Skulls of the Shogun: Bone-A-Fide Edition is a turn-based RTS game set in Feudal Japan, brought to Switch by 612 Games and Golem Entertainment and 17-BIT. Learn more in our Skulls of the Shogun: Bone-A-Fide Edition review!
I had a lot of fun playing Skulls of the Shogun back when it was released on the PlayStation 4 a few years ago, so I was definitely up for reviewing Skulls of the Shogun: Bone-A-Fide Edition on the Nintendo Switch, as it’s a perfect fit for Nintendo’s hybrid console, offering some solid RTS gameplay mechanics with a nice dose of humor on the side. You play as recently deceased General Akamoto, who was once Japan’s toughest general. He was getting close to being promoted to Shogun but was, unfortunately, killed by being stabbed by his lieutenant. The traitor Kurokawa also ended up dying after falling on a spear, but he managed to reach the afterlife before Akamoto, and he stole his identity. Because of this, it’s your job to defeat the imposter and his minions to clear your name!
The game offers multiplayer support for up to four players, but you can absolutely play offline on your own if that is what you prefer. The gameplay is pretty easy to learn as there are no over complicated menus. You can play in any mode you wish at home or on the go, and with the new Nintendo Switch Lite releasing soon, you can definitely add Skulls of the Shogun: Bone-A-Fide Edition to the list of must-play games for the new version of Nintendo’s beloved console.
The story in each level progresses by way of some funny dialogue. The tutorial section is part of the story as well, so you’re getting snippets of how the game works with the story intertwined, which is a nice touch. It’s usually the other way round since in most games you will first learn about how the game works and then you jump into the story. Learning as you experience the story is actually a better way of making sure that players are paying attention to things, as it doesn’t make it as monotonous.
Careful planning is required for each scenario in order to achieve victory. Even though the game has a cartoony look, which might make you think it’s going to be a walk in the park, there’s a meaty challenge to overcome. And as you progress through the campaign, the levels will only become more difficult, which means you’ll be doing some trial and error as you find yourself having to retry a level or two here and there to learn from your mistakes to find a better strategy that will allow you to overcome the onslaught.
Your units can eat the dead on the battlefield to boost their strengths during the fight, which certainly sounds pretty gross, but it’s a necessary evil and a big part of the gameplay cycle that you must use if you want to have a shot at beating the game’s AI. As you pay attention to each location’s layout and the units you will need to fight against, you’ll also need to make good use of the resources you can procure, which include things such as potions to heal up, and you can visit shrines to summon more of your units to even out the battle.
In Skulls of the Shogun: Bone-A-Fide Edition, multiplayer is available for up to four players locally, and you can participate in Deathmatches and Free For all battles. You can pick out a variety of modifiers to customize your experience, and you can even set a time limit for quicker matches. You can also take the multiplayer experience into the online realm, as long as you have a Nintendo Online subscription, as you try to win in ranked matches.
Skulls of the Shogun: Bone-A-Fide Edition is an entertaining and humorous real-time strategy that has now finally made its way to the Nintendo Switch, as an expanded and improved experience that is the definitive version, with an extra character and an additional single-player campaign, on top of the local and online multiplayer, making it an easy one to recommend at its $19.99 price as it definitely offers a lot of bang for your buck.
Disclaimer
This Skulls of the Shogun: Bone-A-Fide Edition review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Golem Entertainment.
