Jack is back in the past, baby!
Adult Swim Games has released a trailer announcing a new game based on the hit Cartoon Network series titled Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time. It is the series’ first video game since 2004’s Samurai Jack: The Shadow of Aku.
As first reported by IGN, Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time, which is developed by Soleil Games, takes place before Jack’s final battle with Aku, the shape-shifting demon overlord who sends him to alternate timelines throughout human history where his evil rules with an iron fist. With the power of his sword, Jack will have to hack and slash his way through every alternate timeline in order to reach Aku and end him and his reign of terror once and for all.
Samurai Jack series head writer Darrick Bachman wrote the script for the game, and the gameplay will allow players to wield multifarious battle styles and range weapons, including the machine gun seen towards the end of the trailer.
The 3D graphics retain series creator Genndy Tartakovsky’s stylistic art design that garnered Samurai Jack multiple awards, including eight Emmys — one of them for Outstanding Animated Program — six Annies, and an Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) award. This is because Soleil Games, a small game development studio in Japan, is comprised of ex-Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive developers, so they made sure that the game remained faithful to the original source material.
Samurai Jack originally ran on Cartoon Network between 2001 and 2004, and it was inspired by Genndy Tartakovsky’s enjoyment of the Kung Fu drama series starring David Carradine and love of samurai culture. Adult Swim revived the series for a fifth and final season on its Toonami block in 2017.
Tartakovsky and series head writer Darrick Bachman will reveal more details about the game during the Adult Swim panel at PAX East on Friday, Feb. 28.
Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time will release in Summer 2020 on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.
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