Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time

Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time is an action-adventure game in which the player is able to take control of Samurai Jack, the main protagonist of his titular animated series, and fight his way through locations and events that are familiar in his prior adventures in Aku's sinister future that he spends much of the series finding a way out of. In each of the nine levels of the main story campaign, players must guide Jack along a mostly linear path, with occasional branching side paths where secrets and pickups can be found. In some portions of levels, the camera may shift to a 2.5D perspective where Jack can only move forward or backward. Throughout the process, Jack will be trapped in small areas and must engage in combat with Aku's minions and familiar foes in his quest, with the player being able to choose from a variety of melee and ranged weapons to defeat them all in order to advance. Each kind of weapon has different strengths and weaknesses and most of them have limited durability, except Jack's magic katana and his bare hands. In melee combat, which takes cues from recently released sword-based action-adventure titles like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Ghost of Tsushima, Jack can create powerful combo attacks by mixing light and heavy attacks after circumventing or breaking enemy blocks and deliver devastating damage with a special Kiai attack after gathering enough strength, while blocking and dodging to defend himself. In ranged combat, Jack can use throwing weapons, archery equipment or firearms, all constrained by either ammunition and/or durability limits. While using a bow and arrow, he can aim more precisely. Jack can also collect different items throughout the environments to spend them on skill tree upgrades that can improve his combat abilities.

There are also times where Jack will be pitted against more familiar adversaries he previously faced in boss battles that will challenge his combat skills and his resolve. If Jack is defeated in battle after losing health, which can be replenished by consuming items, play resumes from the last checkpoint he passed. Outside of battles, Jack can occasionally find chests and friendly non-player characters based on the allies he befriended on his quest that can provide or sell him weapons and items to give him advantages in combat. There are also instances where Jack will need to use some platforming or other non-combat means to overcome some obstacles. At the completion of each level, players will be scored on their clear time and combat performance, with penalties for using items or being defeated in battle. There are four levels of difficulty ("Jack", "Samurai", "Master Samurai" and "Master of Masters") that affect enemy frequency and strength, with only the first three available from the beginning. After the story mode is completed, the player can then unlock a series of bonus arena-based challenges, with their difficulty uniquely shaped by certain restrictions and modifiers.