SNK Corporation’s upcoming Samurai Shodown entry for PC and PS4 received 12 minutes of gameplay footage recently. Some of you may have seen it, others may have missed it. However, ahead of the summer release window, SNK demonstrated some of the combat in the upcoming hack and slash title.

Recently IGN posted up 12 minutes of gameplay featuring some of the characters engaged in a battle of sword and steel, and I must say that Samurai Showdown looks really good.

As you can see in the first fight below, Galford takes on Nakoruru.

The music, sound effects, and general aesthetics are all a throwback to the classic Neeo Geo games from the 1990s. The gameplay isn’t quite as fast as Samurai Shodown 3, which is still my personal favorite, but it appears to be closer to the likes of Samurai Shodown 5.

During the fight we see that Nakoruru uses her special during the second round, which knocks off quite bit of Galford’s life, but he manages to knock her weapon out of her hand, but it isn’t enough to secure a victory.

The sword clash also returns where both players have to mash buttons and whoever wins the exchange can knock their opponent’s weapon out of their hands. It’s amazing to see so many classic features make a return to form but with updated visuals and playability.

The second fight features Genjuro and Haohmaru resuming their classic rivalry.

Genjuro is still an HP monster, taking down Haomaru in just a few, hard-hitting slashes.

The fight is a little more even tempered and a bit more back and forth compared to Galford and Nakoruru. But then again, Genjuro and Haohmaru always put on amazing fights.

The meter fill-rate is also pretty quick, similar to Samurai Shodown 4. So it keeps the matches moving at a rather rapid clip.

Also, the music is absolutely perfect; and you can rightly tell that the artists are really finding their niche with the shaders in the engine. The game looks so much better than King of Fighters XIV.

Samurai Shodown uses an inked outline for the characters, but with a painterly design for the normals. This belies the typical cel-shaded approach, because there’s a lot more nuance in the color gradients and tonal shifts in hues. So what you end up with is a very visually distinct and stylized rendering that definitely stands out from anything else on the market at the moment. This is highlighted quite well with the fight between Jubei and Earthquake as they duke it out on the beach near the flooded temple.

Additionally, the execution moves where you can dismember people is back as well, integrated into the gameplay with seamless appeal. There’s also a more technically proficient display of fighting game skill put on by YouTuber Long Island Joe.

So far Samurai Shodown looks like it could end up being the sleeper hit of the summer. A lot of it will depend on the pricing and marketing of the game. If enough people are aware of it and decide to support it at launch then I could see it doing very well on the market.

You can look for Samurai Shodown to drop into stores and digital distributors this summer for PC and PS4.