Bleach, one of many keystone manga and anime franchises of the early 2000s alongside Naruto and One Piece, has lastly been given one other probability at carving out some type of legacy within the online game area.
Bleach: Rebirth of Souls is a one-on-one preventing recreation that is simple to choose up and… effectively, reality be instructed, it is pretty simple to grasp, too. Whereas it is not fairly on the identical degree of total simplicity as your typical anime-based enviornment fighter, it is nonetheless missing the required depth to maintain anybody outdoors of hardcore Bleach followers hooked past the 20-ish hour mark.
Now look, that is not essentially a foul factor. The truth that we have truly bought a brand new Bleach recreation is trigger for celebration in itself, and developer Tamsoft (of Senran Kagura fame, hilariously) has executed a implausible job of adapting the type and tone of Bleach as a complete.
If, like us, you have been ready on a correct Bleach recreation for what looks like an eternity, Rebirth of Souls will scratch your itch. The loopy visible results, the sizeable 31-strong character roster, the rocking soundtrack… it is only a blast to be again in Ichigo Kurosaki’s world.
And once more, for round 20 hours or so, the honeymoon section is nice. You will play by way of the story mode, which does a surprisingly respectable job of retelling the important thing plot factors of the supply materials, and you will work your method by way of the playable characters, gawking at their super-cool assault animations.
However you quickly realise that there is simply not a lot meat to the sport. Past extra, unique story situations of various consequence and a neighborhood versus mode, there’s little or no for offline gamers to sink their tooth into.
So that you flip your gaze to on-line matches, however that aspect of the discharge is disappointingly barebones as effectively. Bizarrely, there is no ranked match choice — simply casuals and player-made lobbies — that means that any sense of on-line development barely exists.
And to make issues worse, the shortage of rollback netcode ends in some noticeably laggy encounters. A recreation like Rebirth of Souls does not strictly want cutting-edge netcode to be playable given its simplistic nature, however you may usually discover your inputs being eaten, and it turns into extremely tough to react to particular assaults and conditions.
Which brings us to the fight system. Basically, there are some engaging concepts right here, like how matches revolve round taking lives away out of your opponent, fairly than successful particular person rounds. Mainly, as soon as a life bar runs out, you carry out a flashy ending transfer, which strips away various ‘lives’.
Extra of those lives are depleted for those who’re in a powered-up, woke up state, which then locations an emphasis on comebacks. Should you’re getting hammered, you may normally attain that awakening quicker than your foe — and so a number of matches characteristic a enjoyable, nearly cinematic high quality to them the place the underdog fights again with every little thing they’ve.
Some characters change fairly dramatically upon activation — and seeing all the transformations play out is undeniably hype. If there’s one factor Rebirth of Souls will get proper, it is that the roster feels simply as diversified and fascinating as what you’d anticipate of the supply materials.
Having stated that, the precise mechanics that underpin every character are so primary. There’s little or no room for issues like combo expression or extra superior defensive strategies, as a result of repetitive three-button strings and the easy act of blocking negate a lot of what is on supply.
You’d hope that the sport’s 3D motion — full with directional dashes — would offset a few of these criticisms, nevertheless it’s simply not potent sufficient. It is really easy to get caught in strikes that cowl enormous distances, to the purpose the place transferring can really feel counterproductive when you possibly can simply turtle up behind a guard gauge that takes ages to interrupt.
After which there’s the sport’s steadiness, which borders on being comedic at launch. There are infinites, ridiculously overpowered particular assaults, and sure characters who make others totally redundant. We definitely do not go into anime fighters anticipating competitive-level balancing, however Rebirth of Souls nonetheless beggars perception at occasions.
It is a disgrace, finally, as a result of there is a distinctive ebb and movement to matches that may set the title aside from its friends. One of the best fights actually do really feel climactic, such as you’re watching a season finale from the anime; there is a pacing right here that is objectively fairly sluggish, nevertheless it creates rigidity as battles rumble on, characters awaken, and the stakes get increased and better.
Conclusion
There’s one thing actually compelling on the core of Bleach: Rebirth of Souls, nevertheless it struggles to emerge amidst half-baked mechanics and a common lack of depth. The sport wows over the primary few hours with slick visuals and a diversified character roster, nevertheless it simply does not have the content material to maintain anybody however essentially the most hardcore Bleach followers hooked. Whereas it is nice to see Tite Kubo’s edgy blockbuster again in motion, Rebirth of Souls will go down as a flashy fighter that by no means realised its potential.
