Video Game / Samurai of Hyuga

Samurai of Hyuga is a Story Branching game written by Devon Connell and hosted by Choice of Games' user submitted label Hosted Games.

The game is set in the nation of Hyuga, an Expy of Japan, with the player taking on the role of a ronin-turned-bodyguard with a Dark and Troubled Past. Taking on the job of protecting a young shungenja, the player quickly finds themselves embroiled in a much larger adventure.

Five books have currently been released:

• Samurai of Hyuga, released on July 2015.
• Samurai of Hyuga Book 2, released on September 2016.
• Samurai of Hyuga Book 3, released on November 2017.
• Samurai of Hyuga Book 4, released on August 29, 2019.
• Samurai of Hyuga Book 5, released on September 1, 2022

Has nothing to do with a certain ninja clan.

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Samurai of Hyuga provides examples of:

• All Love Is Unrequited: This can be invoked if the main character rejects everyone who has an interest in them.
• Altar Diplomacy: This is Jun/Junko's interpretation of Sensei's request in his letter. Jun/Junko defects and sides with Ichiro during the battle against the cult because they think Sensei wanted them to marry Ichiro in order to unite the Takeda and Uesugi clans to achieve peace in northern Hyuga.
• Animal Motifs:
  • Masashi/Masami's spirit animal is a Red Panda, and the player's varies depending on both choice and what traits they've exhibited so far. Deviating from the Spirit Animal's traits will lower your spiritual attunement. There are ten total, but you can only exhibit 5 traits, as each is paired with another, opposing trait.
    Barn Swallow for Impulsive or Alligator for Calculated
    Snow Monkey for Perverted or Akita Inu for Chivalrous
    Firefly for Charming or Giant Salamander for Stoic
    Spider Crab for Drifter or Chipmunk for Protective
    Wild Boar for Brutal or Striped Snake for Finesse
  • Jun/Junko's is a feral wolf, emphasizing their savage but loyal nature.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Aside from the aforementioned "Calculated" stat, the third book allows you to increase your "Deduction" and "Observation" stats through examining a murder scene and interrogating those involved.
• Awkward Kiss: Jun/Junko and the MC's First Kiss happens when the MC calls Jun/Junko beautiful, and Jun/Junko kisses them. Since they're kids, the MC doesn't see it as affectionate, and thinks Jun/Junko is trying to eat them.
• The Baby Trap: A possible plot point if a heterosexual PC romances Jun/Junko. During the festival, if Jun/Junko chooses a Shinto charm for you, they select a very phallic one that stands for fertility. When they book the "honeymoon suite" at the hot springs later and the PC rejects their request to have children, Jun/Junko will still try to force them to be impregnated/impregnate her when they sleep together. In Jun/Junko's twisted mind, the Ronin can't leave them or attempt suicide again if they have a baby on the way.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: The Ronin and Jun/Junko fight back-to-back during the Boss Fight in Book 4 against Ichiro. If Jun/Junko is romanced, they're a Battle Couple. If Jun/Junko is not romanced, then it's a case of Enemy Mine.
• Bar Brawl: At the very beginning of Book 1, the Ronin has an option to choose between fending off some thugs by intimidating or outright beating them down. If the latter option is chosen, the Ronin wins a Curb-Stomp Battle involving broken shins and sliding tables.
• The Berserker: A more zen take on this trope than usual, but this is fundamentally what the Jigoku Itto-Ryo is.
• Blood on the Debate Floor: In Book 4, the Protagonist finds themselves caught in the middle of a democratic election between the Uesugi and the Takeda clans, which devolves into violence when the concepts of egalitarianism and socialism are thrown into the mix.
• Brains and Brawn: Masashi/Masami is the brains to the protagonist's brawn. Also applies to Ichiro and Kiyoshi since they are a samurai/shugenja pair in battle.
• Chains of Love: Jun/Junko repurposes a chain collar intended to be used to capture them in order to restrain the Ronin. They later ask Kiyoshi to cast a spell that turns the chain into a literal Red String of Fate that connects them to the Ronin.
• Chekhov's Gunman: If you spare Daisuke the guard's life in Book 1, he'll reappear in Book 2 as a butler in the Baron's mansion - and his failure to recognize you clues you in on what's happening there.
• Chekhov's Skill: During a flashback to your adolescence, you and Jun/Junko train with hot iron rods, using them as swords. This skill becomes useful during the Book 4 boss fight when Ichiro drives your swords into the ground and heats them up to try and prevent you from using them. It doesn't slow you or Jun/Junko down one bit.
• Cliffhanger:
  • Book One ends with Jun/Junko slicing open Masashi/Masami's throat while the PC can only watch. Book 2 reveals s/he survives.
  • Book Two ends with Hatch accused of murdering the Baron's chef, as his Dying Clue was Hatch's name.
  • Book Four ends with Masashi/Mashami injured from their efforts in holding open the portal, and Momoko/Sakiko's goons finding the Ronin.
  • Book Five ends with the Ronin trapped in Masashi/Mashami's body.
• Collapsing Lair: Shiroyama's lair burns down after their Boss Fight with the Ronin.
• Continuity Nod: When you are hiding out in a Shinto temple in Book 4, the Ronin recalls verbatim Masashi/Masami's explanation of the temple's defenses from Book 1.
• CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable: The protagonist gives Hatch CPR after he washes up on the Baron's island. None of the bad side effects are shown and you can even choose to give Hatch a Kiss of Life.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: At the end of Book Two, the Protagonist witnesses the Baron showing Hatch their tryst with Momoko or them breaking Momoko's heart by turning her down. Hatch had asked the Protagonist for help with hooking up with Momoko, and reacts with jealous rage.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: The series has its fair share of these, mostly dished out by the Ronin. The following are in spoiler tags because they often expose major plot points.
  • Early in Book 1, shortly after the Ronin gets a new haircut from an old Kondo lady named Ume-Ume and finds out his\her spirit animal, a pair of guards barge into Ume-Ume's house. Ume-Ume hid the party in a secret compartment, and the guards begin beating her up. If the Ronin chooses to help her, the player gets a choice of how to dispatch one of the guards. A finesse Ronin obviously uses some finesse, but a brutal Ronin has their dog day. He/she grabs some hairdressers' shears, jabs it into the guard's eye and then pries it open, causing immense pain and gore. The Ronin may then finish him off by drowning him in a tub of water used mere minutes ago to wash the Ronin's hair.
  • Late in Book 1, the Ronin gets 3 options to kill the Yakuza who attempted to assassinate Momoko with a blowdart. The Ronin can either kill him with a single strike, kill him with his own poison darts, or rip him to pieces with the Jigoku Itto-Ryu.
  • In Book 4, after regaining the Jigoku and painting the walls red with the remains of a bunch of hired thugs, the Ronin is given the option to spare or kill Kin Oyama and his wife, a husband and wife who operate a silk factory ran on child labor. If the player decides to kill them, the Ronin shoves a silk spool down the throat of the wife and beats her to death, and then boils the husband alive in a silk dying pot. The Ronin even goes as far as to mentally make a pun on how Kin Oyama is dying and being dyed simultaneously.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: While Hatch is definitely more moron than badass he does manage to catch an axe blade with his bare hands. The Ronin is even impressed despite telling him how dumb and inpractical it is to do that.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The Jigoku Itto-Ryo a.k.a the Hell's Release style.
• Dirty Mind-Reading: When Saburo uses his rings to try and read the Ronin's mind during the shogi tournament, a perverted Ronin will be thinking about a BDSM fantasy involving Saburo and the rope harness he descended in on. Saburo is shocked and lampshades how dirty the Ronin's thoughts are.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: The Emperor foresaw the destruction of Hyuga in a dream; he also saw that the protagonist and Masashi/Masami would be the ones to stop it. Hence why he seeks them out near the beginning of the game.
• Dual Wielding: One of Jun/Junko's new Jigoku Itto-Ryo techniques involves fighting with two katanas and transferring energy between them.
• Dying Declaration of Love: Jun/Junko is somber and at peace when they tell the Ronin "I love you" for the first time - just before their Heroic Sacrifice.
• Easily Forgiven: The Ronin holds no grudge against the shugenja Kiyoshi in Book 4 for casting a binding spell between them and Jun/ko. Even when Kiyoshi continued to assist Ichiro despite witnessing his enchanted armbands being nefariously used to sacrifice the Takeda voters the Ronin holds no harsh feelings for his complicity.
• Eating the Eye Candy: A perverted protagonist will do this often, especially around Toshi/Toshio and Momoko.
• End of an Age: In Book 5, the Ronin can note to Toshi(o) that the widespread introduction of firearms and other gunpowder weapons will spell the end of the age of the daimyo and samurai, with generals and regimented armies taking their place.
• Expy:
  • The cast takes great inspiration from Rurouni Kenshin. The protagonist is a travelling, atoning Rōnin trained in a Dangerous Forbidden Technique; their charge is a young, idealistic Tsundere they encounter; a rash brawler, a beautiful doctor involved in the Yakuza, and so on. They all do manage to be original, and the protagonist especially can be shaped in a variety of ways.
  • The "world-weary vaguely-young ronin who aspires to atone for their misdeeds is hired by a young child who tries to hide how much the ronin means to them" idea has been done before.
• Failure Is the Only Option:
  • In the second book's demo, Jun/ko will demand the PC hand over their beloved sword, passed down from their Sensei, in exchange for Masashi/mi's life. If they don't, Jun/ko kills them. If they do, Jun/ko is enraged the PC would trade away the sword for a "worthless kid" and kills them anyway. Fortunately, it was revealed that the necklace that the emperor gave to Masashi/mi saved them by taking most of the cut.
  • In the third book, Ige will die no matter how well the Ronin trains their apprentices and directs them during the tournament, causing the Ronin to lash out at their companions and depart to hunt down Jun/ko by themself.
• Fan-Art: Has its own thread on Choice of Games.
• Fantastic Racism: A less "fantastic" version than most, but the indigenous Kondo people (a stand-in for the Real Life Ainu) are openly discriminated against and are forced to live in slums. One of the laws on the books is that, if any Kondo is found holding a weapon, they are to be decapitated with that weapon.
• Festival Episode: Part of Book 4 features the New Year's festival, in which the Ronin participates in a Drinking Contest and they peruse vendor stalls with Jun/Junko.
• Feuding Families: Takeda vs. Uesugi is a long-running one in Hokusei. There were clan wars between the two families in the region until the election was instituted to select a ruler.
• Freudian Excuse: Book 3 reveals why Junko is as bloodthirsty as s/he is - their father had a weakness for children. Book 4 reveals that this is part of the reason why Jun/Junko tries to kill Masashi/Masami, not merely out of jealousy but out of fear that the Ronin is sexually abusing them the way their father did to them.
• Foreshadowing: You and Jun/Junko come across a wooden wolf statue while hiding in a temple. The wolf is missing one of its front legs. At the end of Book 4, Jun/Junko, whose spirit is the wolf, either has their right arm cut off by you or cuts it off themselves as part of a Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Some of the Ronin's lines reference when he/she was at the orphanage and they ate multiple of their fellow orphans.
  • Much of the Flashback to the MC's and Jun/Junko's childhood at the beginning of Book 4 provides foreshadowing to events later in the book.
    • The MC comments that Jun/Junko never loses at wrestling because they practiced a lot with their father. We learn later that Jun/Junko was raped by their father as a child.
    • Jun/Junko tears their arm while grabbing the MC's hand, saving them from falling from the apple tree. This scene becomes an Ironic Echo when the roles are reversed and the Ronin holds onto Jun/Junko's hand to pull them away from Ichiro and out of the portal to escape hell. Jun/Junko then cuts off their own arm to save the Ronin.
    • “Don't eat me Juu-kun/-chan” becomes a Meaningful Echo when it's revealed the Jigoku's power comes from eating people.
    • “Don't let go of my hand Juu-kun/-chan” is repeated once again during the climax when the MC is holding onto Jun/Junko's hand to stop Ichiro from pulling them back and trapping them in hell.
• Gender-Blender Name: A few characters have both their first names and genders determined by the gender your character is interested in, such as Masashi/Masami, the "kid" you're guarding, the Emperor's ninja Toshio/Toshie, and your first love Jun/Junko, a fellow student under your old sensei.
• Girl on Girl Is Hot: Daisuke gets turned on by a flirty female Ronin implying she seduced Momoko in order to capture her and return her to Shiroyama.
• Go and Sin No More: You can do this to enemies you choose to spare, ordering them to change their lives for the better.
• Good Is Dumb : Masami/Masashi at least has the excuse of being young and sheltered. Hatch on the other hand is a native of a Wretched Hive and yet remains unfailingly kind, compassionate and supportive. He also happens to be the most idiotic martial artist since Son Goku.
• Heel–Face Turn: In Book 4, Jun/Junko becomes the protagonist's ally, and they can rekindle their old relationship and work towards making it less toxic.
• Heroic BSoD: The protagonist enters a Thousand-Yard Stare, attacks Hatch, and abandons their companions after witnessing Ige die at the hands of Shatao's soliders.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Jun/Junko in Book 4 will sacrifice themselves for you so that you can escape hell while Ichiro holds them back.
• He's Back!: The PC snaps, regains the Jigoku and kicks some ass when they learn the Oyamas are kidnapping, abusing, and forcing children to produce cheap silk armbands for the election.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: Averted and mocked. Early in the story, Toshio/Toshie tests the protagonist by staging a kidnapping, then has their ninja entourage, previously disguised as customers, arrest the offenders. The protagonist is at first surprised, then snarkily berates themselves for being so—ninja wouldn't be good at their job if you saw them, after all.
• How We Got Here: Books 2, 3, and 4 start with a quick in-character recap of some of the more important decisions from the first book if a save file is loaded.
• In-Universe Catharsis: The Ronin breaks down in tears in Jun/Junko's arms after realizing they've bottled up the burden they feel from being responsible for their friends and saving Hyuga.
• Incompatible Orientation: Book 2 introduces a potential love triangle between Hatch, Momoko, and the Protagonist. Hatch is in love with Momoko, who is in love with the Protagonist. The Protagonist can reject Momoko for this reason if they’re a straight female or gay male.
• Interface Screw: Late in Book 2, the names of your statistics are all suddenly replaced with more pleasant-sounding names; for example, "Perverted" is changed to "Affectionate", and "Brutal" is changed to "Unpolished". It's later revealed that this is because the Baron is secretly altering your memories to give you a more pleasant life. The statistics will gradually change back to their original names one by one as the story continues.
  • When the Ronin is using the Jigoku Itto-Ryu, the Stats screen is blank except for the phrase "You have forgotten yourself."
  • Book 3's climax has the Ronin enter the Jigoku Itto-Ryo after seeing Ige get slaughtered, and the Stats screen is instead replaced by "Junko."
  • Early in Book 4, Jun/Junko forces Kiyoshi to tie the Ronin to him/her with a literal Red String of Fate. Until it is severed late in the game, the stat bars displaying your Ronin's personality and Attunement are inaccessible.
• Interplay of Sex and Violence: In Book 4 the Ronin notes that most of their and Jun/Junko's lovemaking began as brawls and/or them looking to vent their rage.
• It Will Never Catch On: After encountering a Christian monastery in Book 5, the Ronin can dismiss the religion as a short-lived fad that will die out sooner rater than later.
• Karma Meter: It is measured as attunement to your spirit. It's a game mechanic which is mostly to show how well you are playing into your character's personality and picking out combat choices. There are also a couple moments where you can succeed or fail certain things depending on your attunement, but these are rare. As an added level of detail, you cannot access your attunement menu while the Ronin is using the Jigoku Itto-Ryu, as one of the main parts of it is that in order to use it, a wielder must "forget oneself".
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Your companions ask you for theories about what's happening on the Baron's island. If you choose to say that you are in a never-ending dream of yours, your companions rebuke you for being so self-centered.
  Ronin: "Guess I was just used to being the protagonist."
  • In Book 1, Hatch does this a couple times with common RPG terms. After he is incapacitated after attempting to intimidate Shiroyama by pretending to be a Shugenja, he claims to have been "low on mana". Also, directly before the Ronin's showdown with Shiroyama, Hatch says that the "boss battle" is coming up. This may be an example of Early-Installment Weirdness, as Devon Connell only rarely breaks immersion in the series.
• Lotus-Eater Machine: The Baron's mansion hypnotizes its occupants.
• The Masochism Tango: If the Ronin rekindles their relationship with Jun/Junko, it bounces between Slap-Slap-Kiss, Destructo-Nookie, and Romanticized Abuse.
• Masquerade Ball: The Ronin and Jun/Junko wear masks with their spirit animals to the New Year's Eve ball where they are tasked with finding the third student. The ball ends up being a cross between a Den of Iniquity and A Fête Worse than Death where the attendees smoke opium, engage in BDSM fetishes, bet on Gladiator Games, and children are sacrificed by Ichiro in the name of the Jigoku.
• Meaningful Echo:
  • In the climax of the first book, during the protagonist's Journey to the Center of the Mind, they will be asked questions they answered earlier in the game (such as "what would you do if you had no fear"). Giving the same answer as before raises Attunement and helps them re-orient themselves.
  • In the climax of the second book, Toshi/Toshio asks the Protagonist questions to test how far under the Baron's spell they are.
• Memento MacGuffin: The Takeda and Uesugi family crest necklaces play a large part in the plot of Book 4. Jun/Junko finding their Uesugi necklace spurs them to (briefly) rejoin their family. The Takeda family crest necklace is significant to Kiyoshi and Ichiro, the latter of which is newly inspired to win the election and attain the Jigoku after receiving Gensai's/his father's necklace.
• More than Mind Control:
  • How the first spirit of greed operates; it weakens its targets with its Hypnotic Gaze, then offers them the thing they desire most. All its' servants are therefore in full control of their actions and thus at the best of their abilities. It will also attempt do to this to you and Hatch, successfully in the latter's case—whether it works on you or not depends on your Attunement.
  • The second demon has the ability to erase memories of those that agree, and fade the memories of those that haven't yet.
• Morton's Fork: Book 2 starts out with one - the player is told to hand over their sensei's sword, or Masashi(mi) dies. If they don't, Masami/shi's throat is slit to get rid of the distraction, but if they do, the same thing happens for "disrespecting Sensei's last gift". There's also one near the end - when the Baron shows Hatch the memory of your meeting with Momoko, Hatch will get angry at you no matter how you handled Momoko's love confession. If you accepted the confession, Hatch will be angry that you and Momoko had a tryst. If you didn't accept Momoko's love confession, Hatch will instead be angry on Momoko's behalf because you "tossed her aside".
• Never Learned to Read: The protagonist and Hatch, due to them being slum kids.
• No Party Like a Donner Party: Book 3 has (possibly, depending on what the player asks) the kitsune reveal that the Ronin had eaten other orphaned children after their hometown was destroyed. This is expanded upon in Book 4, where its revealed that the other orphans had been the Ronin's friends and some of them hadn't even been dead yet.
• One-Man Army: The player character if they unleash the Jigoku Itto-Ryo in the Yakuza den whereupon they proceed to massacre everyone and anyone standing between them and the Big Bad.
• Pacifist Run: Defied. At one point, there's a fake option regarding whether to kill a fish, but if you refuse, the game says that the choice is there to warn you that there will be violence and killing in the game and that you'll be partaking in it. You must kill the fish or end the game.
• Phallic Weapon: A perverted Ronin occasionally uses their sword as a phallic metaphor. In Book 2, the Ronin can stroke Jun/Junko's sword in a way to tease Toshio/Toshie that makes them blush.
  • Played for Laughs in Book 4 when the Ronin and Ichiro compare swords. The Ronin comments on their lengths and describes plunging their sword into Shatao.
• Red String of Fate: A literal version of the akai ito shows up in Book 4. Jun/Junko has a spell cast that binds the ronin to them through a red string tied to their neck and Jun/Junko's arm.
• Romance Sidequest: The groundwork has been laid (see below), but none are going to be introduced until the second book.
• Safe Word: As kids, the MC and Jun/Junko have a safe word (you can choose whether it's daikon, shiitake, or wasabi) for whenever their roughhousing gets too rough. As adults, the MC uses this same word to rebuff Jun/Junko's sexual advances.
• Sanity Slippage: In Book 2, Toshi/Toshio becomes increasingly distraught and dishevelled over the course of the final act, even clawing at their own arms. It's actually an attempt to keep their sanity.
• A Scar to Remember: After getting the upper hand on the Ronin during their fight in Raijingu dojo, Jun/Junko carves their name into the Ronin's stomach to signify that the Ronin belongs to them.
• Sex with the Ex: This is an option in Book 4 if the Ronin rekindles their relationship with Jun/Junko.
• Sexy Cat Person: A few scantily clad cat women are at the Masquerade Ball the MC and Jun/Junko attend.
• Ship Tease: There aren't any full-blown romance arcs yet, but the player can flirt with any of their companions if they match their sexual orientation. They're also visibly Distracted by the Sexy at the vision of Masashi/Masami as an adult.
• Shipper on Deck: When Masashi/Masami picks up on Hatch's feelings for Momoko, they demand that the Protagonist help them hook up. Toshi/Toshio is less supportive.
• Shout-Out:
  • Several of the characters are expies of the early Rurouni Kenshin cast although the story is original and many have quirks that differentiate them from their inspirations. Specifically we have a stoic ninja with a strong devotion to a goal (Toshio(e)/Aoshi), a street fighter (Hatch/Sanosuke), a Tsundere (Masashi(mi)/Kaoru), and a beautiful doctor that made opium against her will (Momoko/Megumi).
  • The Jigoku Itto Ryu functions similarly to the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception from Tsukihime.
  • The final act of Book Two opens with a shout-out to Fantasy Island.
  • Toshi and the Protagonist's investigation of the murder at the beginning of Book Three contains a number of nods to Sherlock Holmes — particularly if the protagonist shows skill at deduction and investigation.
  • In Book Four, while on a drunken rant Bashō references the famous "You can't handle the truth!" line from A Few Good Men.
• Skewed Priorities: Catch Masashi/Masami dinner with your bare hands, and their immediate response is asking how you could just kill a 100-year-old koi fish like that.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: The series seems to lean slightly towards cynicism so far, although it's not complete yet. This is also the dynamic between the protagonist and their charge, with the protagonist being a weary and cynical Rōnin and the charge an idealistic and naïve aristocrat.
• Spirit Advisor: The protagonist eventually gains one in the form of a totem animal.
• Stealth Pun: The Baron is described as being as an attractive but middle-aged man. He's also a silver kitsune. So one could say he's a Silver Fox.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: Jun/Junko has yellow irises due to having succumbed to the Jigoku Itto Ryu. The protagonist gets them too if they succumb as well.
• Take My Hand!: The Ronin grabs Jun/Junko's hand to pull them away from Ichiro and through the portal out of hell. Even though they lose their grip, the Red String of Fate still holds the Ronin and Jun/Junko together. It eventually leads to Cut the Safety Rope when Jun/Junko cuts off their own arm so that you can save yourself.
• Use Your Head: Hatch, and quite effectively at that. The Ronin is fond of headbutts as well.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: The final fate of those who practice Jigoku Itto Ryu swordsmanship. Only a handful can wield it without succumbing to madness.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: A Lampshade is hung by the protagonist. If Hatch has the reflexes and coordination to catch an axe with his bare hands, why does he not simply dodge it instead? The answer boils down to that not adhering to the Rule of Cool.