Sakura Wars Review

Sakura Wars marks the second time Sega has tried to bring the “dramatic adventure” series to the West. With it being the best part of a decade since the prior game, it also acts as somewhat of a soft reboot for the franchise with a time jump of roughly a decade and a whole new cast.

Set in a steampunk-esque alternate history version of the 1940s, Sakura Wars sees you taking the role of Seijuro Kamiyama as he’s assigned as Captain to Tokyo’s Imperial Combat Revue’s Flower Division after leaving the Navy. The Combat Revue being responsible for defending the city from demonic attacks whilst performing theatrical activities during peacetime to keep people’s spirits high.

The Imperial Combat Revue has hit hard times and through a series of events finds itself having to win the Combat Revue World Games against the Berlin, London and Shanghai Combat Revues whilst fending off demonic attacks that appear to be escalating.

This setup sees Kamiyama thrown into a cast made up of predominantly female characters where being thrust into the world of theatre is initially the source of a lot of comedy moments. His core competency comes into play when dealing with the demons which have been attacking periodically and are fought using robots powered by “spirit” called Spiricle Strikers.

The game does a great job of explaining the setting and the current situation without requiring prior knowledge of the series and the game itself works perfectly fine standalone. If you are a fan of the series then there are references and characters that you’ll get a kick out of without it falling back on fanservice to keep you interested.

The game itself plays out in two main parts, the visual novel style exploration and conversation component and the combat sections. The exploration portions which make up the bulk of the game essentially amount to you visiting locations and interacting with characters or objects to move the story along, often triggering the series’ LIPS (Live & Interactive Picture System) which has you picking a response against a time limit, where no choice generally has Kamiyama do nothing.

Responses ultimately affect how the rest of the cast feel about you, adjusting their trust level throughout the game (that is represented during intermission points as an adorable stage with cutout versions of the characters, the closer they are, the higher the trust). As well as a general indicator of how much they like Kamiyama, it also bleeds into the combat portion giving you access to team up manoeuvres with higher trust.

Combat then is a radical departure from prior entries in the series. Traditionally in Sakura Wars, combat encounters have played out as tactical turn-based affairs but in this newest entry they’ve decided to mix it up and make combat much more action-focused. Taking cues from a Dynasty Warriors style combo system more than anything else. After the initial shock of it not being turn-based as I was expecting, this works really well.

You have a basic and a strong attack that you can combine in different ways to produce different attack strings as well as a special move that charges up as you kill demons, a dodge move that if timed correctly slows down time to allow you to deal more damage and the chance to perform executions and the aforementioned team up attacks that reward you with a cutscene showing both team members interacting before activating.

Unfortunately the combat never gets very difficult, but the fast and frenetic nature of the encounters and each member of the Imperial Combat Revue having different movesets makes for fun and engaging battles that are a welcome change of pace after the conversations and exploration that precede them. LIPS often comes into play during battles too, where the choices continue to affect what characters think of you.

Sakura Wars has an extremely likeable cast, with all the Flower Division initially recognisably fitting obvious female anime tropes like the shy bookworm, tough hothead, naive optimist. However, every one develops into an interesting character in their own right by the end with each character getting a chapter devoted to them showcasing their insecurities and ultimately bettering them and coming to terms with themselves.

As a soft reboot the story itself is also interesting in that it prods at the importance of legacy and how it conflicts with personal dreams and motivation. In the end it stops short of saying anything too weighty but it’s quite well put together from both a narrative and a meta perspective.

Presentation-wise it’s top notch with wonderful animated cinematics produced by Sanzigen (who would go on to make the sequel anime series) with it even going so far as to surround each chapter with “Next Time On…” bumpers and character designs by Bleach artist Tite Kubo. Transitions between areas and how characters are presented in combat especially stand out, almost every area of the game is extremely slickly put together...

Almost… one thing that might be a deal breaker for people is there is no English dub. This is strictly Japanese with English subtitles but for what it is worth, the voice work is fantastic. It is a shame that there is no English dub after the previous game, Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love, had both.

Sakura Wars isn’t for everyone, its slow pacing with it being predominantly conversation and exploration peppered with bouts of combat makes sure of that but if you are after a game with a quirky and fun premise full of interesting, charming characters and genuinely funny and heartfelt moments, you will find a lot to like here.

As a soft reboot this is a solid entry in the series that pays homage to its roots whilst not being afraid to do its own thing, introducing a fantastic cast of characters I hope we see again down the line should a sequel happen.