2023 was a big year for VR stealth games, with big franchises like Assassin’s Creed and Vampire: The Masquerade entering the market and producing generally solid experiences. Given this kind of competition, it’s easy to overlook titles like Arashi: Castles of Sin- Final Cut, a re-release of the PSVR game that’s finally available on a wider platform. Developed by Endeavor One and published by Skydance Interactive, Arashi has its own appealing elements, but ultimately suffers from issues that should have been fixed before being put back on the market.

Arashi: Castles of Sin is a VR rendition of the classic ninja fantasy, in which players take on the role of a villain trying to take down a series of corrupt bandit lords abusing their power across Japan. The setting and structure are simple; every villain is assigned a thematic sin and is housed in a castle that must be infiltrated to take advantage of the assassination opportunity. Of course, each castle grounds is filled with guards, providing a familiar kind of challenge for sneaking and slashing alike.

Equipment Options Are The Highlight Of Gameplay

Storm: Castle of Sin’s gameplay is fairly simple in most levels, but a fair bit of complexity comes from a set of tools that surpass most competing VR offerings. Katana and daggers serve as the primary weapons, but it doesn’t take long for alternative options to be unlocked, quickly filling up slots on the player’s chest, waist, and back. Even better is the integration of wolves, who cheerfully capture enemies, dig up treasure, and play fetch in the short bridging segments between levels.

Storm’s range of gear is generally well thought out, with many advantages and disadvantages, so intelligent gameplay hinges on choosing the right tool for each scenario. Putting this knowledge into practice can be a bit tricky, though. Switching between the sword and grappling hook that adorns the player’s right hip feels unnecessarily complicated, and the way the game reads the pointer controls for steering the wolf feels fundamentally odd. This raises general accessibility concerns, as the Storm has no alternative control options. Grabbing things while sitting is twice as hard, so playing while standing with enough movement is the only sensible option.

Levels And Enemies Are More Routine

Sneaking through levels is pretty fun, as is decent swordplay, but you quickly realize the limits of Arashi: Castles of Sin’s ambition. Verticality always seems to be an interesting option, but it’s only offered sporadically, since it requires using specific grappling points. The overall quality improves towards the end, but there’s no real reinvention whatsoever, so the layout feels the same. Enemies don’t evolve at all, and the regular guards, archers, and samurai you see at the start of the game are identical to those present in the final level.

Arashi: Castles of Sin’s boss fights could do with a bit more differentiation, as each lord punctuates their signature attacks with unique moves several times during the fight. These are probably best left alone, as one or two gameplay surprises become welcome as Storm progresses, but they’re not perfect either. Bosses are often immune to standard attacks while performing their special moves, and when Lord got stuck in this phase, a basic stalemate occurred, forcing the restart of the fight.

A Story Sliced Too Short

The bosses are also the story’s main bright spot – or, more accurately, Storm: Castle of Sin is so poorly plotted that the bosses are pretty much the entire story. This isn’t necessarily a problem in and of itself, and most of them are presented pretty well. Each boss has a distinct personality and memorable style, and the animated cutscenes between levels sum up their crimes and fate. Storm uses Japanese voice tracks for all characters, with strong voice acting that should convince even those who shy away from subtitles.

It all falls apart towards the end, as the story never reaches a particularly exciting climax and feels increasingly rushed towards the end of the credits. The final main level is the shortest, and the final boss of the campaign is the least interesting or challenging of all. A brief gameplay sequence serves as a basic epilogue, leaving you with a “to be continued” vibe, but it feels more like a failed attempt at the finish line than an interesting taste of a sequel.

Final Thoughts & Review Score

All of Arashi: Castles of Sin’s problems boil down to the same basic result: it feels like a first draft instead of a final cut, and when repackaged as the latter, its limitations are inexcusable. Perhaps the most shocking oversight is that selecting the smooth rotation option means looking ahead without affecting the direction of movement, making the game nearly unplayable without explanation. Anyone who selected smooth rotation at launch will probably think that this game has no real movement options at all. And it’s almost ridiculous that issues like this haven’t been fixed by now.

Arashi: Castles of Sin’s list of problems is long, but beneath it all lies a solid experience that’s genuinely enjoyable. But in a market rich with better options, it’s hard to argue that dealing with the storm’s limitations is worth it. Arashi: Castles of Sin – Final Cut is a frustrating package of a potentially great game, and by the time things come together in an exciting enough way to forgive its sins, the credits have already started rolling.

Arashi: Castles of Sin – Final Cut is available now for PlayStation VR2, PCVR, Meta Quest 2, 3 and Pro. A Steam code was provided to Screen Rant for the purpose of this review.