Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris Reviews
Fun combat and decent characters aren't enough to save a convoluted story, terrible pacing, and tons of performance problems.
At the current state of the game, I cannot, in good faith, recommend this to anyone looking to buy it. This is mainly due to all the flaws it currently has. Even if you’re a big fan of the series, I’d advise you to wait until the game is adequately patched before making the purchase.
Overall, while there is some fun to be had in the game and a narrative that's genuinely interesting albeit flawed, Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris is too filled with issues to be anything worthy of being recommended to those who aren't hardcore fans of the series, and the Switch port, unfortunately, still has a lot of the existing issues seen in other platforms. As a result, I'd suggest a different, better-optimized game to play for those interested in delving into the virtual world of Sword Art Online.
Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris is a mediocre game, ambitious but incapable of realizing its vision, plagued by an inadequate and lazy realization. Only for the most dedicated fans of Sword Art Online.
Review in Italian | Read full review
A game developed without thinking neither in the fans of the franchise nor the fans of video games, it has so much problems to be able to recommend it.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
I enjoyed my time playing Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris, especially after all the recent updates. The game has a decent story, very fun combat, a well-implemented soundtrack, beautiful environments and great looking characters. However, it is still affected by technical issues, an absurdly long first chapter, a questionable use of character creation, the omission of characters such as Yuuki and the CUBE shop system which shouldn’t be there in the first place. It took me about 121 hours to beat the main story while doing side missions and Bond Events as well. Once you beat the story, you can tackle Raid Dungeons, try to test your mettle against high level foes, try to get high rarity weapons or even try to unlock all the event CGs. So there’s still some things to do even after beating the game. Would I recommend paying $60 for this game? I would only recommend doing that if you’re a hardcore Sword Art Online fan like me. If you’re not, I recommend waiting for a sale or waiting for the technical issues in the base game to be mostly fixed. If you do decide to take the dive, know there’s an immense amount of content waiting for you.
Overall the game is a fun action RPG with engaging storytelling and some fun mechanics. However, it is hindered by some technical issues
Players with a passing interest aren't going to put the hours in to get past the initial chapter, and in doing so, are going to miss out on an enjoyable experience with a lot to offer for both casual players and hardcore fans. Stick with it.
Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycaris offers a compelling experience, but only forgiving players will ever get to fully enjoy it. Others may be frustrated by its strange design flaws.
Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris does little to step beyond using Sword Art Online to sell this experience. It's poorly optimized, looks, at best, okay, tutorials have little forethought, subpar gameplay, and questionable effort was put into this experience. As nice as the Alicization experience is, there is nothing in this game that motivates me to play it over simply watching the anime or reading the source material. It's unfortunate, as these games could really be engaging and have so much more to them than we've seen with this and other releases.
Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris is not the title we were promised. Torn apart by a recurring dualism that contrasts originality with loyalty, the simplified management of the party with the excessive woodiness of the combat system, and so on, Bandai Namco's new proposal is constantly looking for its own dimension.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris attempts to revamp the franchise and breathe new life into it, with very polarizing results.
Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris will certainly be a welcome addition to the gaming series as it’s the only one to follow a portion of the original story.
Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris features many compelling ideas, but its technical foundation needs more work.
Ultimately SWORD ART ONLINE: Alicization Lycoris takes too long to get to the point both in its combat and story, leaving the player disinterested before it even really begins. There is a good game here if you do commit to it, with some great character and world design, enjoyable combat, and interesting game systems, but it's just not worth the slog to reach it.
There’s engaging combat to be enjoyed at some point in the game, but getting there is pretty painful
Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris tries to experiment with too many different mechanics without making them too compelling, and that's hampered by a lackluster technical production. It's anyway got a good basis, and SAO fans will definitely appreciate its depiction of the anime's universe and the huge levels of fan service present.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris is only recommendable for hardcore fans of the series. Only than you can overlook the terrible narrative and arduous fighting system. What makes this game especially exhausting is the bad technical performance which leads to a lot of frustrating moments, that shouldn't happen in this console generation anymore.
Review in German | Read full review
METACRITIC: Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris had the potential to be a standout game with a dynamic battle system and good RPG mechanics. However, the pacing is agonizingly slow and has unforgivable tecnical issues. Sadly, it's only recomended for fans of the series or players with máximum patience.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris boasts one of the most fun combat systems I’ve seen in a SAO game to date, replete with a nice selection of weapon types and playstyles to boot. It’s just unfortunate how that fun combat is gated behind an unevenly paced narrative that tends to overstay its welcome at times — and I’m a proponent for more storytelling in games. The game won’t be for everyone. Folks who are willing to break through its wall of text, however, will find some great action hidden behind all that exposition.