2009 saw the release of Muramasa: The Demon Blade for the Nintendo Wii. Born from the mind of Vanillaware’s George Kamitani (Dragon’s Crown, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, Unicorn Overlord), this 2D metroidvania beat ’em up is set in a folklore-inspired feudal Japan and contains some absolutely wonderful colorful artwork. The upcoming Muramasa: Revenant Blades not only remasters the original game and the DLC from the PSP port in HD, but includes a few new gameplay additions as well.

At Marvelous’ Pre-Tokyo Game Show 2026 event, I was able to spend an hour playing Muramasa: Revenant Blades in a demo starting just before the first boss in Momohime’s story and ending after the second.

To start with the obvious, the hand-drawn art looks absolutely stunning in HD. The backgrounds range for dark forests and dank caves to sunlit fields and bustling cities—and are frankly beautiful. The character designs are likewise perfectly realized but it’s the boss monsters that really stand out. Both of those seen in the demo look as if they were taken directly out of the art of feudal Japan—and feel almost eldritch in motion because of that.

While I’ve played many of Vanillaware’s titles, Muramasa: The Demon Blade was one of the few I never did. So instead of powering through the main plot, I did what I always do in games when playing them for the first time: test the limited of where I could go. The game allows for a ton of freedom right from the onset. I went in the direct opposite direction of where I was supposed to go and only turned back when the time limit for playing was drawing near.

Of course, it wasn’t like everywhere was accessible. Some areas were locked behind barriers that required certain weapons to open but rarely did I run into a true dead end. Moreover, I was always being rewarded for exploring via chests, item drops, or surprisingly long battles with many waves of enemies.

Speaking of battles, this game’s combat is built around equipping three weapons (of over a hundred) and swapping between them on the fly constantly. Simply put, each weapon can only be used a certain amount of times before it breaks. However, it will heal itself when not in use. This mechanic works to keep things fresh as different weapons have different move sets.

That said, none of the battles I encountered were particularly difficult. While blocking is an option, attacking at the same time as an enemy causes a parry—meaning that spamming attacks is often the best defense as well as offense. More over, as far as I traveled, I was forced to fight the same enemies again and again—and, even when they were different, the same strategy almost always worked. The worst part of the combat came in the form of the flying enemies who would often retreat off-screen—meaning there was nothing you could do besides wait for them to return to the combat area.

In the end, Muramasa: Revenant Blades feels like one of those games that gets better as you go along. You meet new enemies, get more and more demon blades to play around with, and face increasingly difficult and creative bosses. However, the real selling point for this game feels like the art and the story. If you’ve ever played any of Vanillaware’s other titles and enjoyed them, it would probably be worth your time to give this one a try as well.

Muramasa: Revenant Blades will be released on the PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2 and Windows on February 4, 2027.