Preview by: Kevin Hutchins

Welcome to Japan, circa 1467. A mountainous, mist-shrouded land known for its ritualistic honor culture, warrior ethos and vicious inter-clan warfare. It is the other Japan; the Japan of stoic warlords, scheming courtesans, vast conscript armies, deadly assassins and fearful peasants living their short, squalid and brutal lives in the shadow of mighty castles. Harajuku girls, cosplayers and otaku need not apply.

Paradox Interactive’s upcoming title Sengoku puts all of these well-loved tropes out on the table and commands you to use them all to become the sole military commander of Japan, otherwise known as shogun. Whether you succeed or not is up to your own ability to “convince” the AI (or a few of your friends in multiplayer) to grant you the title using means both fair and foul. It is a fairly lightweight game when it comes to system requirements; Paradox’s homegrown and heavily modified Clausewitz game engine continues to mature, putting the bad old days of Europa Universalis III/Hearts of Iron III far behind it. It delivers a stunning map of the Japanese islands with plenty of eye candy, smooth framerates, and a serviceable user interface polished from nearly a decade of trial and error. Veterans of other Paradox games will find few surprises, but those coming to the developer’s games for the first time may need to sit with the manual for a bit to work it all out. Conquering medieval Japan is not supposed to be too easy. Right? Right.

I know what you’re thinking; “Didn’t we already do ‘Conquer medieval Japan’ this year? Ninja? Daimyo? Seppuku? Remember?” Hush, sweet reader, for this is a game of a different stripe with a flavor and legacy all its own. War is not the answer. Well, it is, since the primary goal for your clan is to own more than half of the provinces (kori) in Japan; it would be difficult to not get into a few fisticuffs with rival lords. However, the beauty of Sengoku is that the deed can be done without raising a spear, and war is only half the battle. The real challenge is to take advantage of the rules of the game to employ charm, wit and clever planning to achieve territorial gains, preserving your military might for the times when your other tools fail you and conflict becomes inevitable.

When you start up Sengoku, much as in the similar Paradox game Crusader Kings, you have to choose which character to play, as opposed to which clan. You are playing the role of an individual samurai lord somewhere along the chain of command from clan leader to provincial governor. If you want to try your hand as one of the powerful clan leaders and play with the big kids, the option is there. If you prefer to start lower on the totem pole as a vassal of a daimyo, you can slowly build your power base and work up to a takeover of your host clan, or become independent and fight for your clan name. The key to this game is not necessarily the warfare, it is the careful planning and building up of your power, taking advantage of opportunity and leading the members of your family, your dynasty, down the path to power.