Way of the Samurai 3 is a pretty strange game. One moment, you are fighting for your honour against a bunch of ambushing bandits along the road at night. The next, you have been enlisted to help carve a large salmon with your katana for the local ruler. Or you are looking for an old woman’s underwear on the site of a bloody battlefield, where local scavengers hunt for pickings. War is a brutal business, but you’re only in it to help folk recover their laundry.

What Way of the Samurai 3 does well is choice. You always have choice, whether it be to bow in deference to a local leader, or just draw your sword and threaten to kill him.

I did the latter on one playthrough, deciding to turn against the warlord, and I strafed around the room like it was a climactic duel from Star Wars. The warlord laughed, and then tried to sway me to his side, telling me of his master plan to eliminate the last of the local dynasty that he overthrew. At least, I think that’s what was going on. I had just been chopping vegetables some lady was throwing at me earlier in the day, and a few hit me in the head.

I heard of the warlord’s plan, and sheathed my sword, pledging to him my allegiance. He nodded and accepted, recognizing both my foolish bravery and my ultimate common sense. He sent me on a mission to retrieve the heir to the throne, who he knew was hiding in the local farming village.

I went there, and when I found the heir, decided that I simply could not hand them over to the samurai. No, instead, I’d try to fight my way out.

What really ended up happening was that the heir and their servants escaped, but I was captured, put on trial for treason, and then subsequently executed.

That was how my first game ended.

My second game ended with me as a triumphant right-hand man to the other local warlord. But that’s a whole different story.

There are 28 endings in total, and I’ve only seen a few. It’s a game of marvelous replayability, with day/night cycles, NPCs who have something of a daily routine, and many many weapons to master and stuff to unlock. It’s a game of branching paths, and well worth a look for anyone who likes sandbox story games and just samurai in general.

You can buy it on Steam here.