Samurai Archery

Samurai Archery is a bow and arrow archery game set in feudal Japan, on kyudo's Way of the Bow. Draw the yumi, breathe out and loose. Read the wind, lob arrows over castle walls, shoot yabusame from a galloping horse and hold the gate against an oni charge, across sixty stages and six rival archers.

You begin at the dojo range with a plain bamboo bow and four arrows, and a senior who has never lost on his range. Beyond the dojo the road climbs to marks on high mountain ledges, runs down a riding track at full gallop, and ends at a burning castle and a shrine in the storm, where a dragon waits above it all.

Draw, breathe, loose

• Pull back to draw and aim with one finger. The aiming arc shows the flight.

• Hold through the sway and loose on the exhale for a clean release and more points.

• Clean releases build Zanshin and wake the spirit arrow.

• Real bow and arrow shooting: gravity, drag and the wind decide where every arrow lands.

• A long shot is followed all the way in, and the mark shakes when you strike it.

Five places, sixty stages

• The Dojo Range: the draw, the breath, the first wind and the first rival.

• The Mountain Field: long marks on high ledges, lobbed over walls in a wind off the peaks.

• The Riding Track: yabusame at the gallop, then targets that will not keep still.

• The Castle Siege: oni on the walls and at the gate, and the clock against you.

• The Dragon Shrine: lanterns, crows, gongs and storm, and the dragon above it all.

• Three stars on every stage, each one a goal of its own.

Rivals and bosses

• Six rival archers shoot the same marks in a duel. You take turns, and you watch each rival draw and loose his own arrow. Beat his total to pass.

• Kenta the dojo senior, Master Ishida, the Hermit, Tadamori the festival champion, the Oni Captain and the Guardian.

• An oni general at the castle gate and the storm dragon above the shrine, and neither falls to one arrow.

The armoury

• Win twenty-two pieces on the road: six yumi, eleven fletchings and five outfits.

• Every bow has its own hand: a steadier hold, a longer exhale, less wind, a quicker nock.

• Painted fletchings leave their own trail: crane mist, sakura petals, ember sparks, phoenix flame.

A daily mark and the samurai ranks

• A new daily stage every day, with a streak to keep.

• Every stage pays koban. Rise from Ashigaru through the samurai ranks to Daimyo, from novice to archery master.

• Lose a stage twice and the next try eases a little: a calmer wind, more time. The daily never eases.

The koban shop

• Supplies for a hard stage: Spirit Draught, Calm Tea and Hawk's Eye.

• Arrow trails and painted rival scrolls for your collection.

• Pay with koban earned in play, or buy outright. The Blood Moon and Foxfire trails and the Oni General's and Storm Dragon's scrolls are sold for money only.

• Patron of the Way: sixteen wallpapers from the game's paintings and your thanks in the credits.

For grown-ups

A samurai archery game made for adults. The paintings are dusk, fire and storm; oni fall with arrows in them and the strike throws red. Play it on your phone or tablet, upright or turned on its side.

Draw. Breathe. Loose.