Demon Slayer is on top of the world right now. The manga ended last year, but its anime adaptation is still going strong. The recent Demon Slayer film has broken several records, including the best foreign-language film debut in the United States, the highest-grossing anime film, and the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time. The second season of the Demon Slayer anime was confirmed as well, and because of the manga's shorter run, it will probably be fully adapted over the next few years. Now, a mobile game and a console game are also coming out.
There is some bitterness for some however, as the upcoming console Demon Slayer game is an arena fighter by CyberConnect2 that will have a single-player component adapting the first season of the anime and possibly its film. While this mode will play out with a different structure than the average arena fighter, focusing on traversing through environments from the anime and fighting non-playable bosses, it's still retreading old ground for licensed anime games. Future Demon Slayer titles, as well as other licensed games, should take a look at a couple of Ubisoft-developed Naruto games on the Xbox 360 for inspiration instead.
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Naruto: Rise of the Ninja and The Broken Bond
Naruto: Rise of a Ninja and Naruto: The Broken Bond were the two and only Naruto games developed by Ubisoft Montreal. They were released in 2007 and 2008 on the Xbox 360, and Rise of a Ninja is the first Naruto game developed by a non-Japanese company. While outsourcing to various mobile game companies around the world has become common since 2007, it's still rare to see a licensed anime game handled by a North American developer. There is little discussion about these games today, but ten years ago they were big hits. They accumulated positive reviews and nominations for "Best Game Based on a Movie Or TV Show" at the Spike Video Game Awards.
Much of this acclaim was due to new ideas they brought to the table, probably thanks to their unusual developer. Between the two of them, Rise of a Ninja and The Broken Bond adapted the entire pre-time skip Naruto story into action-adventure format, with a variety of gameplay features based on Naruto's ninja action, and even some platforming. There was a fighting game component used for combat encounters, which technically played like an arena fighter, it was formatted closer to Soul Calibur. With these two strong gameplay types interwoven throughout show-accurate campaigns, it's no wonder shonen fans who remember these titles would like more games similar to them.
What Future Demon Slayer Games Can Improve
Most Naruto console games since have been handled by CyberConnect2, which is now working on Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles. This looks to be a promising arena fighter like CyberConnect2's Ultimate Ninja Storm games, but it's fallen into the rut of being another arena fighter with a simple combat-centric story mode. It should be an impressive cinematic experience, but there won't be varied or particularly complex gameplay. When it comes time to make the next Demon Slayer game, an approach similar to the Ubisoft Naruto titles should be taken.
Future Demon Slayer games should be made into action-adventure titles that emphasize traveling and training the main characters. Their various techniques and athletic abilities, not to mention their personal skills, can be put on display through various challenges, and new abilities can be picked up along the way. Players would also be able to explore Demon Slayer's take on Japan at their leisure, with the duel-based combat taking a backseat between big missions. This sort of game would run the same risk of including too many non-canon filler quests like its Naruto predecessors, but that would likely be worth the chance to see a true Demon Slayer experience on modern consoles.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles releases October 15 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE: 7 Things The Naruto Manga Does Better Than The Anime
