Samurai Shodown is one of the best and most unique fighting games this generation, hands down.

If you're a fan of Samurai Shodown, you definitely need to check out this game. Even if you've never played a SamSho before, check out this game. It's easily the most unique fighter out on the market at the moment thanks to the emphasis on precision attacks and punishing the opponent for high damage rather than trying for long combos and guesses with mixups. Samurai Shodown is honestly the best game that SNK has given us in recent years. It's very polished and it looks and sounds fantastic!

Bucking the trend of “bigger, badder, louder, faster,” Samurai Shodown is a return to the glory days of SNK’s beloved sword-slashing fighting franchise. The slower, more thoughtful combat style the franchise is known for is on full display here, challenging players not just to be better at fighting games, but also smarter. Wrapped in a beautiful overall package and given some interesting new roster additions, Samurai Shodown is probably the best new chapter we could have ever hoped for.

Overall, Samurai Shodown is a fun release that brings back memories of a simpler time in the fighting genre where focus laid squarely on technique and gamer ease-of-use. The inclusion of a variety of modes helps to beef up the fighting content and offer up good challenges for those seeking them. All of this makes the experience more engaging and entertaining.

Samurai Shodown is a great reboot. It captures what made the original fun and unique, but also at a time when high-damage, high-stakes fighters like this are a rarity, making its combat feel both fresh and familiar. Its accessibility and easy-to-grasp gameplay belie a lot of strategic depth that makes for very intense, bloody struggles. While the single-player experience is a bit lacking, it doesn’t drag down the whole significantly--Samurai Shodown is a fighting experience well worth taking up the sword for.

If you’re a serious fighting game fan, you’ll get a lot out of Samurai Shodown. Those expecting the single player offerings of titles like Mortal Kombat 11 will be left disappointed though. Samurai Shodown just isn’t that type of fighting game.

Samurai Shodown manages to present a superb alternative to quicker, more bombastic fighters. This comes across as more of the thinking man's fighter, testing a player's reaction time and rewarding those who are able to read their opponents over those who try and go for meaningless combos. Samurai Shodown doesn't need to stand atop a crowded fighting game mountain, because it's done a nice job staking a claim over on a nearby hill.