Fans of Hunter x Hunter have been able to play a handful of games based on the manga/anime over the past few years, but one genre that hadn’t been tackled up until now was fighting. You know, the one go-to kind of game pretty much every single shonen is adapted to almost immediately. Not counting J-Stars Victory Vs. or Jump Force, there had been no Hunter x Hunter-centric fighting game, until now. Courtesy of Eighting, and published by ArcSys, let’s take a look at the brand new Hunter × Hunter: Nen × Impact.

The name Eighting is known in the fighting game sphere as the creators of the Bloody Roar franchise, back in the day, as well as being the team responsible for developing Marvel vs. Capcom 3 in the late 2000’s. And this exactly the game most closely related to Hunter × Hunter: Nen × Impact. Both titles are 3 vs. 3 fighting games with an emphasis on bringing in (or completely swapping places with) teammates to extend your combos in a 2.5D plane. If you’ve played MvC3 in the past, you’ll even ask yourself if Hunter × Hunter: Nen × Impact is running on the same damn engine. That, by itself, is not particularly egregious, though. The controls are decent, the framerate is solid, and the game does manage to look like the anime. Granted, it’s vastly more simplified in terms of combos and special moves, but the basis behind it is solid.

What isn’t solid, however, is… well, the amount of content Hunter × Hunter: Nen × Impact has to offer. Simply put, it’s not enough for its steep pricetag. When it comes to its roster, it’s got a mere 16 fighters. Granted, not as egregious as Granblue Fantasy: Versus‘ initial roster, but that game made up for it with a beefy and lengthy single-player campaign. In this game’s case, there’s just the bare minimum.

Yes, there is an arcade mode, a survival mode, but man, its story mode is most rushed and underwhelming thing I’ve seen in a fighting game in years. In essence, well, it’s not an actual story mode with a campaign per se. It is a mere compilation of stills from the anime, following its story closely (but in a stupendously abridged and rushed manner), and with one mere challenge attached to each chapter. That’s it. Watch stills, complete a challenge, and you can proceed to the next one – which can even be completed in any order, making things feel even more disjointed.

To top it all off, even though the game had been originally delayed in order for rollback netcode to be implemented, I can’t particularly say I’m impressed by it. The online interface is still clunky, with what little matches I could find suffering from lag. Now, if that is an issue due to the game’s netcode or the Switch’s poor online infrastructure, that I can’t confirm. What I can confirm is that I simply cannot recommend diving into Hunter × Hunter: Nen × Impact‘s online multiplayer, at least for now.

If all you’re looking for is a quick arcadey game based on Hunter x Hunter, then sure, I guess Hunter × Hunter: Nen × Impact is exactly what you’ve been waiting for. Technically speaking, it’s a sound game. It looks great, runs smoothly, it’s got some decent voice acting, and the controls are decent. What hurts is that the game is way too expensive for what little it offers in terms of modes and its current fighting roster. I don’t think it’s particularly worth it. Whether or not more content will be added in future remains to be seen (and I really doubt anything will be added for free), but you may be able to find Nen x Impact at a discount later this year. It might be worth a shot then.

Graphics: 8.0 It does look quite good, retaining the character designs and animations from the anime, and runs smoothly.	Gameplay: 7.0 A standard 3v3 fighting game loop akin to Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Controls are simple to grasp, as characters don’t have that many combos to memorize. It’s standard, far from innovative, but also devoid of major issues.
Sound: 7.5 It’s exactly what you would expect from a licensed anime game. It features reprised performances from its voice actors, as well as some decent J-Rock tunes.	Fun Factor: 5.5 Even if the core gameplay loop is solid, this game suffers from a downright baffling amount of content, making its appeal run out incredibly quickly. Loading times are also quite long.
Final Verdict: 6.5

Hunter × Hunter: Nen × Impact is available now on PS5, PC and Switch.

Reviewed on Switch.

A copy of Hunter × Hunter: Nen × Impact was provided by the publisher.