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Acquire president discusses potential Tenchu revival

Shinobido Heart

Shinobido Heart

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Acquire president discusses potential new stealth ninja game, new indies brand [Update]

The latest issue of Weekly Famitsu includes a new interview with Acquire president Takuma Endo, who teases a potential revival of the Tenchu series and the launch of a new indies brand by the end o…
www.gematsu.com www.gematsu.com
The latest issue of Weekly Famitsu includes a new interview with Acquire president Takuma Endo, who teases a potential revival of the Tenchu series and the launch of a new indies brand by the end of 2021.
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  • The "Stealth Assassin" trademark registered by Acquire in Japan back in August 2018 was only registered because it expired.
  • While it is currently difficult, Endo would like to create a new Tenchu from the ground up for the PlayStation 5 generation if the possibility arises. The "Stealth Assassin" trademark lays the groundwork.
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While it's not a whole lot of information, I'm still very hopeful for a Tenchu revival.

Acquire were the developers for the original Tenchu 1 and Tenchu 2 Birth of the Stealth Assassins. They are also known for the Way of the Samurai series.

They also made the Tenchu spiritual successor, Shinobido Way of the Ninja.
 

Deleted member 76797

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I have no idea what a modern Tenchu would be like. Stealth has gotten so dumb in AAA games. A new Way of the Samurai would be amazing too. What a dumb series lol.
 
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Shinobido Heart

Shinobido Heart

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YeahJeets said:
I have no idea what a modern Tenchu would be like. Stealth has gotten so dumb in AAA games. A new Way of the Samurai would be amazing too. What a dumb series lol.
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Probably similar to Fromsoftware's Tenchu Z.

Tenchu Z brought a lot of cool ideas to the table like co-op but the ideas weren't executed well.

 
Zaied

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A new Tenchu for PS5 would be one of my most anticipated games; I would hope they'd bring back the Alchemy system from Shinobido 2, and the gliding.
 
bombermouse

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Why when shinobido is a better game anyway?

I love tenchu, but it was generic, nothing salvageable IP wise besides the name. Rikimaru is super bland.
 
Sumio Mondo

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I hope for a new Way of the Samurai as well.

A back to basics approach to Tenchu via "Stealth Assassin" like the Hitman series got would be a great way to revive it. I'd be interested to see what a ninja stealth game would look like on the PS5 tech.
 
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Shinobido Heart

Shinobido Heart

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bombermouse said:
Why when shinobido is a better game anyway?

I love tenchu, but it was generic, nothing salvageable IP wise besides the name. Rikimaru is super bland.
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From my understanding, only EU got Shinobido Way of the Ninja, NA never got it.

NA did get Shinobido 2 for the Vita, but I feel the Vita was too obscure.

In other words, I feel like Tenchu has a bit more weight to it.
 

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Tenchu 2 is easily a top 10 game on psx, remake that and we'll see from there, yeah? Just touch those controls up, expand the level size.

Discovering the game had a third campaign was mind-blowing at the time. Tatsumaru's finishers 🤤 I miss being a kid.
 
Touha

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This is awesome to hear. Tenchu is amazing and I cannot believe it is taking this long for a developer to focus on a good proper traditional ninja game/simulator. Look at the success of Sekiro, Nioh, Ghost of Tsushima....different kinds of games yes but there is huge interest in ninja and a feudal Japan setting. Just a crazy missed opportunity thus far.....

While I am encouraged by these words from Acquire, he just expresses wanting to do it with seemingly nothing concrete underway so who knows if it will even happen and if it does it is still years away. As much as I love Sekiro, I place a lot of blame on FromSoftware for doing nothing with the Tenchu IP after all this time. Sekiro was great but I would honestly have preferred they do a full Tenchu-like reboot.

Anyway, still extremely promising to hear and there is no question I think we will see more games in the future in feudal Japan thanks especially to Ghost of Tsushima's massive success. Honestly, as a lifelong Tenchu fan, Ghost of Tsushima 2 might be the true game to look forward to the most at this point.
 
Kresnik

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It always amazes me that there seems to be such desire for a Tenchu revival. Don't get me wrong - I played the first two growing up and loved them, but I've since played other games that have done stealth really well and not felt the need for a new Tenchu.

Acquire themselves had a stab at it with Shinobido and did a pretty good job (Shinobido 2). I don't see why a new Tenchu from them would be any different than them just doing Shinobido 3 at this point.
 
Argentil

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Ghost of Tsushima Legends carries the Tenchu spirit at times. I could see them adapting GoT's formula and making a new Tenchu. Legends is a great pack-in that would have had more success if it had been available at launch. I would love to see a truer Tenchu in this style.
 
NemesisTheory

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I want this to happen so bad. I spent an ungodly amount of time playing these games on PS1 and 2. Even Tenchu Z on 360.

Tatsumaru for life!
 
KORNdog

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I'l love there to be a new one but a LOT has changed in gaming since the last one...and weirdly...that old school jank is what makes tenchu tenchu for me because they've literally ALL had it...I can't imagine a well made, modern tenchu game even feeling much like tenchu tbh...it would be interesting to see how they would try to capture that "feel" though.
 
Bastos

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bombermouse said:
Why when shinobido is a better game anyway?

I love tenchu, but it was generic, nothing salvageable IP wise besides the name. Rikimaru is super bland.
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What the hell

Not only Tenchu is way better than Shinobido, its levels don't look like they were created inside a random level creator.

Tenchu 1 and 2 both had a good story to tell while Shinobido features an amnesiac ninja that looks like it came out of a Naruto episode:
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The only thing you could say that Shinobido did better are the controls.

Other than that, sorry but you are just wrong.
 
Yautja_Warrior

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I'd love a new Tenchu game.

Playing Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was the closest thing to having a new Tenchu game in years, it had a lot of the same vibes. I believe they said they considered making it a Tenchu game early in development before it became Sekiro.
 
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Shinobido Heart

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Okabe said:
But we just had Sekiro....
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Yautja_Warrior said:
I'd love a new Tenchu game.

Playing Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was the closest thing to having a new Tenchu game in years, it had a lot of the same vibes. I believe they said they considered making it a Tenchu game early in development before it became Sekiro.
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I liked using this mod when I went through Sekiro on PC.

Would be nice to have something more traditional, less supernatural stuff.

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Sesha

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Please god please.

HStallion said:
Wasn't Sekiro originally a Tenchu game during early development?
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It was, until it became too different from what they considered Tenchu to be. Kinda like what happened with Kamiya's RE4.

justiceiro said:
Sounds a lot like a "nothing happening" to me.
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The fact the president is talking about it in this way is the most encouraging thing to happen with the series in a decade.

Sekiro was a big success. Same with Ghost of Tsushima, which was also the 10th selling games in Japan last year and seems to have sparked Japanese creator's imaginations. I'm confident discussions about bringing Tenchu back are seriously happening. Probably more than they ever since further plans for 5 and 6 were axed. Whether or not they actually result in something, is up in the air. Still, I think this is the best chance the series will get in a while time.

Okabe said:
But we just had Sekiro....
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Just? Game's almost two years old.
 
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Issen

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God fucking damn it. Nothing would make me happier. It has to happen somehow.
 
Ishaan

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Can Acquire even afford to burn money on a medium/big-budget PS5 game under a brand very few people know/care about anymore?
 
BadWolf

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Sekiro was a garbage stealth game, not even worth bringing up.

A new Tenchu would be amazing.
 
Dreamboum

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Ishaan said:
Can Acquire even afford to burn money on a medium/big-budget PS5 game under a brand very few people know/care about anymore?
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They cannot work on Tenchu again because they don't own the IP anymore and I don't think From Software has a spine to license it to them. It will not be under that brand
 
Ishaan

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Dreamboum said:
They cannot work on Tenchu again because they don't own the IP anymore and I don't think From Software has a spine to license it to them. It will not be under that brand
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Shizuka said:
Only if someone else is footing the bill to be the publisher worldwide or at least outside Japan.
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I should've been more specific. I meant, I don't think Acquire has the resources (ie; staff with the necessary skillset) to work on a high-spec stealth game for PS5, and everything else that would involve.

Acquire has 120 employees, which isn't a small figure, but when you put out a statement like "I want to make a game for the PS5 generation," that creates certain expectations in the minds of people—namely a game that's at least as broad in scope and as well-put-together as Sekiro. It's a tall order, even in the event that an external publishing partner would be willing to fund such a project.
 
salromano

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Not sure if ya'll saw the update:

Gematsu said:
Update 8:57 p.m.: The latest issue of Weekly Famitsu is now available and the actual interview text clarifies that Endo was talking about a potential new "stealth ninja game" and not specifically a new Tenchu game, as the source of the pre-release magazine leak implied. The title has been updated.

Here is the full interview snippet:
​
Endo: "Actually there was another thing… We trademarked the Tenchu subtitle 'Stealth Assassin.'"​
​
—Oh! How did that come to happen?​
​
Endo: "We only acquired it because the trademark for 'Stealth Assassin' expired, there isn't some deep meaning behind it, but it was reported overseas and now people are wondering whether Acquire will make another Tenchu again."​
​
—Will you?​
​
Endo: "It would be difficult to do right now…. But, if the possibility arises, I would like to make a stealth ninja game from the ground up for the PlayStation 5 generation. To lay the groundwork for that, we acquired this trademark, which is the game's subtitle overseas."​
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​
 
Rixan

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Maybe I'm misremembering but Sekiro feels a lot more like what a modern day Tenchu would feel like, rather than Tsushima
 
Argentil

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It's been so long that I still think of stealth assassin in Dota whenever I hear the name Rikimaru.
 
RestEerie

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isn't that what sekiro was supposed to be originally and then changed direction halfway through?
 
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