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It’s a fortunate coincidence that just days before SEGA passed us a review code of Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles 2, I decided to continue watching the Demon Slayer anime. I stopped right after the Mugen Train arc in Season 2, so I jumped right into the Yoshiwara arc, which is coincidentally, also where the game starts.
Having no real love for Demon Slayer, I approached the game with a mixture of intrigue and apprehension. After all, we all know how most licensed games are mediocre at best. But CyberConnect2 were behind some of the best licensed titles in the past few years (the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm series, the .hack series, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot) so I had to cut them some slack.
Was that justified, or did CyberConnect2 screw up this time around?
What is Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles 2?
Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles 2 is a 3D fighter / action adventure title made by Aniplex and developed by CyberConnect2 and published by SEGA. It is available right now for the PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch consoles.
Our review copy was generously provided by SEGA! Thanks so much for the code!
Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles 2 might dabble in a few genres, but it is mainly a 3D fighter (in the vein of the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm games) at heart. You fight one on one in a wide, open areas
There’s a Story mode, a Versus mode (both Online and Offline), The Path of a Demon Slayer mode (which lets you fight in battles that lead up to the Yoshiwara arc) and Training Paths. The meat of the game is of course, the Story mode.
Here you follow Tanjiro and his comrades as they go about hunting down demons for the Demon Slayer Corps.
The upside to playing Story mode is that you get to control of the characters to move around in environments without fighting. From the red-light district of Yoshiwara, to the interiors of the brothels themselves…it’s a pretty cool look at the world.
Unfortunately, there’s nothing really noteworthy about these parts, other than you can gather collectibles and pick up Kimetsu Points, which are essential to unlock content.
For being something so integral to unlocks though, they’re doled out really sparingly.
In fact, if you’re loathe to participate in the online aspect of the game, the only way you can get them now is to replay Story mode stages. Needless to say, this is extremely boring and repetitive.
Why aren’t they given out as rewards for completing battles as well?
You do get Mastery points for the characters you use in battles though.
These unlock a multitude of content for the character you used (such as new specials, outfits or even titles) so you’re actually encouraged to play the field and level up as many characters as you can. There’s a sizeable cast to work on too, which helps with longevity.
Pretty much everybody that’s had a sizeable part in the story up to this point (except for Muzan Kibutsuj, who is coming as an update) is playable. The main cast (Tanjiro, Nezuko, Zenitsu and Inosuke) even have multiple versions of themselves as playable characters.
It makes for good numbers on paper, but in actuality, these alternate versions offer minimal moveset differences. It’s a bit of a disappointment but at least you get more characters to play with.
Gameplay mechanics for the battles are pretty basic. This isn’t a technical fighting game like Tekken or Street Fighter, and more of a button masher for the casuals.
You get one button for attack, another for skills, one for dodging and another one for jumping. The triggers control your Ultimate and Boost activation, while the bumpers handle blocking and calling in a support character attack/ interrupts/ tagging.
There aren’t any motions to memorize, just button commands and flashy special attacks. The Boost mechanic, parry and dodging allow for some technical gameplay, but there’s not much depth to the fighting engine overall.
That’s fine in this case.
Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles 2 isn’t pandering to the fighting game crowd. It’s mainly for the anime fans and casuals, so pick up and play gameplay isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The tag battles (demons can’t tag though) are fine though I wish that each character in a team had their own health meter à la Capcom’s Versus titles. Fights finish way too quickly (as you can decimate a ton of health with a string of combos) and the super meter builds up way too slowly for my liking.
The game looks incredible in motion, I just wish that fights lasted a tad longer!
There are some nice nods to the Demon Slayer lore too!
I love that demons can’t fight in daylight stages and some of the cast can team up to execute special finishing moves that are ripped right out of the anime.
Cool touches, yeah?
I am however, disappointed by the game not having any sort of crossplay.
Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles 2 is available in pretty much every platform under the sun and not having crossplay in this day and age is absurd! It’s disappointing because in the future, it’s definitely going to be a pain to play online due to low player numbers with the segregated multiplayer.
That is a damn shame, because the game looks stupendous! The characters look the part, the animation’s awesome and the cutscenes in-game look incredible. The special effects are tremendously cool too!
If I had one issue with the graphics, it’d be that the environmental effects are the bare minimum.
You get katana slashes lighting up the ground, but the flashy skills and ultimate attacks don’t even leave a dent in the ground or surroundings. Background interactivity would’ve gone a long way to make the fights even more visceral and visually appealing.
It’s honestly a bit of a letdown…especially when you take into consideration the music.
While there’s a ton of music included, all of the anime’s vocal tracks are missing. This means that LiSA’s incredible ending theme, Homura, is among the missing. Well..the vocal one is.
There’s an instrumental version in the game though it lacks the impact.
I cannot express my disappointment at this exclusion.
It is by far, my favourite song from the series and not having it included in the game is a tremendous letdown. Yeah, the instrumental music in the game’s OST is decent, but nowhere near the quality of Homura.
Perhaps there will be DLC in the future like Bandai Namco did with the Dragon Ball Z anime tracks for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. I know the licensing fees are probably why they’re not included in the base game, so why not make the vocal songs DLC for those willing to pay for them?
The Bottom Line.
Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles 2 is flashy and frenetic while keeping gameplay simple enough for casual players to enjoy.
It is however, not without issues.
Its story mode is fun but shallow, its fighting mechanics solid but not particularly deep, and its unlock system frustratingly stingy. The lack of crossplay and missing vocal tracks are big letdowns that fans will definitely feel.
Still, beneath the flaws, this is a stylish, enjoyable action fighter that delivers on its core promise: letting you step into the shoes of Tanjiro and the Demon Slayer Corps for some epic battles.
If you’re a fan of the series, it’s an easy recommendation — just don’t expect the depth or polish of the best fighting games out there.
TLDR:
Fun game that looks great but held back by lack of crossplay and some other minor issues.
The Good:
- Looks great.
- Pick up and play gameplay is good for casuals.
- A boatload of things to unlock!
The Bad:
- No crossplay.
- No vocal (licensed) songs.
- Kimetsu points hard to get.
Salehuddin Husin, EIC
Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.
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