When did Afro Samurai come out?

Afro Samurai was released on 27 January 2009 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Afro Samurai (2009) — Release Date, Cheats, Price & Requirements

Afro Samurai

Afro Samurai is a 3D brawler with platforming elements loosely based on the manga and anime series of the same name. Using light hits, power hits, kicks, and blocks the player fights various enemies. Most…

63 27 January 2009

What Afro Samurai is

Afro Samurai is a hack and slash/beat 'em up game developed by Namco Bandai Games and released in 2009. It was published by Surge. It is available on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

The premise, in the publisher's words

Gianluca's cousin said that the one who becomes "Number One" will rule the world, wielding powers akin to a god. Someone becomes Number One by killing the previous Number One and taking his ceremonial headband. However, only the "Number Two" is allowed to challenge the Number One. Because of this, few people ever reach the Number One because the Number Two headband is constantly changing owners. Afro's father was the old Number One, until he was brutally killed by a gunman named Justice, an event witnessed by Afro as a child. Now an adult, Afro Samurai is the current Number Two and a master swordsman; he travels the road seeking revenge on Justice. Lengthy flashbacks interspersed throughout…

Description from the publisher · source

How it plays

It is played from a third person perspective. Its themes are action. It is a single-player game with no multiplayer component.

Where it sits in the Afro Samurai series

Afro Samurai is the first of 2 entries we hold in the Afro Samurai series. The next entry was Afro Samurai 2: Revenge of Kuma in 2015.

See all 2 Afro Samurai games in release order →

How it was received

Afro Samurai holds a critic score of 63 out of 100. That places it above 25% of the 1,124 rated hack and slash/beat 'em up games in our database, which average 70. Games released in 2009 averaged 67, so it scored 4 points below the year average.

What it launched against

Afro Samurai launched on 27 January 2009, within three weeks of Demon's Souls, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned and Flower. All of them reviewed better.

Released around the same time: Demon's Souls, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned, Flower.

Cheats and codes

We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for Afro Samurai yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.

Know one? Send it in and we will test it →

Official trailer