Throne of Darkness is a Japanese-themed action-oriented computer role-playing game released in 2001 by Sierra Entertainment

Sierra Entertainment

Sierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams...

, a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal. Players control up to four (out of seven) different samurai

Samurai

is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...

 at a time. The game has three separate multiplayer modes which support up to 35 players.

Storyline

The game is set in Yamato

Yamato

Yamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan. Later the term was used as the name of the province and also as an ancient name of Japan...

, a medieval version of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 ruled by the shogun

Shogun

A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...

 Tsunayoshi and the daimyōs of the four clans. To become immortal, Tsunayoshi transforms himself into the demon Zanshin, the Dark Warlord, who unleashes his army of darkness to conquer Yamato. Zanshin's forces sweep across Yamato one night, catching the clans by surprise and annihilating them. However, believing that the four daimyōs were killed, Zanshin recalls his soldiers prematurely, leaving one daimyō and seven of his retainers alive. As dawn breaks, the daimyō decides to counterattack, ordering his seven surviving samurai to destroy Zanshin and his minions.

The four clans and daimyō

Daimyo

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

s are named after historical Japanese clans and persons:

• The Mōri clan
  Mori clan
  The Mōri clan was a family of daimyō, descended from Ōe no Hiromoto and established themselves in Aki Province. Their name was derived from a shōen in Mōri, Aikō District, Sagami Province. The generation of Hiromoto began to name themselves Mōri.After the Jōkyū War, Mōri was appointed to the jitō...
  
  , led by daimyō Mōri Motonari
  Mori Motonari
  was a prominent daimyō in the west Chūgoku region of Japan during the Sengoku period of the 16th century.-Early years:Mōri Motonari was born under the name Shojumaru in a small domain of Aki province in 1497. He is said to have been born at Suzuo Castle, his mother's homeland...
  
  .
• The Oda clan
  Oda clan
  The was a family of Japanese daimyo who were to become an important political force in the unification of Japan in the mid-16th century. Though they had the climax of their fame under Oda Nobunaga and fell from the spotlight soon after, several branches of the family would continue on as daimyo...
  
  , led by daimyō Oda Nobunaga
  Oda Nobunaga
  was the initiator of the unification of Japan under the shogunate in the late 16th century, which ruled Japan until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was also a major daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. His opus was continued, completed and finalized by his successors Toyotomi...
  
  .
• The Tokugawa clan
  Tokugawa clan
  The was a powerful daimyo family of Japan. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa and were a branch of the Minamoto clan by the Nitta clan. However, the early history of this clan remains a mystery.-History:...
  
  , led by daimyō Tokugawa Ieyasu
  Tokugawa Ieyasu
   was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara  in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...
  
  .
• The Toyotomi clan
  Toyotomi clan
  Originating in Owari Province, the served as retainers to the Oda clan throughout 16th-century Japan's Sengoku period. -Unity and Conflict:The most influential figure within the Toyotomi was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the three "unifiers of Japan." Oda Nobunaga was another primary unifier and the...
  
  , led by daimyō Toyotomi Hideyoshi
  Toyotomi Hideyoshi
  was a daimyo warrior, general and politician of the Sengoku period. He unified the political factions of Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle...
  
  .

Gameplay

Gameplay resembles Diablo II

Diablo II

Diablo II is a dark fantasy/horror-themed hack and slash, with elements of the role playing game and dungeon crawl genres. It was released for Windows and Mac OS in 2000 by Blizzard Entertainment, and was developed by Blizzard North. It is a direct sequel to the 1996 hit PC game, Diablo.Diablo II...

, as many of the game's developers worked on Diablo

Diablo (video game)

Diablo is a dark fantasy-themed action role-playing game developed by Blizzard North and released by Blizzard Entertainment on December 31, 1996....

.

Characters

The player chooses from seven different samurai: the Leader, the Archer, the Brick, the Ninja, the Wizard, the Swordsman, and the Berserker.

Character	Mōri clan	Oda clan	Tokugawa clan	Toyotomi clan	Description
Leader	Takeda Shingen Takeda Shingen , of Kai Province, was a preeminent daimyo in feudal Japan with exceptional military prestige in the late stage of the Sengoku period.-Name:Shingen was called "Tarō" or "Katsuchiyo" during his childhood...	Ōishi Kuranosuke Oishi Yoshio was the chamberlain of the Akō Domain in Harima Province , Japan . He is known as the leader of the Forty-seven Ronin in their 1702 vendetta and thus the hero of the Chūshingura...	Date Masamune Date Masamune was a regional strongman of Japan's Azuchi-Momoyama period through early Edo period. Heir to a long line of powerful daimyo in the Tōhoku region, he went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai...	Sanada Yukimura Sanada Yukimura was a Japanese samurai, second son of the Sengoku period daimyo Sanada Masayuki . His proper name was Sanada Nobushige , named after Takeda Shingen's younger brother Takeda Nobushige, who was a brave and respected warrior. He and his father were known as being excellent military tacticians...	The Leader is the most charismatic of the seven samurai, allowing him to purchase items and services at a discount. A jack-of-all-trades Jack of all trades, master of none "Jack of all trades, master of none" is a figure of speech used in reference to a person that is competent with many skills but is not necessarily outstanding in any particular one.... , he shares skills with many of the other samurai: the katana expertise of the 6 other samurai the polearm skills of the Brick and Berserker the bow and arrow capabilities of the Archer and Ninja the magical spell abilities of the Wizard
Archer	Sasaki Kojirō Sasaki Kojiro was a prominent Japanese swordsman widely considered as a Kensei, born in Fukui Prefecture. He lived during the Sengoku and early Edo periods and is most remembered for his death while battling Miyamoto Musashi in 1612.-History:...	Teraoka Masami	Tejima Kenzaburo	Murakami Takauji	The Archer is the master of kyūdō Kyudo , literally meaning "way of the bow", is the Japanese art of archery. It is a modern Japanese martial art and practitioners are known as .It is estimated that there are approximately half a million practitioners of kyudo today....  and uses ranged weapons, including bow Bow (weapon) The bow and arrow is a projectile weapon system that predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.-Description:A bow is a flexible arc that shoots aerodynamic projectiles by means of elastic energy. Essentially, the bow is a form of spring powered by a string or cord...  and arrow Arrow An arrow is a shafted projectile that is shot with a bow. It predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.An arrow usually consists of a shaft with an arrowhead attached to the front end, with fletchings and a nock at the other.- History:... , shuriken Shuriken A shuriken is a traditional Japanese concealed weapon that was generally used for throwing, and sometimes stabbing or slashing... , and kunai Kunai A is a Japanese tool possibly derived from the masonry trowel. Two variations are the and the . It is a good example of a very basic tool which, in the hands of a martial arts expert, could be used as a multi-functional weapon... , but can also use a sword in close combat.
Brick	Sato no Tadanobu	Kamui Kanna	Musashibō Benkei Saito Musashibo Benkei , popularly called Benkei, was a Japanese warrior monk who served Minamoto no Yoshitsune. He is commonly depicted as a man of great strength and loyalty, and a popular subject of Japanese folklore.-Biography:...	Akagi Toshiro	The strongest of the seven samurai, the Brick is an expert with polearms such as the naginata Naginata The naginata is one of several varieties of traditionally made Japanese blades in the form of a pole weapon. Naginata were originally used by the samurai class in feudal Japan, and naginata were also used by ashigaru and sōhei .-Description:A naginata consists of a wooden shaft with a curved...  and tetsubo as well as being able to wield 1-2 swords.
Ninja	Ise Yoshimori	Kajiwara Kagesue Kajiwara Kagesue , also known as Kajiwara Kagetoki, was a samurai in service to the Minamoto clan during the Genpei War of Japan's late Heian period.The Heike monogatari records an anecdote about a friendly competition with Sasaki Takatsuna prior to the second battle of Uji...	Ishikawa Goemon Ishikawa Goemon was a semi-legendary Japanese outlaw hero who stole gold and valuables and gave them to the poor. Goemon is notable for being boiled alive along with his son in public after a failed assassination attempt on the civil war-era warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi. A large iron kettle-shaped bathtub is now...	Fujiwara Jutaro	A stealthy character, the Ninja is familiar with both the physical disciplines and magical arts of combat, allowing him to use swords and ranged weapons in addition to a knowledge of magical spells second only to the Wizard.
Wizard	Hōjō Sooun Hojo Soun was the first head of the Late Hōjō clan, one of the major powers in Japan's Sengoku period. Born Ise Moritoki, he was originally known as Ise Shinkurō, a samurai of Taira lineage from a reputable family of Shogunate officials...	Kawanabe Kyōsai Kawanabe Kyosai was a Japanese artist, in the words of a critic, "an individualist and an independent, perhaps the last virtuoso in traditional Japanese painting"....	Sugawara no Michizane Sugawara no Michizane , also known as Kan Shōjō , a grandson of Sugawara no Kiyotomo , was a scholar, poet, and politician of the Heian Period of Japan...	Ootani Yoshitsugu Otani Yoshitsugu was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period though Azuchi-Momoyama Period. He was also known by his court title, . He was born in 1559 to a father who was said to be a retainer of either Ōtomo Sōrin or of Rokkaku Yoshikata. He become one of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's followers...	Physically the weakest of the samurai, the Wizard possesses a unique knowledge of wards, curses, and powerful elemental spells. He also has elementary training with a sword and ranged weapons.
Swordsman	Miyazaki Ashitaka	Imagawa Yoshimoto Imagawa Yoshimoto was one of the leading daimyo in the Sengoku period Japan. Based in Suruga Province, he was one of the three daimyo that dominated the Tōkaidō region. He was one of the dominant daimyo in Japan for a time, until his death in 1560....	Hōjō Ujimasa Hojo Ujimasa was the fourth head of the late Hōjō clan, and daimyo of Odawara.Ujimasa commanded in many battles, consolidating his clan's position, and retired in 1590. His son Hōjō Ujinao became head of the clan and lord of Odawara, but later that year they failed to hold Odawara against the forces of Toyotomi...	Taira Kiyomori Taira no Kiyomori was a general of the late Heian period of Japan. He established the first samurai-dominated administrative government in the history of Japan.After the death of his father Taira no Tadamori in 1153, Kiyomori assumed control of the Taira clan and ambitiously entered the political realm in which he...	The Swordsman is master of combat with the sword, as well as being formidable with a bow and arrow.
Berserker	Yagyū Jūbei Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi is one of the most famous and romanticized of the samurai in Japan's feudal era.Very little is known about the actual life of Yagyū Mitsuyoshi as the official records of his life are very sparse. Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi grew up in his family's ancestral lands, Yagyū no Sato,...	Nomi no Sukune Nomi no Sukune was a Japanese legendary sumo wrestler during Emperor Suinin era. He kicked and killed his opponent under the Emperor's instruction. It wasn't modern sumo, but he is regarded as the human creator of sumo. He was an ancestor of Sugawara no Michizane.-References:...	Hijikata Toshizō Hijikata Toshizo was the vice-commander of Shinsengumi, a great swordsman and a talented Japanese military leader who resisted the Meiji Restoration.-Background:...	Miyamoto Musashi Miyamoto Musashi , also known as Shinmen Takezō, Miyamoto Bennosuke or, by his Buddhist name, Niten Dōraku, was a Japanese swordsman and rōnin. Musashi, as he was often simply known, became renowned through stories of his excellent swordsmanship in numerous duels, even from a very young age...	Skilled with polearms, 1-2 swords, as well as unarmed combat, the Berserker is unmatched at defeating large numbers of opponents.

Items

There are four types of weapons: sword

Sword

A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...

s, polearms

Pole weapon

A pole weapon or polearm is a close combat weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is placed on the end of a long shaft, typically of wood, thereby extending the user's effective range. Spears, glaives, poleaxes, halberds, and bardiches are all varieties of polearms...

, bows

Bow (weapon)

The bow and arrow is a projectile weapon system that predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.-Description:A bow is a flexible arc that shoots aerodynamic projectiles by means of elastic energy. Essentially, the bow is a form of spring powered by a string or cord...

, and thrown weapons. There are five types of armor: body armor, helmets, leg armor, gloves, and masks. There are four items which provide extra stat bonuses: talismans, prayer beads, jewels, and medicine cases.

External links

• http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/throne-of-darkness