Tenchu: Time of the Assassins

Tenchu: Time of the Assassins is a stealth action game in the Tenchu series. The story takes place in feudal Japan and revolves around a group of ninjas and assassins who get caught up in the kidnapping of Lord Gohda’s only daughter, Princess Kiku. The game’s main characters are Rikimaru and Ayame (Azuma clan ninjas working for Lord Gohda), Rin (a rogue ninja from the Beniya clan), and Tesshu (a medical doctor who works as a hired killer at night). The campaigns for all four characters can be selected from the very beginning. Each character’s campaign includes eight missions.

Gameplay is once again built around the core premise of the stealth-action genre: complete the mission while being detected as few times as possible, since the characters are hopelessly outnumbered by enemy guards. When the player approaches an unsuspecting enemy from behind, they can perform a stealth kill that eliminates the target instantly, without the risk of getting into a fight.

Mission objectives range from reaching a specific point on the map, to eliminating a particular target, to escorting an NPC to a designated location. A distance sensor shows how far the player is from the nearest enemy, but not the direction the enemy is in. It also indicates whether the enemy is aware of the player’s presence. As is typical for the series, the player can choose from multiple weapons and gadgets earned as rewards for completing missions. The higher the rating received after finishing missions, the more—and better—items the player gets.

Gadgets include throwing knives, poisoned rice, healing potions, smoke bombs, grenades, and much more. In addition to these extra tools, the player always has a trusty grappling hook, which can be used to climb onto houses and ledges.

The game also features a mission editor that lets you create story-driven single-player missions as well as multiplayer missions. Multiplayer can be played in both competitive and two-player co-op modes.