Tenchu: Stealth Assassins is a 1998 stealth video game, developed by Acquire and published by Sony Music Entertainment Japan for the PlayStation. It is the first installment in the Tenchu series, with Activision releasing the game outside Japan. Following Rikimaru and Ayame of the Azuma ninja clan as they complete missions for their employer Lord Gohda in Sengoku-era Japan, the gameplay involves the player guiding their chosen character through missions. With the aim to being undetected while either avoiding or quietly killing enemies.
Tenchu: Stealth Assassins is a 1998 stealth video game, developed by Acquire and published by Sony Music Entertainment Japan for the PlayStation. It is the first installment in the Tenchu series, with Activision releasing the game outside Japan. Following Rikimaru and Ayame of the Azuma ninja clan as they complete missions for their employer Lord Gohda in Sengoku-era Japan, the gameplay involves the player guiding their chosen character through missions. With the aim to being undetected while either avoiding or quietly killing enemies.
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Tenchu: Stealth Assassins is a 1998 stealth video game, developed by Acquire and published by Sony Music Entertainment Japan for the PlayStation. It is the first installment in the Tenchu series, with Activision releasing the game outside Japan. Following Rikimaru and Ayame of the Azuma ninja clan as they complete missions for their employer Lord Gohda in Sengoku-era Japan, the gameplay involves the player guiding their chosen character through missions. With the aim to being undetected while either avoiding or quietly killing enemies.
Production began in 1996 as Acquire's first project, with the aim being to create a then-uncommon game using only 3D graphics, in addition to focusing on stealth over action. The team faced multiple technical challenges, and director Takuma Endo ended up taking on multiple roles within the production including scenario writer. It met with positive reception from game journalists, with praise focusing on its mission design and focus on stealth. It was also a commercial success, selling over one million units worldwide by 2003, and having estimated sales of five million across all versions by 2019. A sequel without the involvement of rights owner SMEJ, Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins, was released worldwide in 2000.
Gameplay
Tenchu: Stealth Assassins is a stealth video game where players take on the role of either Rikimaru or Ayame, ninja who complete a set of eleven sandbox levels. While generally similar, Rikimaru has more health but is slower and has only one blade, while Ayame is weaker but uses two blades and has higher movement speed. Each mission starts off with a skippable briefing, then players can equip a limited number of items at an equipment screen. The items include health potions, trail markers, poisoned rice cakes, caltrops, shurikens (throwing blades in Europe), smoke bombs, grenades and land mines. The only permanent item taken into all missions is a grappling hook; when in use, the player enters a first person perspective, and the grapple can be fired at any solid surface to pull the player towards it. A map of the level is provided for players.
Synopsis
Tenchu is set in Japan's turbulent Sengoku period, and follows missions undertaken by the stoic ninja Rikimaru and spirited kunoichi Ayame of the Azuma ninja clan for their employer the benevolent Lord Gohda and his daughter Princess Kiku, who treats Ayame as an older sister. During several missions, the ninja are first accosted, then fought by the dark ninja Onikage, who is behind several of the disturbances with the goal of bringing his demonic master Lord Mei-Oh into the world. Onikage ultimately stages an attack on a town castle as a distraction so Kiku can be kidnapped and used as leverage against Lord Gohda. Onikage is defeated, but revives and attacks a final time as the ninja go to confront Lord Mei-Oh and rescue Kiku. Lord Mei-Oh is defeated in his cavern lair, which starts to collapse around them. Rikimaru sacrifices himself to allow Ayame and Kiku to escape.
Development
The project was created by Takuma Endo, who had long wanted to produce video game titles and founded Acquire in 1994 with a group of friends. The PlayStation console was released that same year, and while Endo was eager to develop for it and approached Sony as an individual, he was turned down as Sony was only working with development studios. He was later turned down again after founding Acquire as Sony were unwilling to work with new developers. Acquire took part in a "Digital Entertainment Program" audition organized by Sony Music Entertainment Japan to find up-and-coming development studios. They successfully pitched to Sony, who agreed to support production for a PlayStation title. After a troubled six-month period of testing and planning, they had a prototype build. Production proper on the game began in 1996, though Endo was concerned due to the rarity of games which allowed for free exploration of a 3D space. The producer was Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Masami Yamamoto, the game being his debut as a producer. The lead programmer was Daisuke Hisamatsu. A Nintendo 64 version was considered, but Acquire ultimately decided to focus on one platform for the best quality.
The selected character's health is shown in the bottom left, with the bottom right showing equipped or found items. Engaged enemies have health bars shown around the top left area of the screen. The goal is to complete levels with minimal detections and disturbances, with most levels ending in a boss encounter, and each having three level layouts which are randomly selected with each playthrough. During navigation, the player can traverse rooftops and walls, run or crouch into a sneaking position, hang from ledges, and hug nearby walls to remain undetected. Sneaking up on an enemy undetected allows for an instant kill, with close-range kills triggering cinematic death animations. If the selected character dies, the level must be restarted and all items aside from the grappling hook are lost.
To monitor surroundings, each protagonist has the Ki meter, indicating the distance and alert status of nearby enemies. A question mark indicates no alert, a single exclamation mark shows enemies are alerted but do not clearly see the character, an exclamation and question mark indicates a high alert state caused by sounds or a body discovery, while double exclamation mark is a full alert state where enemies will attack. A number beside the Ki display shows an enemy's distance. Each mission is ranked from the lowest "Thug" to the highest "Grand Master". Score is impacted by the number of undetected or detected kills, whether the character was spotted, and whether non-combatants were killed. Grand Master rank for each level unlocks a new special ability that can be equipped for replays.
The original pitch used a futuristic science fiction setting, with characters performed using motion capture and a ninja aesthetic set in a near-future New York City. During this early stage,
