Possibly obscurity, an odd one for sure to pull off the shelf by happenstance. Piqued my interest in content alone, where I’ve always had a penchant for all things ninjitsu, stealth being the one trait I do not and cannot attain in physical stature so of course, it's what I aspire to. Though, more recently a renewed interest in the benign childhood whims and an urge for something new in my Sixaxis bare palms yearning for that vibration. Originally I purchased this alongside one of the many Assassins famed games. As good as they are, they lack all things that truly offer this game space to shine. Amidst the chaos of hacking and slashing, this game felt clumsy, awkward, and unforgiving. But 2 months after a backburning cooldown with reflexes stopped, I attempted to pick up where I had left off into this Gem, luckily just at the start of things to flow, before any bridges were truly crossed initially and I relearned how to play responsively.Once that threshold crossed, the world inside this box began to bloom. Slow at first as things tend to, but before too long I'm finding myself stopped by a waterfall or cloudy hillside, or walking slowly through the woods to find a possible flower and just to see what all there is unfolding to me. Fireflies and ancient spirits gilding by, souls weigh the mist of war-torn Japan. stark white ethereal, oceans on stone translucent doe floating in a backdrop of the serene inner calm this game begs. Though, seemingly, this game is about killing -- it isn’t. It is truly about sacrificing and understanding how precious each moment is, the true cost that a person can bear. You are not savagely anything, but rather a sentinel of persistence, endurance for Tsisiham to feel the powerful strength that cannot be broken because he is not fighting. He is peacing. And if one is not fighting, then there is no fight, where if one is peaceful there will always be peace.‘Posits come, as I am sure they must, for a samurai. It is not my pain that is savaging the world. And it is not my pain that will fight it. But instead, a loving endurance to stand and risk everything for what is truly sacred. I find myself growing and learning alongside Jin as he grows from a young-hearted ready for revenge fighter, to an enduring heart calm at peace, who accepts that it is easy to fight bloodthirsty into a battle you know you cannot win. But it is not the ease of things that define us. And it is not for us to spare ourselves the hardship of becoming what we must nor deafening the struggle with which we must survive. And it is not anyone else choices that hurt me. They take a life, that is on them to take that life and cannot blame righteously anyone, even if it is their own. If I cannot save someone it isn’t my blade hurting them nor my hurt to endure.Each character has their own weakness and while everyone has their faults that does not “make everyone a murderer.” And as we shadow Jin on this self-fulfilling journey toward inner peace we see just how much the world can try to burden him, blaming everything that goes wrong on him, their suffering, torment, betrayal, sacrifice, and anger on him, while he must battle the quiet from his own mind where, in silence, his sword is what screams.