Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles 2

I'll be straight with you: this isn't the game I'd normally cover. Shooters pay my rent. But CyberConnect2's arena fighters sit close enough to the competitive PvP space that the fundamentals matter to me, and enough people are asking whether Hinokami Chronicles 2 is worth their money right now that someone has to give them an honest read. The combat runs in 3D arenas where you control a main fighter paired with a support character. You can call the support in for an assist, swap them in entirely, or burn the support gauge on an Emergency Escape to bail out of a combo. Both fighters share one health bar, so careless swapping punishes you. Light attacks, heavy attacks, a regenerating skill gauge that feeds three unique specials tied to each character's Breathing Style or Blood Demon Art, and a build-up Ultimate Gauge that triggers cinematic finishers. The new Dual Ultimates add pair-specific team super attacks, and they look genuinely spectacular. The Gear system lets you slot up to three passive buffs per character, covering things like health regen, poison resistance, or brief attack boosts. In practice, most reviewers found the gear too mild to meaningfully shift matchups, so don't expect anything close to a loadout meta. The VS roster lands at 47 fighters, up from a much thinner first game, and includes all nine Hashira plus Upper Rank demons like Gyokko and Zohakuten, which is a real improvement over what launched in 2021. Netcode is delay-based with no crossplay across the main platforms, which is a genuine red flag if you care about online quality. Ranked, casual, and lobby modes are present, along with monthly ranked seasons and spectator-friendly lobbies. At 60fps the game at least reads cleanly, but delay-based on a licensed anime fighter is the kind of detail that will matter past the launch honeymoon. If you have a high-refresh monitor and you're used to rollback, prepare to adjust your expectations. Story mode covers the Entertainment District Arc, Swordsmith Village Arc, and Hashira Training Arc, told through a dense mix of cutscenes and boss fights. The Hashira Training roguelite mode sends you down a branching board toward a Hashira boss fight with no health regen between battles, and while it isn't Slay the Spire, it adds a reason to keep fighting after you've cleared the campaign. There's also Path of a Demon Slayer (basically an arcade ladder), offline Versus, Endurance, Survival, and Time Attack. The single-player content is wide but shallow, with exploration segments that feel more like hallways between the good bits. The move list is short. CyberConnect2 makes accessible arena fighters, not technical ones, and players master the full character kit quickly. If you came from Dragon Ball FighterZ or Under Night expecting layered neutral, you will be disappointed. What the game nails is spectacle and pace: attacks land with real audiovisual crunch, the orchestral score hits hard, and the boss fights are genuinely well-constructed set pieces. The visuals match the anime's production quality closely enough that the gap barely registers. Fans of the source material are clearly the primary audience here, and they get a thorough, faithful ride through three of the manga's biggest arcs. Everyone else is going to find a competent but formulaic arena fighter that doesn't push the genre forward.

Fred · Scout Team

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