Muramasa: Revenant Blades has 108 swords, and its definitive update for PC wants to make sure you use them all

The Japanese Sword Museum in Tokyo, set along the bank of the Sumida river, enshrines behind glass a collection of remarkable blades spanning hundreds of years of craftsmanship. Books about the longer uchigatana and shorter wakizashi, some of them written by the museum's very donors, celebrate the swordsmiths who hammered them out of steel. But flip through one, and there's a good chance you won't spot the name Muramasa, despite his swords playing a prominent role in some of Japan's most famous battles.

Centuries of mythology building up around the idea that your swords were cursed will tend to do that to a guy.

Vanillaware's Muramasa: Revenant Blades, at least, isn't afraid to lean into the legacy. The 2D action game is so in love with swords it's got 108 of them, and it turns the superstition that Muramasa's swords had to taste blood once unsheathed into a simple but enticing mechanic: Each comes with a unique skill, which can …