Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles - Nintendo Switch

Product Information

Borger, Will (October 13, 2021). "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles Review". IGN . Retrieved October 31, 2021. 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. Relive memorable moments from the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba anime through the eyes of its protagonist, Tanjiro Kamado! 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. Online play is where most of the action is unless you have folks willing to make the trek to your living room, and I’m happy to say that it works well based on my time with it. There can be pretty noticeable delay if you experience a connection slowdown, but for the most part it felt good, even when I was playing someone in California while in New York. There is still some delay even at the best of times, which can cause combos that should work offline to drop online, but a good connection should see you through most matches, whether you choose to throw down casually or go into ranked mode.

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. Kimetsu Academy Summer Uniform Costumes for Tanjiro Kamado, Nezuko Kamado, Zenitsu Agatsuma, Inosuke Hashibira, and Giyu Tomioka. The limited edition Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles Original Figurine Device Standis the same as the one included with the PlayStation 4 version. 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. 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.Romano, Sal (January 2, 2022). "CyberConnect2 to announce new game in February". Gematsu . Retrieved January 3, 2022. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles [a] is a fighting action-adventure game developed by CyberConnect2. Based on the 2019 anime adaptation of Koyoharu Gotouge's manga series, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, the game was released by Aniplex in Japan, and globally by Sega, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in October 2021. It was released for Nintendo Switch in June 2022. 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.

Ramsey, Robert (October 13, 2021). "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles Review (PS5)". Push Square . Retrieved October 31, 2021. 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. Exploration, the other half of the actual gameplay, however, is time-consuming at best, and agonizingly slow at worst. You’ll mainly be controlling Tanjiro while exploring, though “exploring” is a bit of an overstatement. You’re free to explore the environment, though there isn’t much to do other than complete optional, repetitive exploration missions, or find Kimetsu Points hidden around the map that you can spend on rewards. Other than that you’re going to be very slowly walking (there’s no option to run or dash) towards the next objective, and frankly it seems like the only reason these exploration segments exist is to make the story mode last longer.Hazell, Ted (June 11, 2022). "Demon Slayer - Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles (Switch) Review". Nintendo World Report . Retrieved June 22, 2022. Vogel, Mitch (June 13, 2022). "Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles Review (Switch)". Nintendo Life . Retrieved June 22, 2022. Doolan, Liam (February 3, 2022). "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles Launches On Switch This June". Nintendo Life . Retrieved February 3, 2022. Hashimoto, Kazuma (October 7, 2021). "Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles Free Update to Add Akaza and Rui". Siliconera . Retrieved October 17, 2021.

The following items are included in the game from the beginning as a bonus for the Nintendo Switch version. 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. Update [Tue 8th Feb, 2022 01:35 GMT]: Good news, demon slayers - the Switch version of Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles has now been confirmed for the west, and will launch the day after the Japanese release on 10th June. Romano, Sal (October 13, 2021). "Famitsu Review Scores: Issue 1715". Gematsu . Retrieved May 27, 2022. Exhilarating Arena Battles – Master the multitude of spectacular skills of a wide roster of characters from the anime and the series’ official spinoff, including Tanjiro and Nezuko, to overcome challengers in head-to-head battle, locally and online.*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. 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. The Hinokami Chronicles does do a great job of actually telling the story of Demon Slayer, with several key character moments and every important battle intact, but actually playing through the story mode is, for the most part, a drag. 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. Thrilling Boss Battles – Action and drama reach their peak in specially designed battles against powerful demons that will test Tanjiro’s mettle.

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 Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Hinokami Keppuutan officially confirmed for PS5, Xbox Series, Xbox One, and PC". Gematsu. February 7, 2021 . Retrieved June 24, 2021. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba games announced for PS4, iOS and Android [Update 2]". Gematsu. March 12, 2020 . Retrieved June 24, 2021. Sheehan, Gavin (November 7, 2021). "Rui & Akaza Join Versus Mode In Demon Slayer -Kimetsu No Yaiba-". Bleeding Cool . Retrieved February 4, 2022. 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)Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Hinokami Keppuutan developed by CyberConnect2; debut trailer, screenshots". Gematsu. March 22, 2020 . Retrieved June 24, 2021.