Venture: Azuma

### Rating

* T for Blood & Gore, Crude Humor, Language, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Use of Drugs, Violence
* PEGI 18 for Language, Violence

### Genre(s)

* Action/adventure
* Real-time strategy
* Interactive film

### Platform(s)

* Android
* iOS
* PlayStation 4
* PlayStation 5
* Xbox One
* Xbox Series X and S
* Windows PC

**Venture: Azuma** is an action/adventure real-time strategy game based around a rebellion in the archipelago of Gyeongcheon, notably taking influence from anime and other aspects of Japanese culture.

## Synopsis

*The game has two campaigns, one from the perspective of the Blackbelts and one from the Zombie Militia's, with mostly different encounters but a similar overall plot.*

Society was allegedly founded on the central island of Gyeongcheon, Konjutso, by Grandmaster Sol, who also forged the strongest magic weaponry in the land; the Flame-Bladed Sword, Soil Sickle, Electric Nunchuku, and Clathrate Chakrams. Just before his death, his two sons vowed to kill anyone who tried to take the arms, but the younger brother, Akuno, was consumed by malice and plotted to exploit the four weapons to reshape Gyeongcheon to his liking. In the ensuing duel between the brothers, the elder Masutā banished Akuno to Hell and hid the weaponry across Gyeongcheon, sending a Roc to protect each hiding spot and kill all trespassers.

Anxious over Akuno's rise, Masutā captures three talented adolescents and trains them to master the art of Yōso no Tatsujin and find the Enchanted Arms before Akuno and his Zombie Militia, who dominated Hell under the leadership of Sanatosu, can claim them. Sibling tinkerers Ryouta and Midori Michi are visited by their enigmatic grandfather Masutā, who demands their aid against the meance of his brother Akuno; Midori is kidnapped in a raid and Ryouta ultimately joins Masutā's three other apprentices Tōru, Kōri, and Kakai to locate and defend the Enchanted Arms. However, the four pupils must first train to become a Blackbelt and will have to consistently defend Gyeongcheonese civilization from Akuno's massacre plots and other threats. Civilizations across Gyeongcheon are terrorized by Akuno and most people that the Blackbelts defend loathe Ryouta and Masutā for being related to him, which stresses the former. However, the Blackbelts consistently prevent Akuno from taking control of the villages he attacks, which lead to his war chiefs officially threatening to create a huge golem to kill their leader's saboteur.

The Blackbelts go to the Caverns of Despair to get the first Enchanted Arm, the Soil Sickle, only to find that the Zombies have already arrived there, leading them to a fight where they practice and learn more about Yōso no Tatsujin. Masutā reveals to the Blackbelts that he owns the legendary Zanbato, the strongest weapon known second only to the Enchanted Arms, which gives Ryouta a newfound sense of optimisim in his quest to defeat Akuno, despite Masutā warning them that they aren't skilled enough to use it. Akuno attacks another village with a titanic golem and kills the daimyo after knocking out the Blackbelts, claiming the town for himself, only for Ryouta to return with the Zanbato and strikes him with it, only to learn that the weapon was tampered with by Wyveslenders and will instead turn the Pipipee species against the Venturian race. As he is jeered by his townsfolk, Akuno laughs as the Pipipees kill all of the protesters, leaving Ryouta to destroy the Zanbato as Akuno celebrates his victory, before Ryouta arrives and unmasks himself, denouncing his uncle, which perplexes him.

Ryouta meets up with his allies Masutā, who informs them that the Enchanted Arms will further help them in preventing the Pipipees from killing the entire Venturian race. Colonel Atama of the Zombie Militia intercepts their conversation and stalks them before ambushing Masutā, battling him until he gets incapicitated and locked in a cage. Masutā is intercepted by a Pipipee, which leaves him to cut the rope bridge they are on to avoid death, leaving the Blackbelts to hold onto the bridge as a ladder, with their instructor falling in the ditch below. The Blackbelts continue on with Atama leading them as a defector and helps Ryouta survive an encounter with cannibals after the two of them are abducted and the others must save them. Proceeding to hunt down the Clathrate Chakrams and Electric Nunchaku, the Blackbelts confront each Roc in the process; the team also defends villages from Pipipees as they search for the Enchanted Arms across a number of islands.

During one battle to defend a town in a volcanic area, Colonel Atama is decapitated and killed, leaving the Blackbelts to bury him; Kōri tries to kill himself by jumping off of a landmass as a result of this but he is saved by Masutā, who is revealed to have survived. After the Blackbelts retrieve three of the four Enchanted Arms, the Flame-Bladed Sword is the only one left, but perilous battles must be fought to keep the weapons away from Akuno. During one night of hiding out, Ryouta sets off alone to steal the Flame-Bladed Sword from the Flame Temple and rescue his sister from her cage but he is confronted and incapicitated by Akuno. Masutā breaks into the temple and defeats his brother, but the Zombies ambush Tōru, Kōri and Kakai, robbing the other three Enchanted Arms from them, Kakai accidentally cutting Tōru's vocal cords and rendering him mute in the ensuing chaos.

Master Masutā goes to Hell with the Flame-Bladed Sword, believing that this is the only way to truly defeat Akuno, who now has the rest of the Enchanted Arms in his possesion. The Blackbelts uncover an extra large Underworld Portal and reactivate it to follow Masutā by crossing dimensions with their Rocs, who agree to assist them in their final stand against Akuno. In Hell, Sanatosu, the Zombie king, knocks out Masutā but the Blackbelts are able to use Yōso no Tatsujin to make a dancing devil which helps them kill the entire Zombie army aside from their head. Sanatosu picks up the four Enchanted Arms, but they prove too destructive for one person to hold together and his body melts into flesh and bone as the overwhelming magic strength kills him. However, the Enchanted Arms also make a portal that Akuno exploits to flee from Hell, while also allowing the Blackbelts to chase him; however, the Venture they return to is largely destroyed by Pipipee attacks, with Akuno getting eaten alive by them. The Blackbelts celebrate their brief victory while Ryouta mourns the fact that he never lived to redeem his uncle and the knowledge that the Venturian race will soon go extinct.

## Gameplay

The game combines elements from Pathways: Jacob's Fortune (thus Venture, as well) and real-time strategy genre; players have access to six workers and seven Blackbelts. Each Blackbelt has three forms, two of which the player must invest in during each battle and two special powers, known as hexes, are usable during combat, which is otherwise similar to Jacob's Fortune. The player controls one of the major characters from a third-person perspective, mostly battling hostile characters, solving puzzles, and collecting jade and resources, the game's forms of currency, with resources being used for specific outposts but nowhere else, while jade is kept throughout the game to purchase nonessential items and player models. Using attack combinations in battle will multiply the number of jade earned and the game includes an upgrade tree that is kept throughout the game, unlike the situtational variations that each Blackbelt has. Armies can also construct five different structures: the keep, the headquarters of the team, the bank, where workers leave resources, the mine, which automatically produces resources, the barracks, which generates Blackbelts, and the barbitan, where chainguns are manned; additionally, barbitans have elemental upgrades. The Blackbelt plotline is based on the Blackbelts training and their mission to locate the four Enchanted Arms in Hell, while the zombie plot is centered around the zombie military (led by Sanatosu) hunting for the Enchanted Arms. Some noncanon characters in the game are lifted from other 1001 Spears properties, notably Blue Behemoths and Universe Unit and each location in the game has a special Colossieum where players test their fighting skills while killing increasingly stronger opponents.

## Reception

Metacritic gave the Windows version 90/100 based on 12 reviews, the PlayStation 5 version 92/100 based on 18 reviews and the Xbox One version 89/100 based on 12 reviews.