Nobunaga's Ambition: Awakening

Few strategy games have the sheer legacy and weight of the Nobunaga's Ambition series. Much like the famed warlord, Tecmo KOEI set their sights on the heavens above in honor of the celebration of Nobunaga's Ambition's 40th Anniversary with Nobunaga's Ambition: Awakening. It's a big game for a big number—so, how does it stack up?

Well, if you're new to strategy games in general, expect no mercy. Nobunaga's Ambition offers a ton of strategic depth but doesn't do the best job introducing you to its many facets. Oh, sure, there's a tutorial mode, but it tends to gloss over the many mechanics in-game without really explaining the context behind them. Nobunaga's Ambition has a ton of mechanics to learn—there is no elegant way to introduce someone to its intricacies without forcing them to sit through and read an entire epic. Much of my experience playing Nobunaga's Ambition involved reading instructions from my tutorial mentor, then trying to figure things out on my own.

The good news is, even if you're faking it until you make it, you can still enjoy Nobunaga's Ambition. In a way, it's not dissimilar to your average city sim. You need to improve your local facilities to maximize your stores of rice or gold, investing time and money to ensure your cities produce enough supplies. You need to regularly assign your officers to duties so that things run smoothly, as well as reward them for their acts of loyalty—or else they might take their ball and go home. You need to manage relations with nearby tribes to ensure you have allies—or to facilitate invasions of nearby states. You must regularly show deference to the Emperor to earn enough Honor to pass new political edicts in your territory. It's a lot to juggle, on top of the constant advice from your underlings; from sabotaging local forts by inciting riots to "extracting" foreign officers to your cause, they tend to be an ambitious bunch. Once you get a hang of them, your experience becomes much smoother.

The bad news is—that's still a sheer cliff to scale. You'll need a ton of save files in case you make a bad decision and find yourself in a cascading failure that ultimately leaves you unable to make any headway against your opposition. Rival states will unite, annex, and annihilate early and often. If you don't keep up, you'll be overpowered and trapped between two rival nations you couldn't overthrow even in your wildest dreams. It doesn't help that some warlords you play have unique events that can impact your story (not to mention their geographical position within Japan).

In one of my playthroughs, I chose to play as the warlord of the Sato clan—and soon enough, I ended up marrying off my daughter to Nobunaga himself, gaining him as my powerful ally. Cool! However, a few in-game years later, my son overthrew me and became the leader of our clan. The act of beheading Sato Senior turned Nobunaga against us, leaving me without my mighty ally and causing him to carve a bloody path right through the heart of my territory. And there was nothing I could do— even if I had the manpower, I couldn't have prevented my son from decapitating our lord and taking his place. And that's just the Sato clan—many other clans could also face untimely illnesses that kill important officers before their time or any number of historical events specific to your chosen warlord.

It doesn't help that the game is rather spartan in its presentation; it features a large map of Japan while little colors flash or little lines of armies are traced on-screen. Battles are primarily tiny bunches of little soldiers assembling near fortresses or on fields. These, too, have a wealth of strategy, from flanking armies to barricading during a siege, but they don't look exciting. There are also a ton of menus and sub-menus that you need to navigate. There are cutscenes, but most are just single illustrations with text boxes describing events.

The upside is Nobunaga's Ambition has tons and tons of customization features. You can create your officers in-game, even determining their stats and political leanings. Custom officers can be collected into a custom clan; you can even design a custom scenario to play through. Music is customizable if you'd rather listen to your tunes than the game's soundtrack.

So, yes: Nobunaga's Ambition: Awakening brings together many enjoyable features, but it's also a very challenging game overall. I'm not sure I could recommend it to anyone who isn't already deeply into strategy games and has extensive experience with the series. For newcomers: perhaps try another strategy series first. But if you're eager to raise your flag alongside Nobunaga's? Well, it's worth the effort. But hey, nobody said unifying Japan would be easy.