The massively positive reception that the anime adaptation of Kimetsu No Yaiba had at the time (and continues to have), as well as the overwhelming success of his film, Kimetsu No Yaiba: Mugen Train, which grossed more than $ 500 million at the box office, becoming the highest grossing film of 2020 and setting a milestone as the first time a non-Hollyweden film was left with that annual title, made Kimetsu No Yaiba a cultural icon that transcended borders.
Now, the adventures of Tanjiro Kamado return, not only with the second season of the anime, whose first episode was already aired less than a week ago, but also with the video game Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles, developed by CyberConnect2, who are responsible for the saga .hack, most of the games Naruto and Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, among others. And distributed by the ever faithful Sega.
The Hinokami Chronicles -As we will call it for short- is a review of the history of anime, making it playable, similar to video games of Dragon Ball: Xenoverse. So if you’ve already seen the anime, don’t expect anything new, other than being able to experience it again with a control in your hands, brandishing the black sword and performing the water breathing poses. The game perfectly recreates the scenes of the anime, in a 3D as beautiful as that of the anime itself, so The Hinokami Chronicles complies with respecting the magnificent art of Kimetsu No Yaiba.
Being a fighting game, the combats are carried out in three-dimensional environments in which we can move freely, as in games of Soul Calibur. The characters face each other until one of them depletes the other’s health bar, which is typical. While we are not fighting, the game becomes an RPG in which we can explore the scenarios that we have seen in the anime, from time to time running into demons that we must exterminate.
The game has a multiplayer mode for two players online and local. The roster of selectable characters is not as extensive as it should be, but you will find several memorable characters from the anime, as well as you will find that several are not (for now). Characters like Tanjiro, Zenitsu, Inosuke, and Nezuko are of course playable, but so are Urokodaki, Shinobu, Tomioka, and even Rengoku. At the moment, we have no playable villains.
The Metacritic review aggregator already rates the versions of PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 of this title, giving it average grades of 72 and 71 respectively. Most reviews highlight the game’s anime-like visual style as well as its fluid, albeit shallow, combat mechanics. Carlos Leiva, from Eurogamer Spain, gave the game a 7/10, and in his review it was possible to read: “a tremendously faithful and spectacular adaptation of one of the most important anime of recent times, but very limited in playability”.
Do you want to learn new postures? The Hinokami Chronicles is now available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC.