It’s amazing how anime has become a huge pop culture that it’s now generally embraced by the masses. With compelling narrative featuring the power of friendship and love, plenty of anime series have compelling stories that will keep you rooting for the protagonist in their journey to become a legend. And hey, that’s also brought in video game format. So, if you’re looking for titles featuring that artistic style, here are seven anime video games you can weeb out on.
SCARLET NEXUS
Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Windows
Price: Demo available, Included in Game Pass, $59.99 Standard Edition, $99.99 Ultimate Edition
Talk about a surprise hit when this came out back in 2021. SCARLET NEXUS is a brainpunk anime video game with stylish visuals and an engaging battle system. It’s set in a far distant future where people have extra-sensory powers and lets them harness it in battle. You’re given the option to start the game as Yuito Sumeragi, a new recruit of the Other Suppression Force (alien-like monsters), or Kasane Randall, a mysterious, stoic girl that’s key to Yuito’s past.
Tales of Arise
The longstanding Tales franchise is easily a mainstay when it comes to anime-style video games, and the most recent in the entry is Tales of Arise. Alphen, the main character of the story, is a man who suffers from amnesia and is mysteriously unable to feel pain. Play as the story unfolds in this narrative driven JRPG.
Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Windows
Price: Demo available, $39.99 Standard Edition, $59.99 Beyond the Dawn Edition, $79.99 Beyond the Dawn Deluxe Edition, $$99.99 Beyond the Dawn Ultimate Edition
Honkai: Star Rail
As much as I would love to add Genshin Impact in this list, I’d feel it will be redundant since Honkai: Star Rail will top it when it comes to its storytelling. Honkai: Star Rail is more direct in its approach in the narrative, and it’s more entertaining to listen to banters between you and other characters. Given that it’s a free-to-play title, you can expect that it has microtransactions. But even if you choose the free-to-play route, you’ll be entertained with its strong cast of characters.
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Android, iOS, Windows
Price: Free-to-Play, In-Game Purchases
CODE VEIN
I’ve talked about this before and no one can stop me from talking about this again. CODE VEIN is easily one of the best soulslike titles to date. While it does follow the methodical action-based battle system that’s known in soulslike titles, CODE VEIN makes itself its own game by making it a faster paced, stylized one. The use of Blood Code lets you adjust your playstyle as you see fit, and the cast of characters have their own stories to tell. And as opposed to how other soulslike tells their stories through world building and lore, CODE VEIN has chockful of cutscenes to tell its story.
Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Windows
Price: Demo available, $59.99 Standard Edition, $79.99 Deluxe Edition
Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age
If you prefer something that’s slow-burn and you have all the time in the world, there’s a lot of fun to be had in Dragon Quest X SI: Echoes of an Elusive Age. While its turn-based approach in its battle system adds to the length of the game, it does make for a rewarding accomplishment whenever you complete dungeons.
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Windows,
Price: Demo available, $39.99 Standard Edition
Persona 5 Royal
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Windows
Price: Included in Game Pass, $59.99
Persona 5 Royal 10/10. You just can’t go wrong with it. But yeah if you’re still not sold on that, you’ll amass over a hundred hours in playing this game without even noticing it. I have no idea how ATLUS manage to make an engaging turn-based game in 2023, when a lot of developers have moved to action-based battles. The story does get dark at times, but there’s plenty of lighthearted moments that make it a fun title to play.
Daemon X Machina
While Daemon X Machina doesn’t exactly have a compelling and coherent story to tell, it does make up for it by making a great mecha game with challenging yet fun battles. The feeling of decimating robots is certainly satisfying here, and the atmosphere certainly evokes post-apocalypse to give you a proper battlefield.
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Windows
Price: $49.99
There’s a wealth of anime-style video games available on every modern platform, and even with that, it’s quite easy to weed out cash grab titles from the great ones. What’s your favorite anime-style video game? Let us know!