The curtain falls on the Edo period, signaling the dying gasps of the samurai. Capping off two centuries of nationally recognized peace, the dawn of the Meiji Restoration saw the formal shuttering of the Tokugawa Shogunate and, in practice, the extinguishing of the samurai as a social class. As the country's foreign policies shifted, and an influx of Western ideas flowed into the formerly isolationist nation, the historical warrior of Japan’s past became a relic, both of the Warring States period and of the daimyo structure of feudal Japan. Finally without real meaning, the samurai of old were cast aside, left only as a remnant of the nation’s past, relegated to history books and academic study.

The fictionalized samurai, seen in SNK’s Samurai Shodown, is immeasurably brave, impossibly strong, a personified force of nature fit to confront demons and gods alike. This dramatization, of the samurai as more than a sword for hire to a high-paying daimyo, solidified their place in fiction, continuing the legacy of the bushi class through the modern day. But when we remove the pomp and circumstance, excise the bombast of gods, devils and demons, what remains? With no one to lead them, and stability leading to stagnation, where does that leave the wandering ronin at the end of an era?

Last Blade 2 is a double-sided blade, both a celebration and vigil to the samurai, showcasing the elegance and grace found in the tension of combat while reflecting on the mundane lethality of swordplay. As swords clash, the conflict is not scored by epic orchestras, but by the howls of wind, the crackle of a roaring fire, the voiceless bustle of a trodden dirt road. Each battle, a constant push towards retaining the way of the warrior against the sands of time, is foregone; if the fight itself doesn’t kill the combatants, time is sharpening the knife angled at their way of life. With the end of days in mind, they fight simply to prove it meant something. Without leaders, without a kingdom to defend or a war to die in, the samurai lives and dies through their sword. A final farewell to a remnant of history, Last Blade 2 tells apocryphal tales of beauty and bloodshed, a bittersweet finale to a bygone age.

samurai shodown gamifies the tension and fears of the genre in its design, but the last blade gamifies the romanticism of the genre - it's a game about finding the dignity, beauty, and honor behind every clash of blades. contrasting with garou and third strike, LB2 is less about future anxiety and more explicitly and far more grimly about the end of an era, coloring its duels with an impossibly bittersweet atmosphere. its gorgeous romantic score, beautiful spritework, historical anachronisms, and diverse roster gives palpable life to the games proceedings and belies genuine conviction behind every landed strike. samurai shodown lets you believe in the fearlessness of its roster, but the last blade is all about the casts grace and elegance in their tumultuous world

I genuinely thinks it says something about the degree of confidence you have in the texture and atmosphere of your own stages when one of the music options is "stage ambiance". The graveyard, the burning house, the war-torn bay... there's just something so dramatic but understated about all of these locales and I love it. Also any fighting game with a dedicated counter button is good in my book. Low-level play in this game looks like you and your friend countering at the same time and then continuing to do that four or five times before one of you gives up on the bit and attacks