It shares similarities with The King of Fighters XIV and SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy.

By pressing special combinations, the character can carry out captures, counterattacks, interceptions and evasions.

After gaining a full scale, the player can activate the rage mode, which increases the character's strength for a while and opens up the opportunity to inflict a disarming blow to the opponent.

Shizuka Gozen, the deceased spirit of a young woman who is possessed and trapped in Yomi, (labeled Eternity in the game itself) threatens to destroy Japan.

Warriors from all across Japan and beyond the ocean, driven by their own needs and desires, converge to investigate these evil forces and vanquish them.

Samurai Shodown features a base roster of 16 playable characters, with extra ones available as paid and free downloadable content.

[5][23] This was realized with guest characters from Tencent (which would later acquiring Athlon's parent company Leyou), Ubisoft, and Arc System Works-produced games.

[27][28] The enhanced version for Xbox Series X/S was revealed during Tokyo Game Show 2020 for a Q4 2020 launch.

[29] It released on March 16, 2021, and was published by Deep Silver (part of Embracer Group's Koch Media).

Samurai Shodown has received generally favorable reviews, the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch versions earning a Metacritic score of 81, 78, 76, and 75 respectively.

"[44] The Mercury News called the game a solid revamp for the series, and noted that SNK upgraded the visuals and was as challenging as ever.

[43] The PlayStation 4 version was the fourth bestselling game in Japan during its first week of release, selling 16,662 copies.