Aksys just released the first downloadable episode for Muramasa Rebirth in North America. Japan is on the second, Uprising of the Oone Resistance, where you play as a country bumpkin called Gonbei. That’s a pun because “gonbei” also means country folk.

Gonbei is said to be the most hardworking person in the village. He tends to rice and daikon crops. Last year, an epidemic claimed his wife’s life and Gonbei has been living a solitary life ever since. However, his wife Otae isn’t gone. She couldn’t stand to be separated from Gonbei even after death and is in the game as a ghost. Otae appears to help Gonbei by picking him up and she can attack enemies.

Gonbei fights with farmer tools. His three weapons are a hoe, bamboo spear, and a sickle normally used to hack rice. In Muramasa Rebirth, the sickle is a throwing weapon. Vanillaware added a twist to the battle system. Tagosaku, your childhood friend who is the village idiot, and Moheji, the strongest dude in the village, will fight with you if the battle attack gauge is shining.

Players can level Gonbei’s weapons up and there is a boss rush mode where Gonbei fights the bosses from the original Muramasa Rebirth story. Clear this and you’ll see a different ending.