Action stands out, story not so much in Demon Slayer
When it comes to games, it’s tricky to combine fight scenes and a good story. There were exceptions of course, such as The Ghost of Tsushima in recent times. Anyway, it’s difficult to tell a story when your main method of conversation is to punch each other. Sadly, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles joins the list of such games. It’s single-player mode struggles between telling an excellent story and flashy action sequences. However, its arena-based combat is excellent, especially in multiplayer.
The original story
The Hinokami Chronicles follows the main plot from the manga, and goes on until the Mugen Train arc. In case you’re unfamiliar with the story, it’s about a brother’s quest to change his sister from demon to human. Tanjiro’s sister Nezuko is transformed to a demon while the rest of his family gets killed by demons. The pair’s journey is told through in-game cut scenes, and are fully voiced by the original English and Japanese cast. The animation is immaculate, to say the least.
It’s easy to get invested in the story even if you’ve watched the anime or read the manga. Zach Aguilar and Aleks Le’s perfromances of Tanjiro and Zenitsu stand out when it comes to the English dub. The cutscenes often feel long, but the original story is retold here, with all the silliness and heartfelt moments.
Pluses and minuses
One part that feels tiresome is that characters move too slowly in parts, with no option to run faster. It becomes a bigger drag when a character is in the middle of a dialogue. Some maps offer no interactions at all.
The fights are simple, but stellar to watch. You get to see every character’s sword techniques, with all the vibrant colors. Developer CyberConnect 2 offers plenty of fights against nameless demons before you fight a boss.
If you can move past the slow movements, the game is quite enjoyable.
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