Chronicles of 2 Heroes: Amaterasu’s Wrath Review – Use the actual power of friendship

Chronicles of 2 Heroes: Amaterasu’s Wrath takes place in the fictional world of mythical Japan. Warriors Kensei and his days, along with their master, must travel to the imperial capital to defeat the goddess Amaterasu and free the empress from her control. Along the way, you’ll battle Amaterasu’s yokai minions, discover new gameplay-changing skills, and learn more about our two heroes.

As a fan of Japanese mythology, I was delighted when I said the words “Amaterasu’s Wrath” in the title of the game. The Sun Goddess is a major figure in the Shinto religion and is often depicted as a fierce royal warrior ruler. While not considered malicious to the best of my knowledge, the game does take a kind of God of War approach in putting it in the role of a tyrannical villain that needs to be stopped.

Stylistically, Amaterasu’s Wrath has everything fans of the feudal/mythical Japanese style will love. Kensei’s bright red armor cuts a stunning silhouette, and Ayame has a playful yet balanced look with a cute color palette. The backgrounds in this game look stunning, depicting lush Japanese jungles or distant mountains setting against a setting sun, all in a beautiful 2D style that looks like how you recall the nostalgia searches of your favorite Game Boy Color titles.

One part of the game show that I wasn’t impressed with was the sound design. I’m not sure what you’d call the 16-bit old-fashioned game sounds—the razor-sharp computational score—but I wasn’t really impressed. I find the sounds a little irritating to my ears, and while the sound library for things like sword clashing worked really well, I wasn’t a fan of the music or a lot of the hit sounds the game uses.

Amaterasu’s Wrath also plays very much like the old school games it pays homage to. While looking at the screenshots and seeing these two amazing samurai heroes and their fearsome enemies might make you think that this game is some type of platform and action game, you would be wrong. Amaterasu’s Wrath is almost exclusively a platformer, with enemies serving no purpose beyond being obstacles to level navigation. Like old school platform games, the difficulty in the gameplay comes from how well you can navigate the increasingly complex platforming mechanics and dangers as it is presented to you.

I’m actually a little disappointed with the lack of movement in Amaterasu’s wrath. It’s partly because I’m really terrible at platforming games, but also because the characters would make amazing action heroes. However, the game is definitely not without its great samurai movie moments.

The primary game mechanic is the ability to switch between Kensei and Ayame, who operate differently and have unique skills needed to navigate the level that the other lacks. They both have a basic attack function that knocks out enemies in two strikes, with Ayame getting a long-range Kunai throw and Kensei a melee sword attack, and both can deflect arrows – one of those great samurai movie moments I’ve been talking about. The real difference between the two comes in their movement mechanics and where the game’s complex platforming mechanics come from.

Ayame has the ability to jump, which Kensei lacks, and Kensei can dash. Variations on these abilities are unlocked later, such as Kensei gaining the ability to punch enemies and Ayame learning how to wall jump. This may seem simple at first, but the game will throw platforming puzzles at you that require a combination of the abilities of the two with an increasingly shorter period of time between them.

Switching between Kensei and Ayame is instantaneous, and in the latest Amaterasu’s Wrath, you’ll need to hone your reflexes to quickly switch between the two and navigate platforming obstacles. Just getting the fake hand that Kensei couldn’t jump on took me a while. By the time I needed to switch between the two to move mere inches across the screen, I realized the skill ceiling this game required of me.

PC gamers might be better off connecting their controllers to this device. While the game is definitely playable on a keyboard and mouse, it was also clearly designed for a controller, and using one might make the experience a little easier for players to navigate. Specifically, switching characters and then quickly executing movement commands might be a bit easier using the console layout than it would be with a keyboard.

If you ask me, Amaterasu’s anger is hard. While I still think it provides access for players who might be new to platform games, you will surely be repeating the same levels and puzzles over and over as you fail the jumps and die your enemies. Platformers may find the game a challenging test of their skills, as I imagine they are the ones this game was made for – but I’m too far out of their league to say for sure.

Regardless, this game is sure to be a hit with veterans of the platform genre, who will surely be tested by this game’s solid use of the unique character-swapping mechanic. If you’re not looking for a challenging platforming experience, I’d still say you should give Amaterasu’s Wrath a chance, but do so to understand that you’ll be on a bit of a learning curve. If you’re not a huge fan of platformers and are only interested in this game because of the Japanese myth aesthetic, you might be better off looking elsewhere.

Chronicles of 2 Heroes: Amaterasu’s Wrath has been reviewed on PC. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles in the game reviews section of our website! Chronicles 2 Heroes: The Wrath of Amaterasu is available on steamAnd Nintendo Switch and the Playstation Store.