With no console first BLEACH games released since 2011, BLEACH Rebirth of Souls has been highly anticipated by fans throughout its development period. With new seasons of the anime airing, the game capitalises on rising hype.
BLEACH Rebirth of Souls also has a multitude of fans to draw on. Those who are keen to discover the world created by Tite Kubo, or fans seeking to re-immerse themselves.
While there were, naturally, concerns around the production of what could very well turn out to be “just another anime-themed arena battler”, the promise of new content and characters, as well as the lure of exploration of existing characters, has kept BLEACH fans intrigued.
BLEACH Rebirth of Souls Review
While comparable to similar titles released for Dragon Ball and Naruto in terms of broad gameplay, BLEACH Rebirth of Souls clearly matches the tone of its source material. The team has included tonnes of details, developed with care to capture the essence and energy of the source material.
The music and sound design pay clear homage to the anime and were well thought out. It delivers funky, upbeat vibes which are consistent with Kubo’s quirky style from the menu and loading screen music, through to the sound design during combat. This should satisfy fans seeking to immerse themselves in this world.
The general look of the game should also satisfy fans of Tite Kubo’s overall aesthetic, with the iconic BLEACH look and feel honoured throughout the entire game. From an animation perspective, the cut scenes in story mode aren’t necessarily the most polished, but the clean, fluid combat animation more than makes up for this.
While it would have been easy for this game to just be a battle brawler, the game stays true to the flashy style and drama of BLEACH. Brilliant executions and considered character movesets make combat feel as though it’s been pulled directly out of the anime.
From a technical gameplay standpoint, BLEACH Rebirth of Souls caters to both veterans and newcomers, offering accessible controls while also providing depth for those who want to master advanced techniques, across its great bank of characters. It should be noted that while the online experience for the console has been well received, there have been significant issues with bugs on Steam, detracting from the experience for some players.
Story mode presents a highly abridged version of the anime and manga, which is helpful for those new to the series. Some details, however, such as using the wrong character model for the main character’s first fight, could be off-putting to die-hard fans of the original series. While focusing on these details may seem like nitpicking, the vast majority of players will likely be people who are existing fans of the series, so it seems sensible to present what these players want to see.
Missed opportunities like this feel like they should have been ‘easy wins’, especially while care has clearly been taken throughout the game to ensure consistency with the source materials. Aside from this, it’s great to have the story following character Ichigo Kurosaki, and this abridged version helps new fans dive right in and learn about a character who is beloved all over the world.
Conversely, key character Urahime was excluded from the game, and while her powers might be hard to translate for gameplay, it has been done before. She is integral to BLEACH’s plot and Ichigo’s story, and this felt like another missed opportunity to keep fans happy.
Aside from Urahime’s exclusion, Secret Story is a nice addition to story mode, with the focus split across the key worlds (Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, and the Living World) giving us an opportunity for more insight into an array of characters that the manga and anime haven’t necessarily explored in as much detail.
Overall, the faithfulness to Kubo’s art style is a big drawcard for existing BLEACH fans, and for arena battle fans, it captures the best elements of the game style (with an engaging, exciting visual style as a bonus).
For the most part, the breadth of characters, stories and options for how you play the game allows for this game to have broad appeal and encourages an enjoyable experience, whether playing solo or with friends.
As with most arena battlers, the novelty could wear off after story mode is complete, and players feel like they’ve played through their favourite characters in the online mode.
BLEACH Rebirth of Souls was reviewed on PS5 using code provided by Bandai Namco.
