Bleach Rebirth of Souls Review: A Hollow Ride

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Diving into a new anime arena fighter is like opening a box of chocolates: you never know what you’ll get. On the outside, most of them look pretty. They have flashy moves that sometimes look even greater than their anime or manga counterparts. A few even have different story modes to shake things up and give players something other than what they’ve watched or read a dozen times. But then you have Bleach Rebirth of Souls, which offers almost nothing new compared to most recent anime arena fighters. While its combat will hook you for a bit due to its different approach, it doesn’t have much to keep you around for more than a couple of hours.

A Shinigami’s Journey

Ichigo and Rukia in Bleach Rebirth of Souls

If you’re playing Bleach Rebirth of Souls, I assume you are already a fan of this amazing Shounen series. If you are not a fan, I don’t recommend starting your Bleach journey with this game, as you’ll only get an abridged version of the story, which isn’t ideal.

Rebirth of Souls adapts the beginning of the series, starting with the Substitute Shinigami and Arrancar arc. It is a bit strange not to have the final arcs, but the ones that the game adapts are great, albeit condensed. Yet, that’s what we always get in anime arena fighters, so that’s totally fine.

However, my biggest gripe is that there isn’t a real reason to play or, rather, replay the story other than to level up and get better rewards. For instance, most missions have secret conditions you can try to obtain to increase the amount of goodies at the end. But these missions will always be the same. Now take Sparking! ZERO, for example. The “what-if” scenarios were great; some even branched into huge missions that changed the entire Dragon Ball story. This was an interesting incentive to play a story we’ve seen in hundreds of games from that franchise.

On the other hand, the story’s presentation is superb. As I said, it definitely condenses a few things, but the way it presents the plot is great, and as a fan of the series, I was highly surprised. While a few cutscenes feel janky, most of the campaign is excellent and offers amazing cinematic moments. Anyone who’s kept up with the anime and manga will appreciate it. Still, I wish Rebirth of Souls had taken a bolder approach with its storytelling and provided something new aside from its secret stories. Overall, it was a nice, fan-serviceable ride, but it was one that I don’t think I’ll play again.

One Slash, One Kill

Bleach Rebirth of Souls differentiates itself from other anime arena fighters in its combat. In truth, this is what I enjoyed the most, but at the same time lacked the means to hook me in the long run.

The game removes the classic health bars and gives characters a set number of lives or Konpaku. Most characters start at nine Konpaku. To defeat a foe, you must get their total Konpaku count to zero. You must focus on decreasing your opponent’s Reishi bar to do so. This bar is the HP-like system but works a bit differently. Once the bar reaches 30%, you can pull off a Kikon move, which is a character’s ultimate attack. You’ll remove a few Konpaku from your foe by landing the attack, usually from three to four segments. However, if you decrease their bar to 0%, you’ll remove even more Konpaku, encouraging you to try beating your foe up as much as possible.

While the system is certainly interesting, I didn’t feel a lot of challenge in it, and it all boiled down to button-mashing. Many might say, “Isn’t that what a fighting game is all about?” In a sense, yes. However, the system lacks depth. I never felt a true challenge when fighting other players or the CPU at the highest difficulty. While you can dodge, counter, and break guards, it never feels too engaging to do in the long run. There isn’t a lot of strategy during a fight, and everything feels unnecessarily watered down.

On the other hand, the visuals, music, and character design are superb. There are over 30 playable characters, and each one shines in its way. While the combat doesn’t do much to add a challenge, the characters make it feel fresher. Take Yoruichi, for example. She’s all about dodging at the right moment and landing powerful counterattacks. Nelliel is all about gap-closers with strong blows. In that sense, the roster felt unique. Then again, it wasn’t enough to keep me around. And even if there are Talismans you can collect and other currency to farm, nothing feels rewarding enough after sinking in a few hours.

Only for Hardcore Fans

Bleach Rebirth of Souls is a combination of great ideas executed poorly. On the one hand, it has one of the most original combat systems compared to other anime arena fighters. However, it doesn’t offer a lot of depth, and once you get the hang of it, it will become quite simplistic, even for fighting game standards. In addition, character movement can feel somewhat clunky and even frustrating, which should not happen in an action-oriented game. Still, there’s a lot of potential in the ideas the game tries to bring, and with a bit more polish, we could see a better Bleach game in the future.

Rebirth of Souls is an enjoyable ride, but only if you’re a hardcore fan of the series. The game captures the characters’ essence and goes above and beyond to make everyone feel unique. Everyone’s ultimate attacks are as flashy as they get, and you can even see two variations of an ultimate move, which is always welcome. Compared to other recent anime arena fighters, this one sits below Sparking Zero but only slightly above other disappointing games that are only worth getting when they are on sale or eventually land on a platform’s subscription service.

Bleach Rebirth of Souls (PS5 Reviewed)

7 Very Good

Bleach Rebirth of Souls brings interesting things to the table, but they don't manage to salvage this anime arena fighter that lacks any challenge or depth. Still, if you're a Bleach fan, you'll enjoy it, as it is a good fan service galore.