Hi everyone I’m Osamu Mieda, a producer with Koei Tecmo Games, and I’m really excited to share some information on our newest title with you! I’m pleased to announce that the next entry in the Samurai Warriors franchise will be released in the West this spring as Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada.

As you know, Samurai Warriors is a historical tactical action game, retelling the events of the 16th century conflict known as the Sengoku era: the Age of Samurai! Normally we try to follow the historical events from many angles, and show many characters and how their lives influenced the outcome of that war, and the creation of the strongest Shogunate in Japanese history. Now however we’re doing something very different! For the first time we have decided to focus solely on the legendary Sanada Clan, and their own unique story.

We picked the Sanada clan for two reasons. The first is their unique resilience and constant effort to overcome difficulties. In an age when most samurai would commit suicide if they thought they were about to be defeated, the Sanadas considered life precious, and would fight until the very end to try and turn the situation to their advantage. Their motto: ‘Survive until life is no more’ resonated strongly through all members of the clan; from their patriarch, Masayuki, to his famous son, Yukimura, who is the key protagonist of our game.

Each Japanese clan has their own banner symbolising the key beliefs of their lord’s family. For the Sanada that emblem was 6 gold coins on a field of red. This might seem simple, but in fact it symbolises the fare that a soul needs to pay the ferry man to cross the river to the afterlife, and so it showed their upmost dedication to every battle they took part in: if they were on your side, they would fight till the very end!

This heroism really inspired us and so we wanted to introduce players to this unique clan through closely following the life of Yukimura Sanada and his rise from a young man to someone hailed by many as the ‘strongest warrior in Japan’.

Many of our existing fans really like Yukimura Sanada and his story, and so we hope that in Spirit of Sanada, they can live through the heroic tale of his life depicted from his birth during the Mayasuki Sanada era up to his tragic demise in the Siege of Osaka.

Yukimura was known as the “Crimson Demon of War” for his impressive skills in combat, and players will grow alongside him through his many battles which are played out in our trademark one-versus-thousands Warriors style gameplay! A long-requested character to the Samurai Warriors series is his father, Mayasuki, which I am pleased to announce will have his playable debut in Spirit of Sanada. Through the years before Yukimura’s birth, players will follow Mayasuki and get a greater insight to how this clan rose from the ranks to become a force to be reckoned with.

We can’t wait for you to experience the stimulating tale of Yukimura and the Sanada Clan in Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada when it releases on the 26th May 2017 for PlayStation 4. In the meantime we hope you enjoy some early screens from the Japanese version so you can get a first taste of the game!

A selection of costumes will be offered to all players who pre-order the title before its launch in May, including the Sanada Colour Costume “Kunoichi”, “Inahime”, “Kaihime”, “Chacha” and SP Costume “Kunoichi”.