Aragami 2 Review - Lost In The Shadows

Despite being a once prosperous genre, the stealth action game has mostly fallen out of favor in recent times. Sure, there was Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain last generation and we do have the new Hitman Trilogy across modern platforms, but can you name any stealth games that aren’t indies? I’m struggling to do so and I’ve actually kept up with the genre.

That’s what brings us to today’s review of Aragami 2. Continuing on from the 2016 original by developer Lince Works, I was quite surprised at how much this ninja stealth title feels like a classic Splinter Cell game. It certainly is missing the high-tech gadgetry or military trappings of Tom Clancy’s worlds, but the unique setting and striking visual design certainly gives way to an enjoyable time sneaking around.

I’ll preface this review by stating that I have not played the original Aragami. I’m familiar with it and do have access to it on Xbox One, but I wasn’t really interested in playing it before doing this. Having gotten a taste for Aragami 2, I’m actually intrigued to go backward and see what I missed out on, especially since stealth games are so hard to come by.

Getting that out of the way, the plot of Aragami 2 may or may not take place immediately after the first game. Playing as an unnamed ninja assassin, you go through a very brief tutorial that gets you up to speed on how combat and stealth work. There is a stamina meter a la the Souls games, so you won’t be smashing attack endlessly if you get into a skirmish. This sequel gives you the option of either killing or incapacitating foes, but the tutorial will force you to kill the first opponent just to explain how things work.

As you get to grips with the controls, the rather linear level funnels you toward a small temple where two guards are slaughtering innocent bystanders. Being the virtuous assassin you are, you dive down to kill them, but get ambushed by some rather powerful ninjas. Stabbed and hanging on by a thread, an imposing villain gives the command for you to die and you watch helplessly as your assassin gets killed.

All is not lost, however. Reincarnated in the land of the spirits called Rashomon Valley, you meet up with a wise sage that is willing to train you in the way of the assassin. I suppose this might be a prequel of sorts, but it matters not. The plot of Aragami 2 doesn’t come into play much beyond this point as the game shifts into an MMO-lite style. You’ll proceed to a message board to pick a mission, gather up with friends if you want, then set off into a small instanced space to complete your task.

The first few missions I tackled were rather basic in scale. Without access to many of the skills, you have to rely on a rather simplistic stealth experience. Enemies work with cones of vision and through line-of-sight, so sticking to dark corners is the way to go. You can attempt to completely avoid enemies, subdue them, or outright kill everyone to achieve your goal. The first mission has you collecting some items for the villagers, so it’s not exactly tough right off the bat.

In an interesting touch, there are no objective markers during missions. You can call on an ability dubbed “Shadow Vision” that allows you to spot enemies through walls. It’s essentially the same as Batman’s “Detective Vision” from the recent Arkham games, highlighting items in the environment that might be useful for you. When you unlock some abilities later in the game, you’ll start to notice lanterns that can be weaponized against your foes.

Ever the pacifist, I decided against killing anyone for the beginning of the game. Since I hadn’t yet unlocked items like the shurikens or smoke bombs, I typically jumped above enemies and did an aerial takedown. You can drag bodies to hide them from other foes and with the game allowing you to jump while holding a body, it’s not hard to find the perfect spot.

Once you complete your mission, you’ll be given a grade with the maximum being S rank that will grant you some extra money. After completing a few different assignments, a blacksmith will unlock in the central hub that allows you to upgrade your gear to better suit your playstyle. You’ll also level up your character to unlock different abilities from a skill tree. I decided on making my ninja harder to detect and giving him a whistle ability to distract enemies.

From there, I fell into a rhythm not dissimilar to that of Monster Hunter. You aren’t tackling gigantic bosses or crafting gear from random drops, but Aragami 2 feels more like some social hub experience rather than a discrete narrative game. With the entire campaign featuring co-op support, I think that may be the intended vibe.

The co-op is interesting in that it allows for cross-play between PC and Xbox. Whether or not you play this through the Windows Store or Steam, you’ll be able to partner up with your friends on Microsoft’s consoles. There’s no option to invite from different platforms (which is rather awkward), but the connection is seamless once you’re all together.

During a preview period for Aragami 2, I experienced a ton of bugs that were supposed to have been patched out before launch. There is still going to be a day-one patch, but playing with my friend on Xbox, we ran into a host of problems for some missions. Nothing is utterly game breaking, but it sucks to have to restart a mission because takedowns stop working or your skills just do not activate and get you spotted. We even had one mission that tasked us with killing a target that completely failed when we knocked him out. I guess that isn’t acceptable, because we knocked the foe out, he got stuck in a fence, and the mission wouldn’t end.

I also ran into situations where I would aerial takedown a foe, but then be unable to hide their body. General animation glitches also occur where you’ll grab someone from behind a fence, yet their body goes flying through the air into the room you’re trying to avoid. It’s generally just a bit unpolished, though the relatively quick restarts and short levels mean bugs won’t cost you a tremendous amount of time.

Apart from that, Aragami 2 is simply fine. I wish I had more to say, but the game doesn’t leave much of an impression after a while. It certainly evokes classic stealth action games, but the plethora of skills available to you becomes almost redundant as you unlock your preferred items and then zone out. You go through a lot of the same maps and complete the same objectives for roughly 14 hours before the campaign is over. Goals such as “Don’t Kill Hostiles,” “Don’t Be Seen,” and “Kill All Hostiles” give some replay value, but this isn’t an overly exciting game after the midpoint.

The story, as well, just kind of fizzles out after the opening. Fully animated cutscenes crop up every now and then, but my friend and I completely lost track of what we were doing here. The comparison to Monster Hunter is apt, but my friend also made the observation that this feels a lot like a stripped back version of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. There are no giant boss fights or an introspective narrative on dealing with the loss of a mentor, but it has the same kind of micro-stage design that Kojima’s PSP masterpiece featured.

I’m not exactly sure if Aragami 2 ever got its hooks in me. I definitely was surprised at how my mind went straight to Splinter Cell when thinking of comparisons, but the end result is a game that feels a bit lost. It’s never bad and can sometimes be thrilling, but it feels almost like a title that will fill your time between bigger releases more than anything.

Cross-play is really what saves this as locking multiplayer to a single system would be disastrous. Having the ability to summon some buddies on their preferred platform means you’ll always have players ready to skulk in the shadows with you. Lince Works has promised that PS4/PS5 cross-play will come in the future, but the Xbox to PC connectivity works well in the present.

I do truly wish I could call this a diamond in the rough or some classic in the making, but that’s just not the case. Aragami 2 is fine and while I am likely to revisit it one day, I wouldn’t say you need to rush out and play it right now.

PC and Xbox Series X|S codes were provided by the publisher for this review. Aragami 2 releases September 17, 2021, on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S (via Game Pass), PS4, and PS5.