Onee Chanbara Origin Review

Onechanbara Origins - or Onee Chanbara Origin, as known to Western audiences (and how I’ll refer to it in this review) - arrived last month, bringing its reenvisioned tale of zombie-slaying half-sisters, Aya and Saki, to PlayStation 4 and PC. Updated HD graphics and new content were also added, allowin🔜g players already familiar with the franchise to experience its brand new offerings. However, you can also come into Onee Chanbara Origin without any prior knowledge of the surprisingly long-running series to enjoy everything that the game has to offer. While there’s not a lot to it - and I’m not just referring to the lingerie-clad main character - Onee Chanbara Origin is a fun JRPG action title that any hack-and-slash fan can enjoy.

The original Onechanbara series of games first released in the early 2000s for PlayStation 2, with Onee Chanbara Origin coming as a reimagined mashup of 2004’s The Onechanbara and 2005’s The Onechanbara 2. You take on the role of Aya, encountering hordes upon hordes of zombies as you search for your half-sister, Saki. Both sisters share the same father, but whereas Aya grew up learning the ways of the blade with their dad, Saki was raised by her mother who ends up being murdered, driving Saki to the brink of insanity. Saki sets out to kill Aya and is even able to manipul🌜ate members of the undead to do her bidding, but eventually, the two are forced to join forces as they search for their father throughout the plague-ridden land. And how exactly do you make your way through an apocalyptic zombie wasteland? Why, by wielding a katana, donning a cowboy hat, and wearing as little as possible, of course.

Onee Chanbara Origin is unapologetically an over-the-top JRPG hack-and-slash - the main character wearing an outfit that leaves very little to the imagination with cutscenes that utilize point-blank camera angles that crop out everything but the upper half of her torso. Of course, there’s also the chaos of battling wave after wave of zombies that makes Onee Chanbara Origin ridiculously over-the-top, as you shred your way th🌄rough the undead, racking up combo points and spilling blood everywhere.

To that end, slicing and dicing so many zombies will take a notable toll on your sword, requiring you to “reload” it by shaking off the blood, revealing the cold, sharp steel underneath. I admittedly initially rolled my eyes at the idea of reloading my sw🎉ord, but honestly, doing so after a bloody battle - or even between waves of enemies - became one of the most satisfying parts of the combat encounters. The dramatic nature of quickly flicking the blood off of Aya’s sword feels earned, especially after taking on bosses and the zombie mobs that accompany them.

While different types of zombies and monsters exist in addition to the typical melee-focused enemies - like Mudmen who need to be stunned to be kilไled, or police zombies who can continue to use their firearms irresponsibly even in death - most mobs are easy to take down once you figure out any specific weaknesses, often coming in the form of parrying attacks to stun enemies for a short period of time. Boss battles are a bit trickier, requiring a bit more strategy and timing. Bosses generally come with a handful of attacks, as well as more than one battle phase, requiring a certain level of patience for the endurance these battles require.

Some battles can become a bit overwhelming, especially when mistiming the parry ability of oncoming attacks. You have a split-second window of opportunity to perform a parry, but with some enemy attacks, it can be hard to judge exactly when that moment is, resulting in massive amounts of damage being dealt and you (potentially) wanting to throw your controller out the window. Thankfully, after a few deaths at the hands💦 of the same enemy, the timing does start to become a bit more manageable, allowing you to go on your zombie-chopping way after defeating the boss.

And that’s really what Onee Chanbara Origin is about: carving up zombies with your sword fighting abilities. Waves of mobs can get repetitive, but slicing through the crowd is a very satisfying and oddly cathartic experience. This is elevated when Aya reaches her bloodlust-like mode, in which she bec🌱omes a demon herself (after killing so many enemies), giving her a more powerful edge while taking on f🔯oes.

Realistic action-horror themes take a backseat in Onee Chanbara Origin, with campy over-the-top JRPG hacking and slashing taking its place. The game knows exactly what it's trying to be and never feels like it's compromising. I never played the original games in the series, but Onee Chanbara Origin sunk its teeth into me and made me very interested in doing so now. At the very least, the game has inspired me to find out how I can watch the in 2008. Not too many games can boast having that kind of impact on me.

A PlayStation 4 copy of Onee Chanbara Origin was provided to TheGamer for this review. Onee Chanbara Origin is available now for PlayS♔tation 4 a🌜nd PC.