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Another crappy gacha game tarnishing the legacy of a brilliant anime series

6K View2023-11-10

Tokyo Ghoul: Break the Chains

8.0

StrategyRPGEditors' Choice

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SHOULD I PLAY TOKYO GHOUL: BREAK THE CHAINS?

Skip it, unless you’re really, really into Tokyo Ghoul. Tokyo Ghoul: Break the Chains presents the exact same stuff I’ve seen a million times before across the long string of samey mobile gacha games I’ve tried over the years. It doesn’t contain an original idea in its gameplay or design. This lack of originality would make for a boring game no matter what, but it’s especially disappointing given the brilliance of the anime, light novel series, and manga it’s based on.

TIME PLAYED

I played Tokyo Ghoul: Break the Chains for five hours. In that time, I reached account level 28 and made it past three chapters in the main storyline, completing over twenty missions. I acquired twenty-four characters, three of which are SSR rank, and I leveled my entire team to 50. Unfortunately I’m unable to continue the main storyline until I grind my account level up further.

WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT TOKYO GHOUL: BREAK THE CHAINS?

• Watching Tokyo Ghoul again. I'm not a Tokyo Ghoul mega-fan, but I've watched plenty of it, and there's no denying that it's one of the most influential anime properties of the past two decades—and Tokyo Ghoul: Break the Chains captures every single major plotline, epic battle, and nail-biting moment in the first two seasons of the series. The game borrows scenes from the actual anime to replicate the experience in the game, which works near-perfectly. The only caveat I’d offer is that there’s sometimes maybe too much storytelling. If there’s one reason I’d recommend Tokyo Ghoul: Break the Chains, it would be to rewatch the anime through the game.

• Gacha rolling feels alright. Since I played during the open beta, the game was generous in the rewards it gave me. I got to pull sixty-some times in the gacha banner, and I’ve acquired almost all the normal and rare characters so far. While I can’t confidently say whether or not the gacha system will feel pay-to-win when the game leaves beta, I can say that it’s not super greedy.

WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT IN TOKYO GHOUL: BREAK THE CHAINS?

• It’s not that interesting. Beyond the actual anime elements, Tokyo Ghoul: Break the Chains offers absolutely nothing exciting or interesting to convince me to continue playing. From the gameplay, activities, events, and overall design, everything feels like it was copy-pasted from other bland gacha games on the market. I understand the appeal of a Tokyo Ghoul gacha game, but it would need to be a lot more original and entertaining to actually pull me in.

• Progression sucks. Tokyo Ghoul: Break the Chains isn’t the most grindy gacha game I’ve ever played, but it’s definitely up there with some of the worst. The game takes forever to open up, and the story missions are way too long. The battle missions don’t even provide a lot of experience to level up, and each story chapter ends in a progression wall, requiring leveling up before the next chapter can be accessed. All of these poorly thought out elements add up into an incredibly frustrating grind.

• Microtransactions are everywhere. I’m not surprised that a gacha game would have microtransactions, but I just hate it when they’re always shoved in my face. Every time I opened Tokyo Ghoul: Break the Chains, I received an annoying pop-up practically begging me to spend money on some bundle that wasn’t even remotely worth the cost. Sometimes these even popped up when I returned to the main menu, wasting my time before I could get back into the game.