Tenchu: Time of the Assassins

Tenchu: Time of the Assassins is a stealth-action game that is part of the Tenchu series. The plot is set in feudal age Japan, and revolves around a group of ninjas and assassins who get involved into the kidnapping of Lord Gohda's single daughter, Princess Kiku. The game's protagonists are Rikkimaru and Ayame (both ninjas of the Azuma clan, working for Lord Gohda), Rin (a renegade ninja of the Beniya clan), and Tesshu (a medical doctor who works as a hired assassin at night). All four characters' campaigns can be selected right from the start. Each character's campaign encompasses eight missions.

The gameplay is once again based on the stealth-action genre's fundamental premise of completing the mission goals with being discovered as few times as possible, since the player characters are hopelessly outnumbered by the enemy guards. When the player approaches an unsuspecting enemy from behind, he can perform a stealth kill, which kills the target instantly without risking a fight.

Mission objectives vary from getting to a certain location on the map, taking out a certain target, to escorting NPCs to a designated area. A distance sensor indicates how great the distance is between the player and the closest enemy, but not the direction in which the enemy is. It also shows whether the enemy is aware of the players presence. As usual for the series, the player is free choose between several weapons and gadgets, which he obtains as reward for completing mission. The better the ranking he receives after the missions, the more and better items he receives.

Gadgets include throwing knifes, poisonous rice, healing potions, smoke bombs, grenades and many more. Aside from these optional accessories the player always has a trusty grappling hook at his disposal, which can be used to climb houses and ledges.

The game also features a mission editor to create story-driven single player missions, as well as multiplayer missions. The multiplayer mode can be played competitively and cooperatively with 2 players.