When Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles (that name is offensively long) is at its best, it is great. Fighting against tough demons while following along an adventure that is incredibly faithful to the anime series - it's the content most weebs wish for. But when it is at its worst, it's just boring - which can, controversially, be compared to the anime series itself.
The Hinokami Chronicles covers the story told in the anime series and recent movie, so it's perfect for fans that haven't read ahead in the manga yet. It follows Tanjiro, the innocent and empathetic young boy, fighting to save his sister who has become a demon, but managed to suppress her instincts to feed on people. To find the solution, Tanjiro enlists in the Demon Slayer Corps in order to hunt demons and, hopefully, find a way to return his sister Nezuko to her human self. The story is engaging enough even if you haven't seen the anime thanks to some lavishly detailed in-game cutscenes - though they're still not up to the same standard as the same anime sequences, so you might wonder what the point is. Then, you dig into the combat mechanics, and things feel both familiar and satisfying.
The Naruto Ninja Storm series is regarded as one of the best anime to video game adaptations, and CyberConnect2 has brought that same care and attention to Demon Slayer. The combat is fast and exciting, with gorgeous animations that can, rarely, rival Ufotable's acclaimed animators. When mowing down minor demons things can really feel like a drag, but that time can be used to hone combos and approaches - once the time comes for a bigger enemy, all of that practice comes into play as you tear through grotesque monsters.
And then, more cutscenes. The Hinokami Chronicles really likes its cutscenes - the Ninja Storm series was considered by some to be a legitimate way to experience the Naruto story, and while that's certainly one way to do it, I can't imagine either those games or this one truly appealing to a non-fan. This is an anime adaptation, it is being made for anime fans, and sometimes I wish I could get into the action a bit faster, rather than have a total story recap. But that's a minor qualm, and one not many of my fellow weebs will share with me.
When the action is flowing, it is vivid and engaging. You can dash up to your opponent, land a simple combo strong, activate a special attack, and then you have options for further dashes, more powerful super attacks - once you've adjusted to these mechanics and understand how combos can link together, it starts to click, and Demon Slayer feels good. Against real opponents, the game becomes focused on who can get the first strike in order to execute a combo, leading to both players rapidly dashing around the stage, trying to find an opening.
The Hinokami Chronicles will include over a dozen different playable characters - once post-launch updates arrive - providing a pretty robust roster for a casual fighting game to play with friends. Not so many characters that you might feel overwhelmed, but still enough to keep you playing with new things to see for hours. The mechanics aren't really deep enough for Demon Slayer to be considered a "proper" fighting game, and there isn't likely to be a competitive community, but for a bunch of weebs on a weekend bender, filled with Mountain Dew and Dorito's? It's perfect.