The inaugural gaming adaptation of the globally popular manga and anime series Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- ticked many of the right boxes for its fandom. Exhilarating encounters, brilliant storytelling and fantastic visuals ensured Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles was a worthy adventure. But what’s next for the protagonist Tanjiro Kamado and his demon slaying pals?
I almost guarantee you wouldn’t have guessed at a virtual board game. Nevertheless, that’s the direction taken by developers CyberConnect2 in Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- Sweep the Board!, with mini-games aplenty to help decide who’s the mightiest swordsman. Could it prove to be a surprise hit to rival the likes of Mario Party, or is Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- Sweep the Board! one to sweep under the rug and forget about?
Up to four people can play Sweep the Board! using their own controller, with each person getting to choose which of the Demon Slayer characters they wish to have as their game token. Taking turns, a dice is rolled in order to advance towards a ‘Destination Space’ selected by a Kasugai Crow. The aim of the game is to travel around the board and accumulate the most Rank Points to win. Then the match ends after the turn limit is reached, which is set beforehand at either five or ten turns each.
The board offers different activities and spaces have benefits or detrimental effects depending on whether it’s day or night. During the day, you take part in Skill Training mini-games every time all players have had a turn and generally earn coins to spend on things like dice boosters. Skill Training is the life and soul of the game, with a total of twenty types to test your skills on. The problem is, the concepts are fairly hit and miss.
On the plus side there’s Don’t Miss a Beat! Escape Tsuzumi Mansion, where you’re jumping at the opportune moment to avoid dangerous traps; Sneaky Sword Styling, seeing you hammering a sword without drawing too much attention from the irate Hotaru; and Whack-a-Demon, which is a case of running around and hitting Demon-styled wooden posts with a sword. They just make sense in the Demon Slayer world.
Conversely, other Skill Training mini-games aren’t really on-brand or are simply super dull, like the self-explanatory Team Badminton, the slow and steady drawing of One Fell Stroke, and matching pairs in Team Memory Matching. In all honesty, even the fun and quirky events soon grow tiresome after the second or third occasion, which is pretty bad for the overall longevity.
Upon someone arriving at the Destination Space, the darkness of night descends on the board and then the demons come out. It’s possible that Rank Points are lost through stepping on certain tiles, but you can acquire them on others with the chance to take on a familiar foe. Prepare to team up with the rest of the players in order to battle infamous baddies from the Demon Slayer anime, including Akaza, Daki, the Hand Demon, Rui, and more.
It’s incredibly exciting to face off against the demons that Tanjiro has encountered, but that elation soon wears off. The visuals are excellent, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that the whole battle is a series of quick-time events. Perfect timing and correct button or directional inputs are a test of skill, sure, however it’s so boring when you’ve done it more than once and the novelty is gone.
So you’re left wondering, if the mini-games are bang average and the boss battles are too samey, is there anything to ensure Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- Sweep the Board! isn’t cast aside to gather dust?
The fact that there are five different boards to play on is quite neat because each has unique features that can only be found on that particular board. Board Two has a section with the Tsuzumi Mansion, in which rooms layouts can be flipped and it’ll teleport the characters inside to different tiles. Meanwhile, Board Three lets you ride the Mugen Train and Board Four allows you to traverse rooftops of the Entertainment District at night. Fans of the anime will certainly enjoy witnessing the familiar places and the quirks that accompany them.
The roster of characters is darn good too, with mainstays Tanjiro, Zenitsu and Inosuke available alongside Mitsuri Kanroji, Tengen Uzui, Kyojuro Rengoku and more. Voice acting is in place to bring authenticity to proceedings as they deliver one-liners in keeping with their persona. There are fourteen characters in total and while you can pick your favourite, there’s another aspect to consider. Every character has a special Slayer Dice to use occasionally and this could have bigger numbers on or the chance to win coins. It’s unfortunate that you can’t view the dice before the match, but still it’s good to have something to differentiate the slayers.
Whether you play with friends locally, or rope in the CPU to fill up the slots, a match shouldn’t last much longer than an hour. That seems like a good length, with the five turn setting coming in at half the time. For some reason though the pace is off; the transition between spaces, engaging in events, and even awaiting the final results, is painfully slow. An hour will feel like two hours as it really drags every moment out.
Outside of the main Sweep the Board! action, there’s the option to partake in the mini-games and boss battles in isolation, which is cool if you want to try one that hasn’t popped up during a match. You can also venture online, but I will warn you now that after searching during peak times, I’m yet to match with a single person, let alone gather enough folk to actually start the game.
Ultimately, the idea of Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- Sweep the Board! was always a risky prospect and unfortunately it hasn’t really paid off. It’s all well and good showcasing the characters in their glorious anime visuals, with notable locations recreated as boards, but there needs to be more substance. Considering the repetitive demon boss battles, the lack of consistency in the quality of the mini-games, and how everything feels drawn out longer than necessary, there’s probably not enough to keep you coming back.
Unless you’re a Demon Slayer fanatic, and even then it’ll be a struggle, I can’t recommend Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- Sweep the Board! for your next game night.
