As 2024 approaches, it’s time to reflect on the best video games released in the year, including anime, manga, light novels, and video games. Game anime is a thrilling genre that captivates viewers with its excitement and shared hobby. It showcases characters’ choices in games, such as card games, board games, and VR, and their growth with the game. While some games may not have the best track records, they successfully translate the magic of anime or manga into video game form.
The best anime games are filled with heart, friendship, and adventure, often featuring turn-based combat and an art style reminiscent of manga. While any video game adaptation of a popular anime series, such as Dragon Ball and One Piece, counts as an anime game, there are also games with distinct visual styles and common genre themes. These 10 best anime games are perfect for those seeking twisted horror stories or happy-go-lucky adventure games.
Table of Contents
Attack On Titan 2
Attack on Titan 2 is an action hack and slash video game based on Hajime Isayama’s manga series. The game features cel-shaded graphics, fast-paced aerial combat, and large, open areas for players to defeat titans. Key new features include a co-op story mode and a character creator. Players can also bond with the series’ cast in a “Daily Life” mode.
The game covers the first 50 chapters of Attack on Titan, including the first two seasons of the anime adaptation. The player experiences major events through an original custom character who fights and interacts with manga characters. The last mission of the base game has an original ending, non-canonical to both the anime and manga. The DLC “Final Battle” covers chapters 51 to 90 of the manga. Although not the most beautiful game, Attack on Titan 2 is a fun way to revisit the Attack on Titan story and help defeat the massive creatures in the series.
Astro Boy: Omega Factor
Astro Boy: Omega Factor is a beat ’em up video game developed by Treasure and Hitmaker and published by Sega. Released on the Game Boy Advance in Japan, North America, and Europe in 2003, the game is based on Osamu Tezuka’s manga and anime franchise Astro Boy. The game features characters and plotlines from Tezuka’s entire canon of work, including the concept of robot rights, Dr. Tenma’s ultimate plan for Astro, and the robot city of Robotonia in Antarctica. The game received positive reviews, with strong praise for its visuals and limited criticism on level design.
Omega Factor is a visually appealing game that offers a dense replay value, paying tribute to both Astro Boy and Tezuka’s entire body of work. The game is divided into two episodes: Birth and Rebirth. In Birth, Astro is revived by Phoenix, allowing him to go back and forward in time. In Rebirth, Astro is revived by Phoenix, allowing him to stop the Death Mask, allowing him to go back and forward in time. The game also includes characters from Tezuka’s entire canon of work, listed in the “Omega Factor” in-game encyclopedia.
dragon ball fighterz
Dragon Ball FighterZ is a 2.5D fighting game co-developed by Arc System Works and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It was released in January 2018 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, and in Japan the following month.
The game involves players choosing a team of three playable characters and a unique assist for each, fighting an AI or human opponent. The game received positive reviews from critics, with many citing it as one of the best fighting games released in the eighth generation of video game consoles.
Players select three characters from the Dragon Ball franchise, and one character can be switched with another at any time. They can also call one of their characters to perform an “Assist” move, allowing simultaneous attacks and combos with the entire team. The game features various universal moves, such as the “Vanish Attack,” “Dragon Rush,” “Super Dash,” and “Ki Charge.”
The game also includes the “Shenron System,” which allows players to gather Dragon Balls one by one as the fight progresses. Season 3 allows players to choose three different Assist types before the match, and the game features a ranking system in both arcade mode and online multiplayer.
Tales of Berseria
Tales of Berseria is an action role-playing video game set in the Holy Midgand Empire, a powerful country that rules over countless islands and seas. The game’s world is shared with Tales of Zestiria, but the events occurred 1000 years before the latter. The game features a world divided into territories, with humans and the Malakhim being the main races. A disease known as Daemonblight causes those infected to lose their humanity and rationality, turning them into monsters called Daemons.
The Exorcists, soldiers from the Abbey, are tasked with bringing peace and order by purging the world of Daemons. Velvet Crowe, a young girl, is saved by her brother-in-law Artorius when a Scarlet Night occurs and daemons attack their village. After the “Advent,” Velvet becomes a “Therion” and fights against the Praetor Exorcist Oscar Dragonia. She escapes the island and meets Laphicet, Eleanor, Eizen, Bienfu, and Bienfu.
The group learns that Artorius, Oscar, Teresa, and Legate Exorcists Shigure Rangetsu and Melchior Mayvin are trying to purge the Daemonblight by erasing all emotion from humankind. They summon Innominat, one of five powerful Malakim called the Empyreans, into the world to awaken him. The Abbey successfully summons Innominat, who takes on the form of Velvet’s deceased brother.
The group defeats Artorius and Innominat, using their souls as sacrifices to awaken the four Empyreans. Innominat goes berserk, and Velvet seals herself away with him, allowing him to feed off of her malevolence. Laphicet transforms into a benevolent dragon and purifies the land of malevolence, setting the scene for Tales of Zestiria, which will occur 1000 years later.
My Hero One’s Juctice
My Hero One’s Justice is a 2018 fighting game developed by Byking and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. It is based on the manga series My Hero Academia by Kōhei Horikoshi. The game was released in Japan on August 23, 2018, and internationally on October 26, 2018. The game received positive reviews from various sources, including GameSpot, GameRevolution, Digitally Downloaded, IGN, Pocket Gamer, Nintendo Life, and Anime News Network.
The game sold nearly 24.6k units on the Nintendo Switch and approximately 16k units on the PlayStation 4, bringing the total sales in its first week to around 40.7k units. In January 2019, it was announced that the game had shipped over 500,000 copies. My Hero One’s Justice 2 is a superior sequel to its predecessor, featuring an impressive roster of characters with unique Quirks. The game’s battles make the player feel like they are controlling the anime, which is a challenging element in an anime video game.
Astral Chain
Astral Chain is a 2019 action-adventure game developed by PlatinumGames and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. The game follows the events of a special police task force that protects humanity from interdimensional creatures and aberrations that invade the planet.
The game centers on the task force’s two new twin recruits, the “Legionis,” who restrain and tether the creatures, employing them in combat and investigation. The setting draws heavily from cyberpunk manga and anime, and the gameplay combines hack and slash combat with role-playing elements and investigative adventure game sections.
Astral Chain was announced in February 2019 as part of Nintendo Direct presentation. It received highly positive reviews from critics for its dual-character gameplay, world building, presentation, customization, and soundtrack. As of December 2022, the game has sold over 1.3 million copies worldwide.
Set in 2078, humanity is on the brink of extinction, and the world is under attack by lifeforms called chimeras, which reside in the Astral Plane. The Neuron task force, a division of the Ark’s police, uses Legions, subservient chimeras tethered to an officer via a psychic chain, to assist with combat and investigation.
Unicorn Overlord
Unicorn Overlord is a 2024 tactical role-playing game developed by Vanillaware and published by Atlus in Japan and Sega worldwide. The story follows exiled prince Alain as he gathers allies to liberate the nations of Fevrith from the Zenoiran Empire. The game features hybrid real-time and turn-based combat, an in-depth class promotion system, and charming character designs.
The concept for Unicorn Overlord was created by Takafumi Noma in 2014 with the help of company founder George Kamitani. The game aims to create a modern version of classic tactical games from the 1990s and took roughly ten years due to overlapping with other Vanillaware projects. The soundtrack was composed by Basiscape, a music studio founded by Hitoshi Sakimoto.
The game has received positive reviews and sold over one million copies by September 2024. It has been praised for its gameplay mechanics and visuals, but received mixed sentiment towards its story and design complexity.
Vinylware has recently amassed a series of successful titles under their belt, with 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim being the best-known title. Their latest venture, Unicorn Overlord, has taken the team outside the realm of mecha and into pure fantasy strategy, featuring hybrid real-time and turn-based combat, an in-depth class promotion system, and some of the most charming character designs in recent memory.
Alain is raised by Josef on the remote island of Palevia alongside the local priestess Scarlett to eventually take leadership of the Liberation Army. When Zenoiran forces attack the island, Alain takes up arms and successfully protects the local populace. He discovers that the Ring of the Unicorn has the power to dispel Galerius’s mind control magic, which Galerius had been using to turn many to his side.
Tower of Fantacy
Tower of Fantasy is an anime MMORPG set on a futuristic fantasy-themed planet called Aida, contaminated with radioactive energy called Omnium. The player plays as a wanderer who explores the world and fights mutant creatures and hostile forces. The game features a 3D “shared world” action role-playing system where players control a customizable character avatar and interact with non-player characters and other entities.
The player can run, jump, sprint, climb, swim, and equip various vehicles to move around in the virtual world. They earn experience points that increase their level and improve their combat stats. Players can fight enemies with various equippable weapons through a hack-and-slash combat system, with up to three weapons available and switching at any time. Each weapon has a basic and charged attack, and the player can dodge in any direction but is limited by a dodge stamina meter.
As a “shared world” RPG, players on the same server can co-exist with and encounter other players in the same instance of the game world. Tower of Fantasy supports co-op play, PvP, and duels in open-world combat. In 2653, the comet Mara discovers a vast reserve of Omnium, which is harnessed by the Tower of Fantasy. Humanity survives thanks to “suppressors” developed to counteract the radiation, and the scientific organization Hykros is formed to adapt and further utilize Omnium.
Life on the planet gradually mutates into increasingly aggressive and powerful lifeforms that pose a dangerous threat to survivors. The player wakes up in the Astra Shelter outpost, led by Zeke and his sister Shirli, with no recollection of their past.
Zenless Zone Zero
Zenless Zone Zero is a futuristic action-adventure anime game developed by Genshin Impact. The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic futuristic haven called New Eridu, where large pocket dimensions called Hollows plague the world. After the fall of Eridu, a group of survivors established a bastion against the invaders by extracting a substance called Ether from the Hollows.
The game features several factions, including the Cunning Hares, Belobog Heavy Industries, Victoria Housekeeping Co., Hollow Special Operations Section 6, the Criminal Investigation Special Response Team, the Sons of Calydon, and the Stars of Lyra.
The story follows Belle and Wise, two siblings who are proxies and secretly the legendary Phaethon. They possess a special technology called the Hollow Deep Dive System, which allows them to remotely monitor and navigate Agents within Hollows. As the player progresses through the game, their proxying capabilities expand with the addition of the A.I. Fairy.
Zenless Zone Zero adopts a retro and analog aesthetic, with characters operating flip-phones or mobile phones reminiscent of the 2000s and 2010s. The game features references to 1990s media and street-style designs.
Final Thoughts
It’s time to reflect on the best video games released in the year, including anime, manga, light novels, and video games. Game anime is a thrilling genre that showcases characters’ choices and growth with the game. The best anime games are filled with heart, friendship, and adventure, often featuring turn-based combat and manga art style. Some games have distinct visual styles and common genre themes. The above 10 best anime games are perfect for those seeking twisted horror stories or happy-go-lucky adventure games.
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