In 2022, I was given the opportunity to cover Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles as a review, which you can find here. I was allowed to go hands-on with the sequel at Summer Game Fest. Is it still the same game at its core? I am happy to report that, yes, it is the same as the previous title, yet it has improved as well. What does this mean for Demon Slayer fans? I will walk you through what I got to play.
The demon for Demon Slayer 2 covers three battles and one exploration sequence. The first battle is against the upper rank demon Daki. We take the role of Tanjiro in this battle. Fans would be happy to know that the game remains faithful to the anime and covers it pretty well. We battle Daki in this sequence, and during this battle, she mocks Tanjiro, indicating his blade cannot do damage, and makes other insults to him.
Eventually, Tanjiro wins this sequence, because, of course, he does (we are controlling him, so we are bound to win). The battle was smooth as butter. Everything felt smooth, crisp, and flowed extremely well. After the battle, we transition to the role of Inosuke Hasibira. We are in the hotel where he is waiting for his ally. He exclaims his ally is late, dresses in his demon slayer outfit, and begins tracking demons in this hotel.
During this sequence, we are playing as Inosuke, running around the hotel. We use our senses to find something suspicious, which may be the demon nest or demons in general. I had fun during this sequence as I was just running through doors, hearing the gasps and horror of the hotel staff going “oh my god it’s a monster” and other things of this nature. It was a bit of comic relief and adds to the charm of the game to live up to the caliber of the anime’s charm.
Eventually, Inosuke finds the demon nest hidden within the hotel, which leads to those who were kidnapped and our ally as well. Who captured them? It was Daki’s demon slash, which Inosuke appropriately calls “worm belt”. From here, Inosuke frees all those captured and begins battling this demon. The battle was fun as well, and once defeated, the player transitions back to the role of Tanjiro.
During this transition, Daki decimates the entire village, killing several innocent people in the process. Tanjiro then appears to lose it, takes hold of his flame form attacks and battles Daki again. This time, Tanjiro has a different move set and is extremely powerful. Tanjiro made short work of Daki. However, before the final blow, Tanjiro loses focus and falls. Just before he is killed, his sister Nezuko appears and defends Tanjiro. She is in her Demon form.
We learn at this point that Daki was informed by her boss that if she were ever to encounter Nezuko, she is to be killed as she is a traitor to the demons. From here, we see Nezuko attempt to hit Daki, but then she is thrown into a building nearby. While all of this is taking place. Tanjiro is still lying on the roof of this building, struggling to get up.
This is where the demo ended. With my time during the demo, it was fun, and I honestly cannot wait to get my hands on the full game, which comes out August 1st of this year. If this was just a slice of things to come, I have to say that the development team took the charm of the anime, as well as the immersive fights, to a whole new level as they brought them to life in the game. Put that together with the wonderful voice work, and this is sure to be a game that all Demon Slayer fans will come to enjoy.
Until next time, mgs2master2 out!