[Review] Cladun Returns: This Is Sengoku

Cladun Returns: This Is Sengoku is an adventure dungeon crawler developed by Nippon Ichi Software and published by NIS America. It is currently available for PS Vita, PS4 and Steam.After creating your own character, you wake up in a place called Arcanus Cella.

A man named Yukimura explains to you that you are dead. However, unlike the souls that float mid-air, you can move around to your liking and finish quests. Your goal is to free the souls of famous warriors from the Sengoku era as you clear dungeons which are based on battles that took place in japanese history.

The gameplay is quite simple. Before you step into a dungeon, you need to utilize the Magic Circle. With this mechanic, you can "assign" your own created characters around your main character. Even though this will grant you both advantages and disadvantages (e.g. sacrificing a part of your health gauge for higher stats & your created characters taking damage in your place),

it is essential to properly make use of it to win on the battlefield. However, only your main character will appear in battle. As you enter a dungeon, you will be surrounded by a variety of monsters which you will have to defeat in order to reach the exit and level up. If you're stuck at one point, you can take on the EX dungeons, which have stronger enemies but also increased EXP rates.

As before mentioned, the gameplay is rather simple. With that said, the controls can be a bit wonky. At times, even if you clearly hit an enemy, the game won't detect the damage. The best strategy is to attack the monsters from the rear or the side to inflict extra damage (if it is detected) before they notice you.

The game has a lot to offer, ranging from a multiplayer mode to creating your own equipment patterns, retro graphics, the choice between classic or remixed soundtracks and possibly over a hundred hours of gameplay. However, I also think there is still some room for improvement.

I quickly found the gameplay repetitive and got bored, even with the various types of dungeons.Altogether, the game receives a score of 7.5 out of 10 stars from me.