Grand Strategy Title; Nobunaga's Ambition: Sphere Of Influence – Ascension, Pre-Order Bonuses Announced

That Nobunaga sure was a busy fellow. Uniting the warring states, taking down the Tokugawa shogunate and arguably playing a large part in the downfall of the thing that made his country (and all the games about him) cool; the Samurai. But when he wasn’t conquering, we’re pretty sure that old Nobu’ liked to kick back and play some grand strategy games. Come on, what else would a country-conquering general do with his spare time? (there was no Farmville in those days). For anyone like our Japan-uniting buddy, you may find your favourite genre has been neglected on console. Here comes Nobunaga’s Ambition: Sphere Of Influence – Ascension (say it three times fast) to save your day! Check out the in-depth warfare and strategy trailer above, and read on below for the details on the recent pre-order bonus announcement.
With it’s October 25th release date just over a month away, Nobunaga’s Ambition: SOI-A is currently leading the line for Koei Tecmo – especially with the release dates of Berserk and Nioh as yet unconfirmed. The title is the latest in a long line of grand strategy titles, dating back to that ancient time known only as ‘BP’ (Before PlayStation). If you play grand strategy on console at all, chances are you’ve played one of these games. Then again, chances are if you play exclusively on console, you may not even know what the ‘grand strategy’ genre is. That’s fine – in a genre that was, in fact, started by a Nobunaga’s Ambition game, the best known franchise currently standing is probably the Total War series; and that’s strictly PC only.
The genre combines a deep layer of turn-based political strategy; forming alliances, building infrastructure, recruiting vassals and so on, with player controlled large-scale military engagements making up the other half of the gameplay. Nobunaga’s Ambition places you in the role of a ‘Retainer’ (think minor political figure) and tasks you with rising through the ranks of Nobunaga’s Army all the way to ‘Daimyo’ (more important political-type person), gaining more decision making power and control of more troops on the way.
Last week; Koei Tecmo showed off the game’s ‘Officer play’ as seen in the trailer above, confirmed new ‘siege’ and ‘naval’ battle types will be in the game, and revealed that players who pre-order the game from Amazon, Best buy, EB Canada or Gamestop, will receive a CG character art set featuring 30 characters, as well as the ‘William Adams’ and ‘Megohime’ officer data – which unlocks these characters for use in the main game. Check out our gallery below for some artful character images.
Nobunaga’s Ambition: Sphere Of Influence – Ascension is due for release on October 25th. The game is currently available to pre-order from a variety of retailers; Amazon UK is currently listing the game for £49.99 (at the time of writing). For all the latest news as we get it in the run-up to release, keep with Pure PlayStation. Are you excited to see the grandest strategy of all return to consoles? Do you (like us) love any game that covers Edo period Japan? Or are you turned off by the very words; ‘turn-based? Let us know in the comments below!