It isn’t unusual when I encounter games tied to some sort of media I’m unfamiliar with, that it can be difficult to get up to speed or sometimes enjoy the experience. In particular, some games in this vein will throw you into the middle of some complex story featuring characters that have obvious history, making it very hard for newcomers to get into the flow of things, even if people in the know would have no issue jumping right in. While I’ve had minimal exposure to the world of Demon Slayer, one positive thing starting out of the gate is that I felt I understood just enough to get comfortable, and then found that its characters and storylines tended to be so bizarre that I could just sit back and enjoy the ride.

One odd thing about this package is that it is both a reasonably-competent fighting game, as well as a story-driven adventure of sorts that will have you doing a little bit of everything. Again, not familiar with the property or its characters, you could potentially find the story side a bit overwhelming. At least in my case though, the charm of this world’s quirky characters, and the focus more on the storyline being presented, rather than the bigger picture, generally made it all more accessible. While there will be some dramatic fights that you’ll get into over the course of the story-driven side, you’ll also be doing a lot of exploring, finding things to unlock or extra value-added goodies to enjoy, and then sometimes simply enjoying an odd minigame as well. While there were some moments that would drag in this mode, for the most part it was easy to get sucked in and simply have a good time with it.

On the fighting end of things, whether as part of the game’s story mode or with its dedicated options for offline or online play, it’s pretty easy to get started and have some fun. In these arena battles it shouldn’t be too difficult to get into a basic flow of things with some combos and a number of visually-impressive attacks and power moves. In general, the focus feels like it’s on either dodging or parrying your opponent’s attacks and then countering, but some good old fashioned button mashing can do the trick as well. I’m not certain that I’d call the fighting as deep or technique-driven as the more well-known fighters on the market, but it would be fair to at least put it in the class of something like Smash Bros with a more simplified, but enjoyable, set of controls. That said, there’s no question that some of the moves you’ll be able to pull off simply look really cool, so that does help add some enjoyment to things regardless.

While normally diving into a game like this can be a challenge for people who aren’t already fans, I was still able to have a great time with it. The focus on the story at hand, and simply letting the characters be as ridiculous as they want to be kept it all fun and engaging on the story side of things. When it comes to the fights, they’re absolutely a feast for the eyes, and if you have some love for great animation it should easily make a strong impression. While I can’t comment on the game’s merits to a Demon Slayer veteran, I do think that the overall package is a lot of fun, and I’d hope some familiarity with the franchise would just add to its appeal.