, and F1 through F3.) Even once you've figured out the controls to duels and melees, the battle interface is so unwieldy that in battles with more than three or four units to a side, mostly you will wind up watching your troops do the fighting for you on autopilot - attempting to intervene directly usually does more harm than good.

All things considered, Sword of the Samurai is a forgotten gem that's worth at least one playthrough. $7 may be too steep for any game from 1989, no matter the quality, but if you see it on sale (like I did), be sure to snag it.

turned out to be this is an awesome game! the battle controls are bad tho

BASIC CONTROLS:

Alt+S - Save the game
Alt+R - Restore the game
Alt+Q - Quit the emulator
· F1 - List of opponents, the leftmost one is the most powerful and preferred future leader, and the rightmost the least one.
· F2 - A map of Japan, only real use is when you control your clan and you are in the battle for the Shogunate.
· F3 - Location of your opponents and current missions.
Menu Keys:
The arrow keys control where you are selecting, and the Return key is used to accept, Escape works in some menus to go back.

One Man Battle:
· Arrow Keys - Move in the arrow direction.
· Return - Attack, using bow and arrow at distance and using your sword when close to an enemy.

Battle:
· Arrow Keys - Move your fan.
· Number Buttons - Order your troop number N to:
·· Arrow Keys - Direction to move.
·· Keypad + - Move in direction rotating if necessary.
·· Keypad - - Move in direction without rotating.
·· Keypad * - Rotate without moving.
(also you can use numbers for selecting units -> marked by a flag and a number in i, you can pause while in battle by pressing space but can not order any of your troops to attack or just select them)

Combat:
· Arrow Keys - Move in key direction.
· Enter - Prepare to attack:
·· Left Arrow - Swing sword right to left.
·· Up Arrow - Attack in front.
·· Down Arrow - Block.
·· Right Arrow - Swing sword left to right.

Sadly there are some bugs, death is permanent there is a chance to die in any event if you are killed, you can not acces some areas like you go from a to b but suddenly you wanna go back but you have to go by a different rout.

This game might be the ancient ancestor of Crusader Kings, Mount and Blade and Total war series.

Old but gold. please give this game a chance.

11/10

gameplay-

a lord tried attacking my land with half the samurai i had so i crushed them, then led his peasants in a revolt, snuck into his castle and killed a diplomat under his protection which caused him to loose face, then attacked his castle and defeated him in 1v1 combat butchering him like a dog, then killed his son for good measure. afterwards i had a tea party.

later after becoming higher rank, our daiymo became ill, knowing he had little time i boosted my honor and land holdings making me the obvious choice for successor. one other lord had other plans and after brushing off his threats, he sent ninja into my home, stole an heirloom which lost me honor, and then had the audacity to kidnap my family. I marched on his land crushing his troops but he killed my whole family in retaliation, i then crept into his palace in the middle of the night to assassinate him but his fortress was large and heavily booby trapped and guarded i was caught and the daiymo ordered me to commit seppeku.
obviously i tried to march my troops on the daiymo but b4 i could enter he executed me and any family i had left. now my name is spat upon by nobles and peasants alike as an example of what an honorless dog is.

best game ever 10/10

One of my favourite games growing up. Combingin RPG & RTS. Lead your troops, defeat your enemies & gain land. Start a family to ensure your dynasty. Kidnap your enemies children to cause problems. Rescuse damsals in distress. Defeat bandits. Game has it all.