Sakura Wars Reviews

Sakura Wars is ranked in the 56th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
4 / 10.0
Feb 7, 2021

Overall, I think Sakura Wars just isn’t for me. If you like a game that’s framed as a long anime TV show with the occasion interactive section, this game is 100% for you. If you like dating sims for their depiction of ‘healthy’ relationship building, this game is 100% for you. If you’re more interested in a game’s aesthetic theming, art style and soundtrack than the gameplay, this game is 100% for you. Unfortunately, I’m none of those people so the appeal of Sakura Wars passes me by. If you’re a veteran of the genre, I’m sure Sakura Wars is a great example of an action role-playing dating sim. However, as a layman with no history with the franchise, Sakura Wars looks to me to have very little going on and what is going on is slow, drawn-out and low-key misogynistic.

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4 / 10.0
Jun 2, 2020

Acting as a soft-reboot for the Sakura Wars series of games, this PS4 title essentially plays out as an interactive novelization of an anime. It’s a game that feels like a half baked medley of ideas, swinging between a slice-of-life dating simulator, a simple hack’n’slash arena fighter and a visual novel. The result is something that’s disjointed and feels like three games awkwardly squeezed into one 20-hour title. With an archetypal anime story full of the usual tropes you’d expect holding everything together, a couple of stand-out moments in its narrative just aren’t enough to elevate this above disappointing mediocrity.

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Apr 27, 2020

Combat is repetitive and romance options are unsettling.

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5 / 10.0
Apr 27, 2020

Sakura Wars is a serviceable entry point for Western audiences but fails to deliver more than a modest take on what could have been a remarkable game.

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Metro GameCentral
Top Critic
5 / 10
May 4, 2020

One of the best attempts at an interactive anime ever, although the nonsensical story, weak combat, and dubious portrayal of female characters will ensure it a limited audience in the West.

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6 / 10
Apr 10, 2020

Sakura Wars is a welcome, pleasant comeback, but a somewhat failed modernization.

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May 24, 2020

All in all, I'd say my experience with Sakura Wars was quite mixed. I enjoyed the look and feel of the game as well as spending time with its characters. And save for the repetitive, shallow combat system and tropes, I'd say it's a solid introduction to the franchise for western audiences.

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6 / 10
Apr 27, 2020

SEGA clearly didn't want to go all out with Sakura Wars. And it's a shame as the game will probably be most of Western gamers' first introduction to the series. The game has an interesting main story, fun main characters and and its steampunk backgrounds are beautiful. But the dating sim parts are a chore, there aren't enough action scenes and the game as a whole looks like a PS3 game. As things stand, Sakura Wars is probably destined to stay a niche franchise in the West. And that's too bad.

Review in French | Read full review

Apr 30, 2020

There’s plenty of replay value, and hardcore fans will relish trying to get all the multiple endings. You shouldn’t expect an high octane action RPG, but rather a real life romantic novel filled with in-depth emotion and over the top scenes.

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6 / 10
Apr 27, 2020

Sakura Wars is an entertaining fusion of dating sim elements and button mashing action, but it's held back by tired anime tropes and some disappointingly underdeveloped characters. The overarching story may be painfully predictable, but there's still waifu-chasing fun to be had here, and the combat is enough to keep the otherwise relaxed pacing in check.

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6.2 / 10.0
Apr 27, 2020

Sakura Wars doesn't finish fulfilling what was expected. Without being a disaster, its story is slow and its battles are too much simple. It builds on the popular LIPS system to deliver conversations that are the backbone of a game that can delight anime fans and no much others.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

6.5 / 10.0
Jun 2, 2020

Sakura Wars is a JRPG game that sometimes forgets what it is. Maybe if all the components of the game were made like the final part, we would have had a great story and atmosphere right now, along with the graphics and amazing music. Although each of the 5 characters in the game has its own ending, the slowness of the storytelling process does not convince you to re-experience the work

Review in Persian | Read full review

6.7 / 10.0
Apr 27, 2020

From a certain point of view Sakura Wars is an anachronistic game, made for a specific audience that has evolved over time. The ease and repetitiveness of the title's gameplay overwhelms the overall quality, despite good art direction.

Review in Italian | Read full review

6.8 / 10.0
Apr 27, 2020

There were not a few of us who wanted to finally taste an adventure in the conditions of the legendary Sakura Taisen. However, the decision to replace the T-RPG battles with a more musou style has ended up darkening the expectations that we had for him.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

68 / 100
Apr 27, 2020

The soft reboot of Sakura Wars leaves much to be desired but it is an adequate experience that accomplishes what it ultimately set out to do.

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7 / 10
Jun 26, 2020

Bottom line, surprisingly, I really enjoyed the game to the point where I cried while playing, and even changed the wallpaper on my computer. The mix of well-developed characters and perverted jokes works great, thanks to which you will fall in love with this dating simulator. Even though I was a fan of anime, I've never been such a weeb as I was after playing the game. And I'm not ashamed at all, because this game takes a recommendation of 7 points out of 10. Will I play dating simulators from now on? Definitely not. But if you want a unique gaming experience, Sakura Wars will definitely bring it to you.

Review in Czech | Read full review

7 / 10.0
Apr 27, 2020

While Sakura Wars does have some issues with the repetitiveness required to see all of the content and the battle system not being as fluid as it could be, the majority of my experience has been great. The interactions with the characters particularly stand out and the game’s focus is definitely on that. The patch which came out around release alleviated some of the issues I experienced playing prerelease, but did not completely erase them. I still recommend it, but it still falls below expectations in some ways.

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7 / 10.0
May 21, 2020

Despite its shallow gameplay, Sakura Wars offers plenty of entertainment thanks to its delightful characters, stylish art design, and upbeat tone.

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May 27, 2020

Bringing a multi-faceted, choice-oriented, full-fat dating sim experience (with creepy warts and all); solid, enduring battle mechanics; lively voice acting; a formulaic-but-effective plotline and a flashy visual showcase, Sakura Wars puts on a stunning display for fans new and old. What’s more, the ease of accessibility should keep those initially on-the-fence engaged enough to see it through. There won’t be an industry-wide standing ovation waiting for Sakura Wars but it’s good enough to prompt a polite round of golf-clapping from even the most jaded pundit.

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7 / 10.0
Apr 28, 2020
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