Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles 2 Review (PS5)

Anime-themed arena brawlers have generally become a bad joke in the console space, largely due to their lazy adaptation of the source material and overall low quality.

The wordy Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles from CyberConnect2 bucked this trend, though, leveraging the Japanese developer’s trademark ability to blend high quality cutscenes with action packed gameplay.

This sequel, the equally wordy Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles 2, builds on the blueprint of its predecessor, and while it won’t be winning any awards, it’s delivers an entertaining experience for fans of Koyoharu Gotouge’s manga.

While the original game was updated with characters and outfits from the Entertainment District arc, its story stopped with the Mugen Train storyline.

This one picks up immediately afterwards, and leads up to the events of the Infinity Castle, which is the focus of the anime’s latest record-breaking movie.

It all comes down to personal taste, of course, but the controversial Entertainment District arc is one of this author’s favourite parts of the manga, and it’s fun to see it adapted here. Seeing characters like Inosuke and Zenitsu masquerading as Taisho era prostitutes is amusing, even if a lot of the great writing stems from the quality of the source material.

Indeed, because the manga is already so good, this is a pretty fun retelling, with some great cutscenes and cinematic sequences. It’s an abridged version with some holes, so don’t make this your primary way to absorb the plot, but it’s an entertaining option to re-experience the story for those already familiar with the manga or anime.

Of course, interspersed throughout the story are various arena battles, which play almost identically to the original game. You have light and heavy attacks, and a modifier button which can be used to unleash special moves.

Much of the challenge comes from dodging your opponent and finding openings, which can frustrate when the higher AI levels seem able to block and parry everything. You do have some defensive and guard break tools, but we’d have liked the gameplay to incorporate more counterattack mechanics.

One big issue we had with some characters is their ability to trigger large AOE attacks which are borderline impossible to dodge. The game is forgiving, and will allow you to continue fighting a boss even after you die at the expense of a lower score. But the game could have felt more satisfying with a bit more tuning.

We should also mention that performance, which was locked to 30fps at launch in the previous game, supports 60fps from the start here. While the first game was later updated with a performance mode, overall we think the visual fidelity is sharper in this new game, even though the art and ambition is much the same.

There are a handful of minigames to break up the pace of the story, as well as some simple exploration segments where you can pick up side quests and search for collectibles. Much of this was already in the original and it is basic, but it helps flesh out the world.

The story will take you about 10 or so hours to get through, but it’s the enormous character roster which will keep you coming back.

All of the Hashira from the manga are playable here, alongside dozens of the demons, including some of our favourites like Gyokko, the merman artist. It’s worth noting that main antagonist Muzan will also be added as part of a free post-release update for everyone to play as, alongside characters from the Infinity Castle arc as DLC.

New offline modes include survival and a time attack-style arcade ladder, while an updated Training Mode enables you to work through simple roguelite-style boards, collecting character upgrades, ahead of an eventual fight with a Hashira. You can also relive the main events of the first game through a series of bonus boss battles, which is a nice way to recap the existing content.

One other big feature is the addition of gear, which is unlocked through gameplay or purchased using virtual currency within an in-game store. This gives you additional perks and advantages, which is welcome in single player but we haven’t been able to test out the online multiplayer to see how it affects balance.

With so many characters to choose from and a hearty helping of single player content, though, this does feel like a significantly larger package than its predecessor overall. Yes, the fundamentals are similar, but the only real disappointment is that it doesn’t wrap up the Infinity Castle arc, which is clearly being held back for a third and final game.