46. Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae (Zenith Blue, Playstation4, 2016)

Misurugi Kamui Hikae is an independently developed "hack and/or slash" 3D character action game. The game has a plot, but it doesn't really focus on it so neither will I. Something about a schoolgirl who's a blade master but there's an evil blade who possessed her friend.

The game is all about the action, and in a way that basically everything else is stripped out. Every level is just a invisible walled circle on a flat plane, and there is not a whole lot of variety to enemy types.

Thankfully the action is very good. Once you are able to unlock your full set of abilities after the first level, the game basically becomes Devil May Cry 3, at least in terms of a well put together combo-based, 3D action game. There is a move where you put your sword back in its sheath as a combo finisher to damage enemies. I'm pretty sure that's ripped straight out of Devil May Cry (and countless anime), but I can't deny it still feels cool the 50th time I slap that blade back into its house. There's even a dive kick, and parrying, and a block-then-slash move, so it's almost like a Capcom's greatest Playstation 2 hits combo of Onimusha and Devil May Cry.

While the combat is fun, the lack of basically anything else is a drag. Some of the sound effects are also fairly annoying, and they do get fairly repetitive, as your moveset is not quite as deep as other character action games. I think the best way to play this might be to play your own music and mute the game. It's still pretty impressive that an independent studio made something this close to an action classic, even if only in terms of gameplay.

3/5, "What if Devil May Cry 3 only had 1 boring level?"