BLEACH: REBIRTH OF SOULS

Bleach: Rebirth of Souls was the perfect announcement to coincide with the anime's triumphant return.

- Chris de Hoog

The animation has never been better than in its current revival, Thousand Year Blood War, adapting the final arc of the epic manga and fixing all the side effects that came with rushing Kubo Tite to that finish line ten years ago. A brand new video game adapting the series up to that point was just what the doctor ordered, for fans of a series that abruptly faded into the background.

Twenty years ago I fell in love with Bleach, with its defiant protagonist, its unique cosmogony, and all the batshit-crazy sword fights a shonen fan could hope for. Despite being ripe for video game adaptations, it remained an untapped well. I was left importing the likes of Heat the Soul or the DS games before they were finally localized, and the series hasn't seen a proper video game since 2011's adequate Soul Resurrección on PlayStation 3.

So, the fact that we have a new game that isn't designed for a smartphone is already cause for celebration in itself—but unfortunately, it doesn't quite live up to the high quality of the Thousand Year Blood War anime.

Unlike that last PS3 game, Bleach: Rebirth of Souls is a proper fighting game that retells the story from the beginning of the series to the end of the Arrancar/Fake Karakura Town arcs—from Ichigo Kurosaki becoming a Substitute Soul Reaper, to his climactic battle with the dastardly architect of all Soul Society's woes. The bulk of its experience is the Story mode, a retelling where players reenact the biggest battles of the series (and seek to fulfill certain requirements in the process).