Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The first few obstacles immediately explain why Sumioni: Demon Arts stands apart from a standard side-scrolling action game. Agura can fight directly, but the real hook is putting your finger to the Vita screen and drawing a black-ink bridge, ramp, or platform wherever the terrain leaves him stranded. Clearing a danger you drew your own way feels satisfyingly clever, particularly when a quick line turns a bad landing into a route forward.

Ink also fuels offensive fire and water support, plus calligraphic summons of the phoenix Yomihi and the lion Shidou. That shared limit matters. You cannot casually paint away every problem, then expect to have every useful attack or familiar ready for the next threat. Replenishing ink through the rear touch input gives you another task to manage, and the resource pressure makes each use of the brush feel like a decision rather than a free shortcut.

The downside is built into the same idea. Drawing naturally pulls your focus away from avoiding enemies, so frantic moments can become clumsy when you need to watch the action and sketch a safe route at once. If that friction sounds irritating, it probably will be. If you enjoy pausing mentally to turn a platforming hazard into a small ink puzzle, the system starts to click. Branching routes and multiple endings, influenced by performance, give skilled repeat runs a worthwhile reason to improve.

Graphics

The side-view stages look like an old Japanese ink-and-wash painting given a playable foreground. Agura is easy to spot as a small red-and-black, sword-wielding demon with a broad black hat and streaming red scarf. Thick black brush-stroke ground stands sharply against muted parchment skies, pale mountains, shrine gates, stone lanterns, and roped rocks.

A soft yellow-orange sunset can sit behind the darker shrine scenery, which makes the black ink paths you draw feel naturally at home in the world. The combination is handsome and focused: the landscape stays subdued while the demon and his freshly painted platforms remain clear.

Story

This is a lean story about a demon awakening to confront corruption in an ancient Japanese-inspired land. It gives the action a clear direction without asking you to wade through a dense historical fantasy.

Agura works well as the center of that premise because his strange ink powers are not separated from the journey. The same demonic art that defines the combat and traversal also makes him feel like he belongs in this threatened world.

Do not come expecting an elaborate character drama. The multiple endings and branching routes add incentive to revisit the campaign, but the story is strongest as a clean frame for its demonic hero and brush-painted battles.

Overall Experience

Sumioni: Demon Arts earns its recommendation on the strength of one unusual, well-integrated idea. Drawing the ground beneath your own feet creates memorable solutions that ordinary jumping and swordplay cannot. The limited ink pool prevents that idea from becoming an automatic answer, even if touchscreen sketching can be distracting under pressure.

This is a better fit for you if you like deliberate experimentation inside your action platformers than if you want constant, uninterrupted combat. Learn when to spend ink on a safe platform, when to turn it into an attack, and when to preserve it, and the game has a satisfying push-and-pull. Its performance-based branching also rewards returning with a cleaner plan.

For another Japanese-themed side-view action game with painted scenery, see Muramasa: The Demon Blade, though its action is built around a different kind of experience. You can also read the official Sumioni overview for its regional release details. Sumioni is a flawed but imaginative Vita action game whose best moments come from making the path yourself.

Retro Replay Score

7.2/10