D3Publisher and developer Shade have officially announced a new sword-fighting anime-styled action game called Samurai Maiden, set to release this winter 2022 on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam. Shade was best known before for the team’s work on Bullet Girls Phantasia, an ecchi fanservice anime-styled third-person shooter. To celebrate the announcement, D3Publisher unveiled a new trailer showing off some of the action players can expect in Samurai Maiden, and you can check it out for yourself below.
Samurai Maiden appears to observe a combat style that’s very reminiscent of the Senran Kagura series, as well as D3Publisher’s own Oneechanbara. It follows the story of Japanese JK (joshikōsei or high school girl) Tsumugi Tamaori as she finds herself summoned isekai-style to an alternate Sengoku period. Here, she must team up with new friends and use her innate sword skills to defeat hordes of evil undead at Honno-ji Temple.
After falling asleep during history lessons in school, Tsumugi finds herself walking alongside Nobunaga Oda, a prominent figure in Japan. In front of a burning Honno-ji Temple, Nobunaga gifts Tsumugi his evil-warding blade, while he steps forth into the underworld to stop the approaching calamity in its tracks. Tsumugi is left to fend for herself in this bizarre rendition of Sengoku-era Japan, but thankfully she won’t have to face it alone.
In Samurai Maiden, Tsumugi will be joined by three friendly ninjas called The Gokage, who will accompany her on her journey further to the underworld. They are Iyo, who fights with a variety of tools, Hagane, who has a mechanical body, and Komimi, a genius ninja with a unique ninjutsu. With their help, Tsumugi can use the “Gokage System,” which allows for special moves that combine her swordsmanship with the ninjas’ different capabilities.
The trailer also shows off a bit of yuri (lesbian) fanservice, with Tsumugi kissing the female ninjas. According to the description, this is part of unlocking the special abilities of each ninja character, which will be unlocked as more trust is built between the team. Expect some sort of censorship here and there for Sony platforms, so if you really want the purest experience, get it on PC or Switch.
