Demon Slayeris on top of the world right now. The manga ended last year, but its anime adaptation is still going strong. The recentDemon Slayerfilm has broken several records, including the best foreign-language film debut in the United States, the highest-grossing anime film, and the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time. Thesecond season of theDemon Slayeranimewas confirmed as well, and because of the manga’s shorter run, it will probably be fully adapted over the next few years. Now, a mobile game and a console game are also coming out.
There is some bitterness for some however, as the upcoming consoleDemon Slayergame is an arena fighter by CyberConnect2 that will have a single-player component adapting the first season of the anime and possibly its film. While this mode will play out with a different structure than the average arena fighter, focusing on traversing through environments from the anime and fighting non-playable bosses, it’s still retreading old ground for licensed anime games. FutureDemon Slayertitles, as well as other licensed games, should take a look at a couple of Ubisoft-developedNarutogames on the Xbox 360 for inspiration instead.
RELATED:Demon Slayer Needs to Be More Than Just Another Naruto Ninja Storm
Naruto: Rise of the Ninja and The Broken Bond
Naruto: Rise of a NinjaandNaruto: The Broken Bondwere the two and onlyNarutogames developed by Ubisoft Montreal. They were released in 2007 and 2008 on the Xbox 360, andRise of a Ninjais the firstNarutogamedeveloped by a non-Japanese company. While outsourcing to various mobile game companies around the world has become common since 2007, it’s still rare to see a licensed anime game handled by a North American developer. There is little discussion about these games today, but ten years ago they were big hits. They accumulated positive reviews and nominations for “Best Game Based on a Movie Or TV Show” at the Spike Video Game Awards.
Much of this acclaim was due to new ideas they brought to the table, probably thanks to their unusual developer. Between the two of them,Rise of a NinjaandThe Broken Bondadapted the entire pre-time skipNarutostory into action-adventure format, with a variety ofgameplay features based onNaruto’s ninja action, and even some platforming. There was a fighting game component used for combat encounters, which technically played like an arena fighter, it was formatted closer toSoul Calibur. With these two strong gameplay types interwoven throughout show-accurate campaigns, it’s no wonder shonen fans who remember these titles would like more games similar to them.
What Future Demon Slayer Games Can Improve
MostNarutoconsole games since have been handled by CyberConnect2, which is now working onDemon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles. This looks to be a promising arena fighter like CyberConnect2’sUltimate Ninja Stormgames, but it’s fallen into the rut of being another arena fighter with a simple combat-centric story mode. It should be an impressive cinematic experience, but there won’t be varied or particularly complex gameplay. When it comes time to make the nextDemon Slayergame, anapproach similar to the UbisoftNarutotitlesshould be taken.
FutureDemon Slayergames should be made into action-adventure titles that emphasize traveling and training the main characters. Their various techniques and athletic abilities, not to mention their personal skills, can be put on display through various challenges, and new abilities can be picked up along the way. Players would also be able to exploreDemon Slayer’s take on Japan at their leisure, with the duel-based combat taking a backseat between big missions. This sort of game would run the same risk of including too manynon-canon filler quests like itsNarutopredecessors, but that would likely be worth the chance to see a trueDemon Slayerexperience on modern consoles.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chroniclesreleases October 15 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
