Way of the Samurai 4 Review Summary

Offers multiple endings, complex combat, and diverse weapons, but suffers from startup failures, gameplay crashes, and poor Windows 11 compatibility.

Multiple endings with branching paths: The game features around 10 different endings, determined by player choices and faction dealings. These endings support replayability and significantly alter the story experience.

Complex combat system: The combat system is complex, featuring multiple stances, hidden abilities, and the ability to create custom styles by combining move sets. It supports unarmed, firearms, ninja, and dual sword styles.

Diverse weapons and fighting styles: Players have access to many weapon types like katanas, spears, firearms, and hand-to-hand, each with unique fighting styles and progression trees. This variety enriches the combat system.

Freedom and player choice: The game offers unparalleled player freedom, allowing absurd and hilarious emergent gameplay. Choices truly change the story, giving a sense of complete control.

Deep faction storylines: Faction interactions are interwoven with the main story, affecting the multiple endings. Players can align with different groups for varied narrative outcomes.

Game fails to start: Multiple reviews report that the game does not start, with errors at the title screen, startup, or after the opening movie. This is a critical barrier to entry.

Crashes during gameplay: The game frequently freezes and crashes during gameplay, even after various attempted fixes. This makes extended play sessions impossible.

Poor Windows 11 compatibility: Users report that the game does not work on Windows 11, crashing on launch despite trying suggested fixes. Compatibility issues are a recurring theme.

Bad keyboard controls: Keyboard controls are cumbersome and poorly implemented, with some users noting that a controller is required. This limits accessibility for PC gamers.

Inferior to previous series entries: Compared to Way of the Samurai 3 or 2, this game is considered smaller scale and inferior in simulating samurai life. Longtime fans are let down.

Deep weapon customization and crafting: Weapon customization, including crafting, disassembly, and combo creation, is highly praised. Players can collect, forge, and customize dozens of weapons, adding depth.

Replayability through branching paths and NG+: Multiple branching paths, hidden endings, and New Game+ mode (carrying over items) ensure high replayability, with many ways to complete tasks.

Side activities and minigames: The game includes various side activities like dojo management, duels, fishing, gambling, and random NPC quests, enriching the open-world experience.

Diverse combat styles and weapons: Players enjoy the variety of multiple combat styles and weapon types, including firearms. This provides flexible and engaging combat options throughout the game.

Branching storylines and multiple endings: The game features multiple branching story paths and numerous endings (10+) based on player decisions, encouraging multiple playthroughs and high replay value.

PhysX DLL required: Launching the game requires installing specific Nvidia PhysX system software or copying DLL files into the game directory. Without this, the game fails to start or crashes.

30 FPS lock: The game is locked at 30 frames per second due to engine limitations. Many players note this cap but some feel it does not affect gameplay much.

Windows 11 compatibility issues: The game crashes consistently on Windows 10 and 11, sometimes requiring compatibility modes like Windows 7 or tools like DXVK to run stably.

CPU core count limitation: The game fails to launch on CPUs with more than 8 cores. A workaround involves limiting CPU affinity to cores 0-7 or adding a launch option.

Alt+Tab crash: Switching windows via Alt+Tab or changing to windowed mode causes the game to crash.

Recommended for niche samurai fans: The game is highly recommended for players who enjoy deep, replayable samurai experiences, quirky Japanese games, and a strong historical atmosphere. It appeals especially to fans of wandering samurai simulators and unusual Japanese elements.

Strongly not recommended due to issues: Many players explicitly advise against buying the game at any price, citing it as a waste of money and trash. Technical problems like crashes, poor framerate, and startup issues contribute to this strong negative sentiment.

Buy on sale or at discount: Multiple reviews suggest waiting for a sale or only buying when the game is discounted. The game is considered not worth full price due to its age, technical issues, or niche appeal.

Technical and performance problems: The game suffers from crashes, poor framerate, startup issues, and requires extra setup like installing a specific PhysX driver. AMD GPU users may need mods to play. These issues significantly hurt the experience.

Cult classic unique experience: The game is praised as a cult classic that offers a unique, choice-driven sandbox experience with multiple endings, character customization, and quirky humor. It is unlike most other games.

Community fair range: $5.00 - $15.00.

Game completion: 40.0h.

Story completion: 2.0h.

Way of the Samurai 4 has a delayed time-to-fun: early hours are marred by unclear mechanics, repetitive combat, and required progression grinding, but once the tutorial and faction system are understood, the game opens up with free reign and multiple paths, offering deep replayability.

Friction: poorly explained mechanics requiring external guides; repetitive and button-mashy combat; required character progression grinding in early hours; clunky UI actions like needing to quit game to check progression.

Unlock drivers: completing the initial tutorial; understanding factions and time progression system; character progression and upgrades; multiple playthroughs with carryover of cosmetics and weapons.

Nostalgic Series Veteran: Replay multiple times to explore story branches and unlock content; appreciates the familiar formula. Motivation: Reliving and continuing the series experience with nostalgic enjoyment. Stance: sale.

Creative Sandbox Explorer: Experimental and free-form; multiple playthroughs with different choices, ignoring optimization and guides. Motivation: To explore a unique sandbox, roleplay creatively, and discover all the quirky humor and paths. Stance: sale.

Technical Frustration Victim: Struggles with crashes, workarounds, and poor optimization; often gives up or tolerates after significant effort. Motivation: Wants to enjoy the game but is blocked by technical issues; hopes for fixes or plays despite them. Stance: no buy.

Steam Deck: Way of the Samurai 4 is a notoriously unstable PC port with frequent crashes at launch, during menu navigation, and when changing display settings. It requires manual launch option tweaks (CPU affinity, Proton flags) to even start, especially on Steam Deck. Performance is capped at 30fps with no graphic options, and controller support is limited to Xinput. The Japanese language update appears to have introduced additional stability regressions. While playable after extensive tinkering, the experience is marred by constant crashes.

Linux and Proton: Way of the Samurai 4 on Linux/Proton requires multiple tweaks including launch options, DXVK installation, and PhysX fixes. While it can be made to run, the experience is marred by crashes and a 30fps engine cap. Steam Deck users report workarounds but instability remains. Overall, the game is playable after significant tinkering but not out of the box.

External guides: The primary user feedback falls into two categories: severe technical issues (crashes, long loads) and a heavy dependence on external guides due to unclear in-game information. The latter is identified as the core 'Wiki Tax' complaint, aligning with the need to learn complex systems and find hidden content, which corresponds to TIER 3 scoring.