CyberConnect2 is a development team that for some years has been producing video games inspired by manga and anime most appreciated by fans and by those who buy them now daily.
After Asura’s Wrath, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm and the brief parenthesis with Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, the Japanese studio’s title park is also added Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba: The Hinokami Chronicles, a new tie-in inspired by the hit manga written and drawn by Koyoharu Gotouge, the famous author of the anime series currently streaming on Netflix. This is the first video game ever that traces the adventures of the first season and the Mugen Train, the animated film released last July also in Italy.
For those who have never heard of it, Demon Slayer deals with the story of Tanjiro Kamado, a young mountaineer who lives with his mother and brothers away from civilization during the Taishȏ period, a historical moment that made Japan flourish again.
Returning home after selling coal, the young man finds his family brutally slaughtered except for his sister Nezuko, who is transformed into a demon by a mysterious enemy. Unlike these brutal and merciless beings, the girl has retained a shred of humanity that pushes her to protect her brother from any threat, even from the demons themselves.
In fact, by accessing the story mode, we relive the most iconic moments of the series through fights and cutscenes, which we unlock as we advance in the game. Selecting them from the various branches that intertwine the experience, we lived the story from the training of Tanjiro to the decisive confrontation with the first most powerful enemies.
Understanding the prologue and the part dedicated to the Mugen Train we are talking about eight chapters with obvious structural deficiencies that not only involve the playful part but also the narrative one, broken by moments of tiredness ranging from clashes with the katana to uninspired minigames, as well as from exploratory phases in which the character uses the sense of smell to follow the scent of demons, just like in the manga.
Although the story is exciting, the rest of the experience follows a narrative rhythm that does not do justice to the world created by Koyoharu Gotouge, proposing an adventure without crossroads and without bite in an endless corridor of events certainly faithful to the nature of the work but told too hastily.
Forget a long-lived experience: the story mode can be concluded in a matter of hours, unless you want to rediscover the whole story through the memories to unlock the rewards, thus participating in a series of battles against special opponents that add nothing particularly to experience. In that case, the longevity is around eight hours, very few considering the vastness of the original material.
This is bad news for anyone hoping to be faced with a job that deals with all events with the right amount of variety. Having reached the sixth and seventh chapters, to switch off, we have dedicated ourselves to some minigames that we have completed in a short time anyway.
Demon Slayer is a three-dimensional fighting game with a well-built combat system, albeit simplified to be accessible even to newcomers to the genre. From the main story, do not expect something sparkling, net of a spectacularity that entertains and amuses precisely because it is taken from the original material. We will be able to attack, dodge, use the skills of kata and escape enemy blows while avoiding the fearsome demonic attacks of our opponents.
And how not to mention the various quicktime events that make the fights even more pressing, as if we were right inside the anime? They are pleasant and fun, as well as beautiful to look at. The combat system is directly inspired by the animations of the series, and when we combine the right attacks we will unlock ecstatic memories, which will show the past of our characters.
During the story mode we will not only use Tanjiro but we will also take on the role of Nezuko, Inosuke and Zenitsu Agatsuma, which we will unlock immediately after the conclusion of each chapter, even if the roster will consist of only eighteen characters among which there will be no demons . CyberConnect2 has also cast versions with skins of “Kimetsu Academy”, the spin-off in which the characters are students of a Japanese high school, but we are not sure that this is enough to increase the appeal of the package.
Unfortunately, the exploration is weak and uninspired. We moved into small maps by collecting Kimetsu Points and Shards of Memories, useful for acquiring various collectibles in the main menu. The most severe criticisms must be addressed to the lack of environmental interactivity, to the fact that you go from one point to another and do nothing but this for most of the time without finding a real element of involvement except in the sections dedicated to cutscene.
The nerve center of the experience is the battle mode. Each character will have light combos, special attacks, holds and final techniques even in multiplayer. By filling the bar of momentum, we will finally be able to enhance attacks and speed, using the fury to increase the power of the characters.
Net of structural criticalities, Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba: The Hinokami Chronicles is actually a real pleasure for the eyes. Thanks to a fascinating artistic direction, we visited the iconic places of manga and anime such as Mount Natagumo, the Asakusa district and the fascinating Villa delle Farfalle, a place where our heroes have refreshed themselves.
We played Demon Slayer Kimetus no Yaiba: The Hinokami Chronicles on PlayStation 4 and discovered that the title, victim of some interpenetration, runs at thirty frames per second. We didn’t find any bugs, other than some CGI shots during the most hectic moments, but this is a typical tradition in the developer’s portfolio.
Ultimately, CyberConnect2 largely limited a title that would have deserved more luck and more care given the material to draw from. The launch price is set at 69.99 euros, a market value much too high for a production poor in content on which at the same time hovers a certain aura of mystery due to the few certainties on the DLC and future updates, currently necessary for offer enthusiasts and newbies a better defined experience. But if you’re looking for a pure and simple video game featuring Demon Slayer, The Hinokami Chronicles might be for you.
6
/ 10
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