Touken Ranbu Warriors
Living swords battle in a basic hack-and-slash adventure.
Common Sense is a nonprofit organization. Your purchase helps us remain independent and ad-free.
Touken Ranbu Warriors
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.
Suggest an Update
A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this game.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Touken Ranbu Warriors is a hack-and-slash action game available on the Nintendo Switch and Windows-based PCs. It's based on a popular Japanese free-to-play online collectible card game. Players take control of famous swords from Japanese history given human form and fighting to correct anomalies in the timeline. Combat is core to the gameplay, with characters fighting against armies of enemies with fast-paced swordplay and special abilities. While the violence is constant, there's no blood or gore shown on-screen. The game's dialogue is in Japanese with subtitles and features some mild profanity. Lots of downloadable content is available for players to expand the playing experience, mainly in the form of cosmetic items.
Community Reviews
There aren't any reviews yet. Be the first to review this title.
What’s It About?
TOUKEN RANBU WARRIORS, based on the popular Touken Ranbu franchise from Japan, features the Touken Danshi, spirits of famed Japanese swords given human form, as they fight to save the future by preserving the past. The story begins when the base of the Touken Danshi is attacked by the forces of the History Retrograde Army as the opening salvo in its latest attempt to corrupt the events of Japanese history. Fending off this attack, the Touken Danshi are immediately called into service by the Government of Time. Their mission? To travel to key moments in the Sengoku Era, investigating anomalous events and battling the forces of the HRA in an effort to restore history to its proper course. Players will choose from 15 different legendary blades split into five teams and set out on special "onslaught investigations," teaming with a fellow blade to carve their way through the minions and generals of the History Retrograde Army while working to undo its machinations before history is altered forever.
Is It Any Good?
Despite its massive popularity in Japan, this franchise has only managed to eke out a niche audience in Western markets. Koei Tecmo is hoping that changes with Touken Ranbu Warriors, yet another of its Warriors series, this time featuring the literal "swordsmen" from the free-to-play browser-based game. A collection of historic Japanese swords given human form would seem like the perfect fit for a hack-and-slash action game. After all, why play a character with a sword when you can play a character that is a sword? On the surface, it's an interesting concept with a lot of potential. But in practice, Touken Ranbu Warriors feels less like a samurai's sword and more like a butter knife.
Right off the bat, the game assumes players are already familiar with the Touken Ranbu franchise. It's like you're catching a movie at the halfway point without having any context for what's come before. In fact, short of a few almost throwaway lines, you wouldn't know that the characters are humanized swords, which is the core of the franchise. From a gameplay perspective, Touken Ranbu Warriors lacks some of the complexity of Koei Tecmo's other Warriors games. It's very streamlined, with simplified controls that require little in the way of skill or strategy. This is made even more apparent in the game's "Easy" mode, which takes things a step further by making attacks more contextual and handles most defensive moves automatically. While this might make for a good introduction to the Warriors-style hack-and-slash genre, the game's simplistic approach and assumptions of familiarity with the source material leave it catering to a select group of preexisting Touken Ranbu fans.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about violence in video games. Is the impact of the violence in Touken Ranbu Warriors affected by the lack of blood and gore shown? What are some of the different ways that violence is portrayed in video games? Do games with a lot of violence but no blood or gore have less of an impact than games with less violence but more graphic depictions of it?
How can spin-offs, reboots, etc. of franchises popular in certain regions or with a certain genre help that franchise to expand its audience?
Game Details
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Windows
- Pricing structure: Paid ($59.99)
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: Koei Tecmo
- Release date: May 24, 2022
- Genre: Action/Adventure
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy, Sports and Martial Arts, Adventures, History
- ESRB rating: T for Mild Language, Violence
- Last updated: August 27, 2022
Our Editors Recommend
-
Hyrule Warriors
Crossover combat-heavy adventure creates new legendary game.
-
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
Action sequel carves its place in Breath of the Wild lore.
-
Samurai Warriors 5
Series gets new coat of paint but same formulaic gameplay.
For kids who love action
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate