Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven

Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven(known as Tenchu 3 (天誅 参) in Japan) is a 2004 Stealth video game by K2 LLC., for the PlayStation 2, and Xbox under the title Tenchu: Return From Darkness (天誅～回帰ノ章～). It is the third game in the Tenchu series, and takes place a year after the events of Tenchu: Stealth Assassins.

Plot
After Mei-Oh was defeated in Tenchu: Stealth Assassins, Rikimaru was left in Mei-Oh's fortress carrying a giant boulder to provide an escape route for Ayame and Kiku. He appears to be trapped and left for dead. Ayame stuck Rikimaru's sword, "Izayoi" (he is seen drawing this sword in the opening CG of Wrath of Heaven) in snow as a monument for her fellow ninja, now considered dead. A year later, Rikimaru reports to Lord Gohda that he has managed to survive this near-death experience; unbeknownst to them, the real Rikimaru is trapped in the 20th century trying to find a way back to their time.

The game's plot plays differently depending on the character you play, but connects at certain points.

The game's story revolves mainly in Rikimaru's return and the struggle for the Three Jewels, which are said to give power to those who possess them. These are the Jewels of Heaven, Earth, and Virtue. Tenrai, an evil warlock who wants to get his hands on them, commands a band of his men to take the Jewels from whoever possesses them. However, upon encountering Rikimaru, he seems interested in his power and attempts convincing him to join his men. Rikimaru refuse, and he and Ayame face each one of them. One of the men in Tenrai's arsenal is Onikage, who only serves him to pursue his plan of reviving Mei-Oh (his former master) and Tatsumaru (the former leader of the Azuma ninja clan whom Tenrai revived.) Rikimaru and Ayame follow Tenrai into his fortress to stop him from destroying the world using the power gained from two of the Jewels. If he can be defeated, peace will be returned to Gohda's land.

Characters
This section includes different characters in Wrath of Heaven and Return from Darkness.

Rikimaru
Rikimaru (力丸) is a physically strong and powerful ninja. Despite of being reported as "missing" following the events of Tenchu: Stealth Assassins, he later reveals and surprised Lord Gohda with his return although technically he is only a shadow of the real Rikimaru who traveled without their notice. While the real Rikimaru is still trying to find a way to return to his time, he is trapped in the 20th century. He uses his one-hand sword "Izayoi"(Lit. 17:th moon) as his weapon and uses it mainly in his stealth kills.

Ayame
Ayame (彩女) is an agile and acrobatic kunoichi. She is the remaining Azuma ninja in the care of Lord Gohda with Rikimaru's disappearance. She is tasked to search for Rikimaru's body following the events of Tenchu: Stealth Assassins. She later paired up with the real Rikimaru when she encountered Onikage in the Amagai Castle. She uses a pair of short swords(tantō) as her weapon and kills enemies with acrobatic stealth moves.

Tesshu
Tesshu Fujioka (鉄舟藤岡) is a new character introduced in Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven. A village doctor by day and an assassin by night; however, he is not a ninja and is not serving under Lord Gohda but instead, he serves in an underground organization of assassins led by Zennosuke, his boss. He also had a short rivalry with Rikimaru which yet to be concluded. He uses brute force, and pure strength in battle and uses his fists as his weapons. Although he possess acupuncture needles, he only uses them for killing enemies in stealth.

Enemies

 * Nasu, an evil statesman who is very interested in buying innocent young women who are being kidnapped and sold by his trading partner Tokubei Echigoya. He visited the renovated Echigoya Estate for a deal; only to be faced by the Azuma ninjas and be killed.


 * Tajima, a bodyguard working for Tokubei Echigoya who fights drunk with a Katana and a three-barreled rifle. Aside from working for Echigoya, nothing else was learned from him because he dies on his first encounter with the Azuma.


 * Hamada, one of Lord Gohda's men. Under Tenrai's control, he became a traitor to Lord Gohda with the goal of stealing the Jewel of Virtue.


 * Jinnai, they are the twin Jinnai Ukyo and Sakyo, leaders of a particular organization against Tesshu's master, Zennosuke. Tesshu killed both of them in revenge of his boss whom he is so attached to.


 * Tenrai's Lords of Darkness Tenrai's men consists of people he summoned and some he revived. They are as follows:


 * Dr. Kimaira, a psychotic scientist-inventor who is in charge of the mechanism of Amagai Castle, north of the Ronin village. He carries a giant puppet whom he calls "Maihime" which he invented for battle.


 * Ganda, one of Tenrai's Lords of Darkness whom you encounter at the Great Buddha temple. He will be fought alone when playing as Ayame but he is joined by Kagura when playing as Tesshu.


 * Hyakubake, an impersonator who exactly copied Ayame in Rikimaru's story and vice versa. He was battled and killed when he slipped through his words while speaking to Rikimaru. He doesn't fight on his true appearance.


 * Kagura, an evil Sorceress who never fights alone. When playing as Rikimaru, you encounter her together with Ganda and when playing as Ayame, you encounter her together with a kitsune (spirit fox), most likely summoned. She also summons paper ghosts to disrupt Rikimaru and Ayame on their mission.


 * Onikage, a recurring villain from previous Tenchu games. A mysterious demon-ninja who faithfully serves Mei-Oh, King of Hell and is one of the main antagonist in the game. He kills Echigoya Tokubei to get the Jewel of Earth and was also summoned by Tenrai to stop Rikimaru and Ayame from getting to his fortress.


 * Tatsumaru, the late leader of the Azuma Ninja Clan. He was revived by Tenrai because he knew of his excellent skills. Though he was forced to battle Rikimaru and Ayame, he turned for the good after each fight and even helping them. He ended his life in Tenrai's Fortress by his will.


 * Tenrai, an evil Warlock who is the main antagonist of the game. He set-up fortress near Gohda's lands to make his plans easier to execute. He plans on gathering the Three Jewels with the aid of his "Lords of Darkness". Achieving two of the Jewels, he transforms into his stronger form while fighting Rikimaru or Ayame.


 * Mr. D CEO, a special boss who is only encountered in Rikimaru's special mission titled, "Through the Portal". An evil company-CEO who is trying to spread a disease and selling the 'only' medicine that can cure it in very expensive prices thus, gaining high profit. When Mei-Oh was defeated, Rikimaru followed him into the portal and ended up at this corporation that makes the disease in the present day period. He was later encountered by Rikimaru and was able to stop his evil plan. Rikimaru was then transported back into the 16th century.

New Characters
New characters who were introduced in Tenchu: Return from Darkness.


 * Tadokoro Kanbe, he was a one of Lord Gohda's vassals. He tried to lead a rebellion against Gohda.


 * Mifuyu Tadokoro, daughter of Tadokoro Kanbe. She killed her father when she discovered that Tadokoro is planning a rebellion against Gohda.


 * Yuge, a vassal of Tadokoro. Jinnai Sakyo convinced him to lead an attack on Gohda Castle.

Tenchu San: Portable
From Software announced plans via Famitsu that they were porting Tenchu 3 to the PlayStation Portable. Several features absent from the original PS2 version, such as dragging bodies out of sight, will be added. Details are scarce, but according to several images and details, the original game will be largely intact with several new features such as new Characters and Missions in Return from Darkness.

Mobile
A mobile version of Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven was released on April 2, 2005 featuring 2D graphics and MIDI sound. The game's story is broken into three episodes with this being the first (the latter are yet to be announced). Despite being a Wrath of Heaven game, Ayame is the only available character to play as. GameSpot critiqued the game with a positive response on the graphics in which even in 2D, gives the game a feeling of depth although included it in "The Bad". The sounds however, were negatively viewed due to mobile restrictions of game sounds. GameSpot gave the game a score of 7.7/10.

Merchandise
Action figures of the characters Rikimaru and Ayame were manufactured and released by Kotobukiya in mid September 2003. Both figures are made of PVC and were sculpted after their appearances in Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven by Keiji Iwakure. Although categorized as action figures, these only feature movable wrist joints. The Rikimaru figure heights 105mm while the Ayame figure heights approximately 125mm.