In 2021, to coincide with the ongoing Demon Slayer anime, CyberConnect2 bared its sword to another popular shounen series with Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles, and we got the chance to play Hinokami Chronicles 2, releasing this summer.
CyberConnect2 has been known for making excellent anime adaptations with their 3D arena fighters for years. Best known for the Naruto Storm games, alongside the most recent with Naruto x Boruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections, the developer has created one-to-one renditions of this long-running series that carry all of the power, emotion, and zest anime/manga fans gravitate towards with the characters. Being able to pick your favourite characters to fight offline or online in these cel-shaded games has even pushed the game series to reach more than 30 million units sold.
The game covered the events of the first season of the anime and the Mugen Train film, but one of the biggest gripes the game had was its less than 20 characters at launch, without demons outside of Nezuko being playable. The demons throughout the series have such an impact, and that is even outside of the title, but their abilities, weapons, and skills are so different from our main party. These demons really steal many scenes due to their sole presence being threatening, and not having them playable at launch was a missed opportunity.
With post-launch updates and DLC, the roster did grow, but at launch, with around a dozen unique characters, it can leave a sour note, especially with a series with such diverse and distinctively different characters. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles 2 fixes this issue by having over 40 playable characters at launch and adding Dual Ultimates alongside Gear this time around for Hinokami Chronicles 2.
Demon Slayer’s Best Arcs Now Playable With Hinokami Chronicles 2
Hinokami Chronicles 2 covers the story arcs from the Entertainment District Arc to the Hashira Training Arc. I never got a chance to play the original game, but I am an anime-only watcher who has been emotionally invested in Tanjiro and Nezuko’s story from the start. Seeing an incredibly popular shounen anime/manga series that showcases the love between these two siblings, even their minor interactions, was so refreshing to me. The series also pushed back hard on the trope of the creepy dude character hitting on girl characters, with Tanjiro chastising Zenitsu, which was reassuring to me, since that can easily be a valid reason to stop watching a cartoon.
Though this was my first time playing a Demon Slayer game, I was taken aback, as usual, by CyberConnect capturing these characters so easily into a gorgeous cel-shaded and 3D environment. The Naruto anime series is a long watch, but playing and beating the Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy on Switch exemplifies the developers taking that story and translating it so well to a more interactive medium without compromising its vision.
First, I got a chance to get right into Hinokami Chronicles 2 with Inosuke taking off his disguise in the Entertainment District. In the game, I used Inosuke’s spatial awareness technique to move around the inn to find a hidden tunnel to take me to the fight against the demon Daki. Without getting into the story spoilers, paper attacks are covering the screen, while I am trying to land combos.
So much is happening on screen, but it is vivacious with zero dips in quality or stutters. As much as I wanted to sit there and watch the majestic and intricate movements of attacks the enemy was dishing out, I had to wade through the hecticness to complete the fight before moving onto a more grounded fight, where I played as Tanjiro against Daki.
Relive Demon Slayer’s Most Powerful Moments
Even though it has been a few years since I watched this arc, the sense of place Hinokami Chronicles 2 creates is ideal in creating this adaptation exactly as it was portrayed in the narrative. Using Tanjiro’s different skills and movements was encapsulating. Swinging swords or using water wheels, if a controller had not been in my hands, I might as well have been watching the anime take place before my eyes.
Dual Ultimates are one of the biggest additions to the sequel. Two characters like Tanjiro and Nezuko can land an ultimate together, with a powerful cinematic attack to dish out immense damage. One of my favourite aspects of Dual Ultimates is the tiny banter the two characters will have with one another. It uplifts these action-packed scenes.
With my 20 minutes of playtime, the game made me want to play the original game to get ready for the sequel. This looks to be the pivotal anime-adapted game of the summer. Demon Slayer is a story I care deeply about, and the greatest aspect of Hinokami Chronicles 2’s hands-on opportunity was making me yearn to dive back into the story, but in an all-new medium through these video games before the upcoming Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle film later this year.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles 2 releases on August 5 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Steam, and the Nintendo Switch.
