Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade Review – Combat That Shines, Repetition That Wears

Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade drops players into a myth-steeped world where each run feels like reentering a living legend. At its heart, the game is an isometric action roguelite that borrows structural cues from hits like Hades while weaving in Japanese folklore. You’ll race through three distinct zones—crab-infested shores, haunted forests, and a frost-bitten fortress—chopping through demons and gathering loot in equal measure.

Three heroes stand at the center of these repeated voyages. Shigure wields a katana with measured strikes and precision parries. Sara trades measured defense for whirlwind dual-dagger assaults that punish enemies on contact. Taketora brings long-range flair with his bow, then closes in with heavy fists when foes get too close. Each character feels tailored to a specific playstyle, giving players fresh combat rhythms on repeat trips.

The core appeal lies in cycling through these intertwined legends. After every boss encounter, characters return to a festival hub where you spend gold, upgrade weapons at the blacksmith, and pick passive talents that stick around runs. That loop, coupled with randomized soul-orb buffs, creates a feedback loop that rewards both quick reactions and strategic planning.

Developed by 7QUARK and released May 15, 2025 on Switch, PlayStation 4/5, and Steam, Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade stakes its claim in a crowded field. Its nods to established roguelites give it a familiar foundation while its cultural setting adds fresh spice.

Narrative Structure & World-Building

Yasha adopts an anthology format, unfolding three distinct but interwoven legends. Each protagonist—Shigure, Sara, and Taketora—follows a three-chapter arc that reimagines shared characters in new roles. Gengo, for example, shifts from village elder in Shigure’s tale to adoptive father in Sara’s and benevolent king in Taketora’s. This theatrical approach recalls how Hades layers disparate mythological threads, yet Yasha pushes the conceit further by retelling the same core events with subtle character shifts.

Shigure’s campaign centers on avenging her fallen clan. Her dialogue often reflects honor-bound duty, with cutscenes that flash back to her childhood training. In Sara’s narrative, exile drives her to seek the celestial Okami. Her quests feel more personal—she questions loyalty and belonging in dialogue that occasionally stumbles over awkward translations (notably in Taketora’s prologue, where “The Cosmic Demon” line cuts off mid-sentence). Taketora, meanwhile, pursues the Nine-Tailed Fox to prevent its dark influence from spreading. His exchanges are sparse but carry a weight of regret; he wields both bow and bare knuckles as symbols of past failure and newfound resolve.

Conversations occur after each boss fight, offering character insights while players repair at the village hub. Festival stalls rotate, and townsfolk respond differently based on how many runs you’ve completed—some greet you as savior, others with wary glances. Though these scenes can feel perfunctory, they mark tangible progression through each legend. The hub’s visual shifts—tassels and lanterns festooning the square—reinforce that you’re advancing through chapters of a shared myth, even when the underlying combat zones remain unchanged.

Core Loop & Level Design

Yasha structures each run into three stages: two combat arenas, a boss encounter, and a rest checkpoint. This mirrors the pacing in Hades, but whereas Hades shuffles chambers, Yasha repeats the same beach, forest, and castle in fixed order. Early on, familiarity feels comforting—players learn enemy angles and weapon timings—but by chapter two, predictable layouts undercut surprise.

Arena maps shift only in minor ways between chapters. A sandy inlet becomes strewn with driftwood, the forest gains frozen pools, and the castle swaps corridor lengths. Only the final fortress offers interactive elements: breakable walls hide shortcuts, while pressure-plate traps demand momentary attention. These bits add texture, but they surface too late to impact core strategy.

Enemy variety spans low-level crab demons on the beach, agile wolf spirits in the woods, and armored soldiers in the castle. Spawn patterns stay largely constant: two waves of mobs precede every boss, so builds that triumph in arena one tend to work again and again. Difficulty ticks upward—hit points rise, attack speed quickens—but lack of random modifiers makes runs feel rote compared to the dynamic mob mixes you find in similar roguelites.

At each checkpoint, mini-challenge stages break the monotony. Some require defeating foes within a time limit; others test survival against continuous spawns. Success awards powerful amulets or weapon orbs, injecting resource-driven choices into the loop. Skipping these tests can leave scarce gold for shops, while overcommitting risks an early wipe. This tension between risk and reward adds a strategic layer reminiscent of Dead Cells’ obelisk rooms, making the overall structure more than a simple gauntlet.

Combat System & Weapon Variety

Yasha’s combat hinges on a crisp quartet of actions: light attacks for rapid strikes, heavy blows for stagger potential, a dash for positioning, and a parry that, when timed perfectly, unleashes a devastating dash-strike counter. Input latency feels minimal—hits connect with satisfying audio cues—so every parry window invites players to test reflexes. This system recalls Sekiro’s emphasis on timing, yet Yasha layers it atop Hades-style aggression.

Each protagonist leans into a distinct rhythm. Shigure blends swordplay and parries, rewarding defensive play with a follow-up Mystic Artes attack that punishes foes caught mid-swing. Her katana’s balanced speed makes counter-attacks feel weighty without slowing momentum.

Sara trades that equilibrium for relentless movement: dual daggers let her chain dash-strikes into combo loops, turning arenas into swirling maelstroms of slash effects. Her build often favors orbiting dash buffs, reminiscent of the relentless pace in Ruiner. Taketora fills the ranged niche, firing arrows that pierce or home in on marked targets. When enemies close distance, he resorts to heavy punches, offering a slower but powerful fallback.

Weapons number seven per hero, but you equip only two. Each carries unique perks—fire blades that ignite enemies, swords that grow stronger after parries—yet cross-character similarities emerge (every hero fields a burn weapon, for example). The real depth arrives via soul orb buffs: after clearing a room, you choose one of three randomized upgrades.

+These may boost attack speed, add shock effects, or grant life-steal, forcing trade-offs between familiar builds and experimental synergies. Mixing elemental burn on Sara’s daggers with runic shock from Shigure’s sword can create unexpected chains of status effects. Such build-crafting channels the genetic builds of Path of Exile’s skill tree into bite-sized runs, making each choice feel meaningful even if the majority of fights stay relatively straightforward.

Progression & Meta-Systems

After your inaugural run, Yasha unlocks the village blacksmith, opening a gateway to permanent weapon upgrades. As you collect ore and currency, you can unlock new swords, daggers, and bows, each with three tiers of enhancements. These upgrades feel meaningful when a fresh weapon trait—say, a katana that builds flame circles—influences how you approach arenas.

Two primary currencies shape your decisions. Gold purchases items and amulets at festival stalls, while soul fragments fuel character traits in the hub’s shrine. Amulets grant passive bonuses—extra dash charges or bonus critical damage at low health—and choices here echo the decision-driven design in Dead Cells’ mutation system. Investing in a fortitude amulet may tip the balance in later chapters, whereas saving gold for weapon shards can unlock specialized gear.

Permanent talents span health boosts, damage multipliers, and niche perks such as bonus orb drops. These talents reset whenever you switch to a new hero file, reinforcing each character’s distinct progression arc. Shigure’s trait tree emphasizes parry damage, while Taketora’s focuses on arrow criticals—mirroring how Hades separates upgrades by godly boons.

Once a character’s trilogy completes, you can implement difficulty modifiers akin to Hades’ Heat levels. Each added challenge increases rewards but amplifies enemy toughness. Deciding how high to set the modifier becomes a risk-reward puzzle: push for richer loot at the cost of more brutal boss phases, or stick to baseline runs and grind upgrades more safely.

Presentation: Visuals, Audio & UI

Yasha’s anime-inspired visuals shine in each setting. The sandy beach boasts vivid cerulean waves, the forest glows with ember-tinted foliage, and the castle corridors gleam with frosted blue accents. Character models carry crisp line work, and boss entrances feature dynamic camera angles that heighten drama.

Animation excels during combat—parry sparks burst in slow-motion, dash strikes leave trailing energy arcs, and weapon swings feel weighty. A standout moment occurs in Sara’s unexpected musical sequence, where art styles shift fluidly between serene watercolors and a tongue-in-cheek Beavis-and-Butthead parody.

The score blends traditional taiko drums with soaring strings, creating memorable leitmotifs during dungeon runs and quieter village scenes. Voice work generally fits the tone, though occasional subtitle truncation and English script typos disrupt immersion—some ability descriptions cut off mid-sentence.

UI elements work well overall, but tooltip overflow can hide critical details, and doors sometimes block enemy models, leading to unseen attacks. Menu navigation is straightforward, with shop categories clearly labeled, ensuring resource management stays seamless.

Replayability & Long-Term Engagement

Each character’s campaign runs roughly seven hours, resulting in about 21 hours to exhaust the main content. That duration sits comfortably between bite-sized roguelites like Children of Morta and marathon epics such as Hades. Early runs feel fresh as you test different weapon pairings, but by the second chapter, replay fatigue sets in—seeing the same beach, forest, and castle repeatedly dulls the thrill of discovery.

Build variety offers a counterpoint. With seven weapons per hero and randomized soul-orb buffs, you can craft everything from incendiary whirlwind builds to ice-chill poke-and-burst setups. Pushing high difficulty modifiers—Yasha’s own version of Hades’ Heat levels—unlocks rarer rewards and entices completionists to optimize loadouts. Leaderboards for time-trial festival stages could bolster competition, though at launch those boards feel underused.

Speed-run enthusiasts will appreciate consistent arena layouts and festival checkpoints that function like Dead Cells’ timed trials. Tight parry windows reward precision, encouraging multiple attempts to shave seconds off clear times. Yet without unique stage variants, runs can blur together once you’ve memorized optimal paths.

At $30 USD, Yasha delivers solid combat for three characters and meta-systems that sustain play, but comparison to genre benchmarks highlights gaps in variety. If you prize fast-paced action loops and aim to master every build, the investment pays off; otherwise, you may exhaust incentives before reaching deeper endgame tiers.