Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles (Nintendo Switch)

Product Information

Follow the story from Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Tanjiro Kamado, Unwavering Resolve Arc—where Tanjiro joins the Demon Slayer Corps— to Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train featuring the Flame Hashira, Kyojuro Rengoku! There are certain franchises that just seem like they were destined to become fighting games, especially when they have become as strikingly popular as Demon Slayer has in the last few years with its many characters and compelling story. After all, large casts of characters with unique designs who already spend a ton of their time fighting are a naturally great fit for pitting against one another. Romano, Sal (March 29, 2023). "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles shipments and digital sales top three million". Gematsu . Retrieved March 31, 2023.

Long, fully-voiced, cutscenes take up the majority of the eight-chapter story mode, with the rest being split between two types of gameplay and a few minigames. The first type of gameplay you’ll encounter is the actual fighting. The combat, which takes place in 360-degree arenas, is fast-paced and extremely fun, not to mention visually striking, and the boss battles in particular have a couple extra features thrown in that, for the most part, makes them extremely satisfying to play. Sheehan, Gavin (November 7, 2021). "Rui & Akaza Join Versus Mode In Demon Slayer -Kimetsu No Yaiba-". Bleeding Cool . Retrieved February 4, 2022. Borger, Will (October 13, 2021). "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles Review". IGN . Retrieved October 31, 2021.Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba games announced for PS4, iOS and Android [Update 2]". Gematsu. March 12, 2020 . Retrieved June 24, 2021. Demon Slayer is one of the hottest franchises in the world right now, and a fighting game featuring its memorable cast seemed only natural, and I’ve found that the actual fighting in The Hinokami Chronicles does indeed feel incredibly natural. It’s just that Demon Slayer also has a pretty memorable story, though unlike the fighting and cast of characters, the story aspects of The Hinokami Chronicles, while well-told, really bog it down. The story fights, especially boss battles, are still incredibly enjoyable, but the lengthy cutscenes and snail-paced exploration phases used to deliver the rest of story content feel like an attempt to lengthen the story mode just for the sake of padding out the game. Abhilash (October 20, 2021). "Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba The Hinokami Chronicles Unreal Engine (UE) 4 Crashing, Fatal Error & Freezing issues: How to fix it?ers take center stage at The Game Awards 2021". Digi Statement . Retrieved January 3, 2022.

Thrilling Boss Battles – Action and drama reach their peak in specially designed battles against powerful demons that will test Tanjiro’s mettle. Ramsey, Robert (October 13, 2021). "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles Review (PS5)". Push Square . Retrieved October 31, 2021. Relive memorable moments from the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba anime through the eyes of its protagonist, Tanjiro Kamado! The cast of characters available in The Hinokami Chronicles is fairly expansive – there are 24 playable fighters spanning both Demon Slayers and demons, including plenty of fan-favorites and a few surprising choices, with faithful recreations of their techniques. I was particularly impressed to find that even when characters share a Breathing Technique (the term for Demon Slayer’s different fighting styles), there are enough differentiations in their special abilities that they feel unique.Kimetsu Academy Summer Uniform Costumes (Kimetsu Academy Tanjiro Kamado, Kimetsu Academy Nezuko Kamado, Kimetsu Academy Zenitsu Agatsuma, Kimetsu Academy Inosuke Hashibira, Kimetsu Academy Giyu Tomioka) Telling a compelling story with those characters through a fighting game, on the other hand, is a pretty complex endeavor. A Journey of a Thousand Cuts In the game's announcement trailer, Demon Slayer characters can be seen moving along a game board, rolling dice, and engaging in various mini-games where the characters will have to confront some familiar enemies from the manga, run obstacle courses, draw, play memory games, among other activities, to earn points and defeat other players. The game features a visual aesthetic reminiscent of the drawing style of the Demon Slayer anime. If you’re not already a fan of Demon Slayer, and are interested in getting into the franchise for the first time, and either reading a few manga volumes or watching through a few dozen episodes of anime isn’t really your thing, then The Hinokami Chronicles is a fine place to start. The main story beats are all here, just at a slower pace than I feel a fighting game should offer. Alternatively, if you already love Demon Slayer and can look past a few hours of sluggish not-fighting to get to some really fun and flashy combat with your favorite characters, then this is definitely the game for you.

Hashimoto, Kazuma (October 7, 2021). "Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles Free Update to Add Akaza and Rui". Siliconera . Retrieved October 17, 2021. Unfortunately, playing against real people also highlights one of The Hinokami Chronicles’ shortcomings: its small roster. There are only 18 characters at launch, and only 12 of those are entirely unique – Tanjiro, Nezuko, Urokodaki, Makomo, Sabito, Zenitsu, Inosuke, Murata, Tomioka, Kocho, Rengoku, and Hinokami Tanjiro. The remaining six are the Academy versions of Tanjiro, Nezuko, Zenitsu, Inosuke, Kocho, and Tomioka. That’s unfortunate, especially when the Academy characters are essentially gags that play exactly the same as their normal version apart from having a different Ultimate Art. Romano, Sal (January 2, 2022). "CyberConnect2 to announce new game in February". Gematsu . Retrieved January 3, 2022. Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, Northern Ireland and the Scottish Highlands) may take longer to reach you.

Performance

Kimetsu Academy Summer Uniform Costumes for Tanjiro Kamado, Nezuko Kamado, Zenitsu Agatsuma, Inosuke Hashibira, and Giyu Tomioka. Understandably, the areas where The Hinokami Chronicles really shines are the combat and the cast of characters, which are usually the main draw of any fighting game. Combat is fast and flashy and feels very faithful to what I’d expected a Demon Slayer fighting game would feel like, without being too overwhelming. Vogel, Mitch (June 13, 2022). "Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles Review (Switch)". Nintendo Life . Retrieved June 22, 2022. The announcement of this title coincidentally follows the popular Demon Slayer fighting tournament. Considering this, it's possible that the franchise's fandom might have been anticipating the announcement of The Hinokami Chronicles 2, instead of a Mario Party-style board game.