Prologue

You are Atsu, daughter of a swordsmith. As the game begins, a cinematic sequence reveals the fate of your loved ones. You survive an encounter with some powerful enemies and brush their names onto parchment while making plans for revenge.

To write those names, use the touchpad on the DualSense controller and slide your finger in the directions indicated by the prompts. There's no time limit, so don't rush.

After you list your enemies, another brief sequence follows. Then you appear at the end of a dock as settlers run around ahead of you.

Start forward. Proceed along the main path and to encounter some drunken thugs who are terrorizing a white horse. Get close enough to them and you'll automatically intervene. A battle follows, where you learn to slash, block, and even pick up and throw weapons that fall on the ground. When you pick up the sword that falls as part of that tutorial sequence, hurl it toward the last thug. He falls to the ground, dead. Look past him to spot a conspicuous shack with light emanating from its windows. Approach the building to trigger another cinematic and then a fight with The Snake.

Boss Battle: The Snake

The Snake is easy enough. I'm not entirely sure you can even lose the fight, since your health is restored automatically if you take too much damage. Press Down on the controller's d-pad to use a healing item, if you wish.

Throughout two phases of the battle, your job is to block a series of blows from The Snake (just press and hold the L1 button), and then to respond with a few strikes of your own when he is off-balance. If he's hunched over and panting, that's your opportunity. When you see an opening, make sure to respond quickly. Otherwise, The Snake will recover and damage you when you try to hit him.

Once you win the fight, another scene follows. You receive a trophy, appropriately titled The Snake.

Travel to your childhood home

After the cutscene, ride your horse through some verdant scenery. Eventually, you reach a rock outcropping and an additional title screen appears. When it vanishes, follow the prompts. First press Up on the d-pad to bring up your Spyglass. Then use the right analog stick to “plan your hunt.” Look for three points of interest: your childhood home located directly ahead, the old inn near the edge of a stand of trees to the right, and a point near the peak of Mount Yotei, also directly ahead. When hovering over each point of interest, press the R2 button to investigate.

Once you have checked the areas you will eventually explore, ride your horse some more. Make your way through the wide field of flowers. The yellow ones do nothing for you. Ride through the white ones for a burst of speed, and follow them to reach your childhood home. Along the way, make sure to leap over any logs that have fallen across your path.

Exploring your home

When you arrive back home, you'll relive some memories. They start as you chase your brother, Jubei.

Jubei runs quickly, so hold the L3 analog stick as you pursue him. He'll lead you through an opening in a fence (press the R2 button to squeeze through it) and around the back of the house. When you finally tag him at the end of the run, the game instructs you to practice shamisen with your mother.

Practice shamisen

Yone, your mother, waits on the back deck of the house, where she plays a variety of lute known as a shamisen. Approach her and you are prompted to play a mini-game. Slide your finger slowly along the trackpad to feel vibrations. You want to hold your finger where you feel the strongest of those vibrations. It's easiest to find the spot by also watching the screen; white light emanates from your fingertips as you find the right position. After you play a few notes with your mother, the mini-game concludes.

After the jam session, the game advises you that you can press and hold the trackpad when you're standing near memories, allowing you to relive them. I didn't find any I could experience right then and there, however.

The broken bamboo stand

Before you proceed with the required objectives the game directs you toward, briefly investigate the homestead property. Look off to the right from where you played the shamisen with your mother. In that direction, a rocky ledge overlooks the plains. Approach its edge to find a broken bamboo stand.

Press the R2 button and initiate a mini-game that lets you cut bamboo to fix the stand. You must press buttons indicated on-screen in a series of increasingly demanding patterns. It's important to hit them quickly, all in a row. In later rounds, you must press more buttons within the time allotted. If you are too slow, your slash will fail. Fortunately, you can try the last slice again without having to start over from scratch. When you destroy the last of the bamboo, your Spirit increases by 1 point.

Help your father at his forge

The game should by now be prompting you to help your father at his forge. He's waiting just up the hill from your mother. When you approach him, you'll initiate a forging mini-game.

The idea of this mini-game is that you need to strike a heated strip of metal to fashion it into a sword. Start by hitting the available side a few times. You do this by tilting the controller as if you are lifting a hammer, then tilting it quickly downward as if swinging the hammer. When you hit the metal a few times, you'll be instructed to press the Triangle button to inspect your work in progress. It is misshapen. As instructed, press the Circle button to flip it over. Then hit it a few more times, until you are informed you must heat up the metal again. Press the Square button and hold the metal to the nearby flame until it is sufficiently warmed. Then repeat the process to finish the sword.

Once you have helped craft an amazing sword, another cutscene follows and then you are presented with your final objective for the moment.

Train with Jubei

Your last task in the prologue is to master combat training. It is slightly more complex than you've seen thus far. The game walks you through the finer points of blocking, parrying, and dodging.

To block, press and hold the L1 button. To parry instead of blocking, press L1 just before an enemy weapon strike would connect. With parries, you may have to deflect several quick attacks in a row. To dodge, press the Circle button, along with a direction on the left analog stick. You will step out of the way of attacks you can't block or parry, which are indicated by red light that flashes across the enemy's weapon just ahead of an attack.

Beat Jubei at a few rounds of combat and a scene follows. You promise to avenge your family. Then the prologue concludes and the first chapter begins.