So a few days ago I got this game on my steam account. Kind of nervous I started it because I had absolutely no idea or expectations of how weird and awkward this game was going to look. I also have no experience whatsoever with this kind of Japanese game. But got to say this is an amazing game!
Valkyrie Drive Bhikkuni is a hack and slash fighting game. The fighting style is comparable to games like Kingdom Hearts.
This game is based on a whole media franchise called Valkyrie Drive. All the series and games are about a virus that infects young women. This virus gives these women the abilities to either change into a weapon (Wikipedia says when sexually aroused although there is no real indication of that in the game), called Extars, or wield this weapon, called iLberators.
The point of the game is to fight each other, because apparently this virus makes you want to fight. You are on an isolated island called Bhikunni where you are healing from this virus. On this island are several infected people which you have to fight.
There are several characters but you start with 2 sisters called Rinka and Ranka.
So got to say I was very skeptical of this game. But it turned out amazing! The fighting system is really nice. You can do many combo attacks. But not the kind like in Mortal Kombat where if you push this, this and this that you do like a special attack. It is more like a series of attacks where you can do as much attacks as possible. Like keep your enemy ragdolled as long as possible. In 2 on 2 games like Mortal Kombat this is very bad. But in this game it is fine.
Sometimes it is a bit all over the place though. Also the lock on system is kind of bad in my opinion. For instance in Kingdom Hearts you had a “loose” lock on where if you ran towards another enemy it would lock on automatically, but you also could lock on that it stayed locked. Here it is always a locked on so that is not so good.
Anyways I think this game has some inspiration from Kingdom Hearts. You also have drive states (which now that I think of it is actually a rip off from Kingdom Heats 2) which change you and make you stronger.
And because it is a game based around the series there’s a huge story aspect. So there is a lot of talking. And I mean A LOT. So I didn’t really like that but hey there are many other game modes so that is good.
Like so many things in Japanese culture this game is oversexualized. To the point where you can almost call it bwebz physics simulator or something. Like in a talking part when one of the girls moves her arm a slight bit, her breasts fly almost all the way around.
There is also a romance level. I really don’t get what romance has to do in a fighting game.
The last weird thing in this game is the fact that in the end you have a shot of the character you were playing. Nothing weird until I saw I could move the camera. Of course you could move the camera so far until you could see up her skirt. Fun fact is that Japan has a real problem with weirdos taking up skirt pictures. So far that on Japanese iPhones you can’t turn off the sound when taking a picture. Still weird that none of the girls wears pants right?
Oh yeah and some kind of ability robot has to grope at your breasts to work. And yeah you probably have the correct definition of groping in mind believe me. It is that weird.
There is a lot of other weirdness in this game, but I am going to let you find that out for yourself. Don’t want to ruin all the fun.
Conclusion:
I don’t want to leave this game on a bad note. I describe this game as Japan in a nutshell “it looks weird but it is amazing!” And now I’m not talking about the people. Anyways this game is really fun! And actually after you survived the initial weirdness you can follow the story and see how the characters develop. I really recommend it!
