Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time is not the game the show deserved, but it is a game that understands what the show was. Soleil built a 2020 action-adventure around Genndy Tartakovsky’s samurai, published it under Adult Swim Games, and shipped it on August 21, 2020, for PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and through Apple Arcade on iOS and macOS. The original voice cast returned. Tartakovsky confirmed the story is canon, an alternate scenario folded into the finale of the fifth season.
That is a serious set of credentials for a licensed beat ’em up. The finished thing mostly earns them, then trips over its own feet.
Trailer, via Adult Swim.
A Timeless Realm Built From Old Episodes
Aku, Jack’s archenemy and the demon responsible for throwing him forward in time, gets one last shot at stopping him. As Ashi warps herself and Jack back to his proper era, Aku fires a laser through the time portal and diverts Jack into a “timeless realm” with no past and no future. It is a clever excuse to revisit the greatest hits, and the game uses it.
Jack lands first in the mines where he once helped Sir Rothchild’s dog archaeologists hold off Aku’s beetle drones. Then a swamp full of robot alligators, where he finds the Scotsman wearing a mind-controlling pendant stamped with Aku’s face. Free the Scotsman, break the pendant, move on. The Castle of Boon follows, then a mountain climb past bounty hunters to a giant Binary Beetle, then the Cave of the Ancient and a second fight with the Ancient King, who is also wearing a pendant.
The structure is a tour, and the tour is the point.
Nine Levels, Plenty of Weapons, One Katana
Combat is where Battle Through Time makes its argument. Jack carries melee and ranged weapons, more than a dozen of them, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Most have limited durability. Only the magic katana and Jack’s bare fists never break, which quietly forces the player back to the sword again and again.
Melee combos mix light and heavy attacks after breaking or dodging around an enemy’s block. A kiai attack lands heavy damage once Jack builds enough strength. Ranged options cover throwing weapons, archery gear and firearms, all limited by ammunition or durability, with the bow allowing more precise aim. Blocking and dodging keep Jack alive.
Skill tree upgrades are bought with items collected in the environments. Bosses appear at the end of levels and sometimes inside them.
The Camera Problem
Levels run along mostly linear paths with occasional side routes hiding secrets and pickups. That is fine. The 2.5D sections are not. In some levels the camera shifts so Jack can only move forward or backward, and the game’s combat instincts do not survive the change.
Here is how the two halves of the game compare.
| Element | Standard 3D levels | 2.5D sections |
|---|---|---|
| Movement | Free movement along linear paths with side routes | Forward or backward only |
| Camera | Third person | Fixed, restricted axis |
| Combat | Full melee and ranged options | Constrained by the limited plane |
| Exploration | Secrets and pickups on branching paths | Effectively none |
The restriction strips out the dodging and spacing that make the fights work. It reads as a nod to the show’s flat, graphic compositions. It plays as a cage.
The Scotsman, Scaramouche and the Rest
The cast is the strongest card. The Scotsman, Scaramouche and Sir Rothchild all appear, voiced by the actors who played them on television. Teaming with allies from the series and fighting familiar enemies is the promise, and the game keeps it.
Fans of the show will recognize the mines, the swamp, the Castle of Boon and the Cave of the Ancient as real locations from real episodes, not generic fantasy backdrops. That fidelity matters more than any single mechanic.
What the Timeless Realm Gets Wrong
The problem is that Battle Through Time is a good licensed game and a merely adequate action game. Weapon durability pushes players toward the katana, which undercuts the pitch of a large weapon roster — the choice is often made for you. The skill tree adds numbers without changing how Jack feels to control.
Boss fights lean on the same pendants and the same pattern: find the Aku artifact, destroy it, free the ally. It works the first time. By the Ancient King it is a formula.
The 2.5D stretches remain the clearest failure. A game built on dodging and combo timing cannot afford to lock the player onto a rail, and Battle Through Time does it repeatedly. Those sections are short. They are also where the game stops being fun.
None of this is fatal. The levels move, the combat has weight, and the story earns its place in the canon rather than feeling bolted on. Tartakovsky’s blessing is not a marketing line here — the game genuinely threads itself into the finale instead of around it.
The Verdict on Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time
Battle Through Time is a faithful, uneven tribute. It respects the source material, restores the original cast, and builds its nine levels from moments fans actually remember. It also leans on a repetitive boss structure, lets durability flatten its own weapon variety, and stumbles every time the camera shifts to 2.5D.
The published critical aggregate sits at 6.7 out of 10 across six outlets. That feels right. This is a game for people who loved the series and want one more run through Aku’s future with Jack, and for them it delivers. For everyone else, it is a competent hack-and-slash with a licensed coat of paint and a few ideas it cannot quite execute.
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