Tenchu 2 is both frustrating and fascinating since as a sequel, it's not too different from its predecessor and even manages to identify and rectify some of the problems with the first game, but it also misses the mark entirely on the level design which makes some of the faults that carried on from the first game much more prominent here.

There's still a lot of good stuff here though, first off, the game actually has a tutorial this time around so getting into the game is much easier. Secondly, replayability has seen a big boost with 3 characters being available instead of 2 and they go through different stages and even fight different bosses so it's actually worth it to play as them all. Thirdly, the story is much better here, it was basically a non-factor in the first game but here there's plenty of cutscenes with voice-acting that's quite good for the time and its cool to learn things like how Rikimaru got his scar or what kind of person Lord Gohda is. The fact that this game has a tutorial and is a prequel to the first game makes it a good entry point for the series.

Now this game does have more content than the first game, but I don't feel compelled to actually check it out outside of my playthrough with Rikimaru because of multiple reasons. One of which is the level design, whereas in the first game, levels were small but filled with enemies, here the stages are way bigger and are virtually empty by comparison, what makes it worse is that the grappling hooks and items altogether have been nerfed. The grappling hook is way harder to use here unless you're looking straight at the rooftop you want to cling to and if you're a couple degrees off-axis, you'll fall and have to do it again and seeing the same falling animation just put me off from trying to use it, it's too finnicky. As for items, I got waaaay less of them here than in the first game, a lot of them are hidden within stages but with how empty and uninteresting they are I didn't bother to search for them. Additionally, getting Grand Master rank to unlock items is extremely tedious here with it requiring way more kills than it did in the first game, I'm sure once you get these items, the game does open up and become more fun, but I'm just not interested in doing it. With the limited items and the grappling hook being less useful, it really constricts player expression here and what I ended up doing for every stage was just running around behind enemies and stealth killing them when I could, I never enjoyed the game enough to go out of my way to experiment with the tools at my disposal like I did in the first game. A big reason why I found the missions here to not be as interesting is because of the music, or lack thereof, outside of battles, all you get is silence here. In the first game, music helped keep your attention during the downtime, here, you don't have anything to keep you interested (not to mention that there's way less happening in these stages to boot) so I end up being bored for a good chunk of the game.

The other reason why I don't really care to continue playing this game are the bossfights. Bosses now use items here which includes stuff like shurikens, smoke bombs, explosives etc, I can appreciate the attempt to make them more interesting than what they were in the first game, but the core combat is still jank as all hell here so the attempts at spicing it up just serve to add to the frustration since it gives you more stuff to worry about. Keep in mind dying at the boss means you have to redo the stage all over again! Also, it might just be me, but I've had way more trouble with the camera during bossfights here than I ever did in Tenchu 1, whenever you block attacks, you get pushed back, and if you get pushed back to the wall, you basically can't see anything and if you try to move away and regain your view, you'll often just get hit in the process and it gets really fucking annoying. By the end of the game I was just making a beeline towards the boss in every stage since what's the point of trying to play the game properly when I'll just have to redo the entire stage over again since I failed at a part of the game that has nothing to do with the actual stealth.

In fairness, some of the issues I have here were also in Tenchu 1, like the lack of a clear destination in the missions or the clunky bossfights, but the disparity between the quality of the level design acts like a parasite which makes issues that were alleviated by how fun Tenchu 1 was to play, instead feel more pronounced here.

It isn't a bad game, but if I had to explain my journey with one word, it'd be soulless, stages are vast and hollow, most enemies just stand around waiting for you to kill them and there's no music. It improves in the minor areas while completely missing the mark in the major ones and overall the game is just a letdown.

Side-note that I have to put here because I didn't know where else it would fit in: you can loot enemy corpses by crouching over them, but it doesn't always work the first time and you need to do it several times. My inner 12-year-old loves that, because this might actually be the first game where you - albeit accidentally - teabag fallen enemies.

Coming out a full 2 and a half years after the original (quite a long time in those days), Tenchu 2 marks a big narrative upgrade from its predecessor.

In contrast to the first game's mission-based structure that eventually coalesced into a kill-the-big-bad plot at the end, Birth of the Stealth Assassins features a large-scale story arc that grabs you right from the start and is reasonably well-written. It's nice to be able to see a chronological prequel which reveals a more naive "young shounen protagonist" side to the stoic Rikimaru and a more vulnerable side to the prickly Ayame - and the ability to play through the story from the POV of three different characters (one unlockable) adds a good amount of depth and replayability.

From a gameplay point of view, there's a bigger range of cool stealth-kill animations, controls have been made slightly smoother I guess, but the big addition to this is the map-maker mode, which is bare-bones by today's standards but was a rarity in those days, and a very welcome addition.

These upgrades all come with a very big caveat though - and that is that the moment-to-moment gameplay in stealth and combat still feels extremely janky. The majority of levels here are set in wide open spaces, which exacerbates the problem of poor draw distance and makes 'stealth' more an exercise in "standing just outside your enemies' pitiful peripheral vision" rather than running around rooftops and generally using terrain to hide yourself. And don't get me started on the water levels!

Combat is alternately smooth and clunky depending on how the game feels like; one guy who I assume is supposed to be a climactic boss fight didn't land a hit on me because he spent the entire fight facing away from me (?!)

I can't be too harsh on this game for its shortcomings - I feel that this was about as far as the engine and the hardware could take it. Nevertheless, I had to tap out halfway through Tatsu's bonus missions and watch the cutscenes on YouTube because playing it was starting to become a chore.

One Step forward, two steps back

Tenchu 2 is a difficult game for me to give such a melding score to, but when compared to the original, it falters in too many areas to ignore. While the voice acting, story, characters are all improved, the level design is too open and the bosses can be cheese. No checkpoints means replay 30 minutes on failed attempts. This is frustrating but not unheard of for games of this era. My biggest grip with this game is the absence of music. Tenchu: Steath Assassins had a beautiful atmospheric soundtrack that set the mood beautifully. Tenchu 2 is dead silent. In a stealth game that requires patience, music helped a lot with the waiting around that’s required. Additionally, grinding for high ranks yields insignificant awards. Overall, disappointing for someone who loves the original.

6/10