Embrace Death

Samurai Shodown // Athlon Games

When Samurai Shodown returned to the fighting game scene after several years out of the limelight, we were enlisted to refresh the brand for Western audiences while staying true to the franchise’s Eastern roots. We aimed to get the core FGC community excited by differentiating SamSho’s unique “tension-and-release” combat, where one hit can turn a match. This informed our Samurai-code-inspired “Embrace Death” positioning. That, paired with a splashy east-meets west visual and music style carved out a unique space for the franchise - from its western debut at PAX East through to Launch.