Muramasa: Revenant Blades Lets You Swap Skills Freely

In the original, skills were tied to each sword, and by the late game many of them went unused. Now any skill can go in any slot. Muramasa: Revenant Blades is a remake of the side-scrolling action RPG that began on Wii in 2009 and came to PS Vita in 2013 as Muramasa Rebirth. It launches February 4, 2027, on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, and PC (Steam). In a developer interview published October 21, staff from Vanillaware and Marvelous Inc. talked through the changes.

The game is set in Genroku-era Japan, in the late 17th to early 18th century. Six protagonists, each with their own story and fighting style, take on youkai. You chain combos, handle enemy attacks with dashes, jumps, and parries, and use the souls of fallen enemies to forge your swords and techniques. Genroku Legends, the add-on from the PS Vita version, is included from the start.

English voice acting is new to this version.

According to Vanillaware’s development director, the game has three skill slots on the ground and three in the air. The simple input of a direction plus the skill button is unchanged. Controllers now have more buttons than they did in the original’s day, so the emergency dodge gets a button of its own.

Mid-fight, enemies sometimes wrap themselves in an aura. If you take that enemy’s attack while performing a skill, the two attacks lock in a clash and the sword’s gauge drains. In the original, the more you used skills, the greater the risk of the sword breaking. Here, what skills spend from the gauge and what enemy attacks wear away from it are tracked separately. The director explained that, as a result, swords may feel less likely to break. Refilling the gauge requires landing normal attacks.

Rush in with skills, or refill the gauge with normal attacks? Finding the balance between the two looks set to shape how you cut your way forward.

The director named travel as the biggest improvement. The original sent you down one-way paths. Now palanquin bearers carry you anywhere you have the map for.

This is Vanillaware’s first PC release, tuned for keyboard and mouse.

Momohime’s and Kisuke’s stories are unchanged from the original, with nothing cut. Genroku Legends now comes with upgradable charms and a tutorial. There’s also a mode that plays the PS Vita version as it was, with only the visuals upgraded. According to the director, one reason for adding it was to preserve the original in higher quality.

Language: English
Players: Single-player
Age rating: ESRB T
As of October 21, 2026