Announced during the Bandai Namco Summer Showcase at Anime Expo, BLEACH Rebirth of Souls is Bandai Namco’s effort to create a AAA game set in Tite Kubo’s Bleach universe. The game is set to revisit the earlier arc of the beloved Shonen series, but with the visual polish as seen in the latest Bleach anime, Thousand Year Blood War. Today we are finally treated to gameplay and how the combat will occur as Ichigo Kurosaki takes on Byakuya Kuchiki as the latter is the last obstacle preventing the former from saving his friend Rukia Kuchiki from being executed.
The action seemingly takes place in an open arena (although we aren’t privy to much insight into movement), the objective is to destroy 9 bars of Konpaku (Health). Each fighter can utilize their unique attacks to whittle down their opponent’s reishi (spiritual pressure) and as the battle progresses build up your meter to use even more powerful attacks to help end the conflict or even turn the title. It wouldn’t be a Bleach game with transformations and entering an awakened state will unleash powers such as Bankai (a power accessible to a select group of Shinigami).
Visually and mechanically the game reminds me of Arc System Works’ Kill La Kill game or Cyberconnect 2’s Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm franchise. Given the title is only covering up to Arrancar Arc, we’re unlikely to see the characters reach their penultimate states as seen in the Thousand Year Blood War (not to mention, we’re gonna get like 2 Quincies…tops), so let’s hope expansions are in to works to visit these other arcs as DLC, much akin to Dragon Ball Kakarot’s approach to additional story content. Regardless, a title like this will be a fantastic way to draw in new fans to the franchise and even as someone who has read the entire series, I’m looking forward to seeing Bandai Namco’s approach to the title.
BLEACH Rebirth of Souls is coming to PC, the PlayStation and Xbox platforms sometime in the future.
BLEACH Rebirth of Souls – Gameplay Overview Trailer
