Sakura Wars

 PlayStation 4
  • Publisher: Sega
  • Release Date: Apr 28, 2020
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 174 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 118 out of 174
  2. Mixed: 26 out of 174
  3. Negative: 30 out of 174
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  1. SenpaiJake
    May 16, 2020
    6
    (Preface: this comes from someone who never heard of Sakura Wars before this one).

    I like trying new games that intrigue my interests. Especially if they are of a long running series, which seems to be Sega's forte. So when I saw the promos for Sakura Wars for PS4, needless to say I was interested. I had never played a game in the series prior, so my experience and review all come from    (Preface: this comes from someone who never heard of Sakura Wars before this one).

    I like trying new games that intrigue my interests. Especially if they are of a long running series, which seems to be Sega's forte. So when I saw the promos for Sakura Wars for PS4, needless to say I was interested. I had never played a game in the series prior, so my experience and review all come from a newb's eyes.

    Right off the bat, Sega was sneaky with the marketing trailers. I was expecting some sort of rpg or action/adventure game with some occasional story, a dating sim on the side, and a whole lot of mecha combat. Maybe some life simulations, because they touted life in steampunk Tokyo a LOT. What I got, instead, was a story-heavy, er, story with occasional dating sim and a very little bit of mecha combat. You play as Seijuro Kamiyama, a captain of a naval vessel recently "demoted" to captain of the Imperial Combat Revue. You find out these hybrid mecha defenders and actresses are facing tough times. They don't have the tech to protect Tokyo appropriately, and their theater skills are, well, bad. At this point, I assumed I'd be tasked with juggling the day to day training of these girls. I assumed "OK, so I'm going to have to do missions regularly with these girls while instructing them on theater and helping them set up plays." But no - this is a story, not a game - and the story kept on.

    So, after about two hours of exposition, I got into the tutorial battle and figured "okay, so we're in battle. It's gonna be tough with hordes of demon robots and creatures. I guess we'll be getting deployed almost everyday." No, no no. Here, I am now done with the snarkiness on the game. After the first several hours, it became apparent to me this was more so a feature visual novel. It will be STORY first, and then you get to choose how it flows and with whom. The mecha battles, the idea of exploration are all an after thought.

    The story, thankfully its redeeming factor, is a cheesy and over-dramatic classic anime tale. For that, I loved it a good bit. I enjoyed the harem tropes, the MC tropes, the cheesy jokes and funny serious situations, the goofy twist and turns. It screams old anime. A lot of the game's story apparently "changes" based on responses you give when talking. However, in actuality all that changes is how much someone likes you and whether or not they'll talk to you in the epilogue. You don't necessarily change the story, but rather how you're perceived in the story. If you pick the not super obviously bad options, you will still in good liking with everyone, meaning winning over any of the girls is super easy.

    The combat, the missions you will do in between chapters and sometimes randomly in between story scenes, is very barebones. There are two attack buttons, a dodge, a team mate switch, a super and a team super. The supers are overpowered, the normal attacks are very basic and some characters do butt-tons more damage than others, but the worse by far is how extremely broken the dodge is. You get iframes that last forever, you can spam it constantly, and you'll almost always get the slow-mo benefit. This game has virtually NO challenge at all in its battle systems. I beat the bosses before the in-battle dialogue even finishes. There's a system to let you replay missions and some other new ones, but it just seems way to boring to want to do.

    The overall look of the game is good. The 3d models are a bit weird looking at times and are overanimated in certain scenes, but the mix of the 2.5d and 2d animation cutscenes are nice and refreshing. The second biggest win for this game is its soundtrack. It doesn't have a LOT of music, but it does have GOOD music, and I love all of it.

    For my first Sakura Wars experience, I can't say I was all too impressed. I liked the characters, I enjoyed the cheesy story, the music was good and the game looks real nice. But they did nothing to make it feel like anything short of a visual novel with some side stuff to do. There's no life sim features, which games like this usually have; the combat is broken and toddler-level easy, and SEGA didn't do much to make you want to work on another playthrough besides "date this cute girl instead." An overall mediocre anime visual novel, is what Sakura Wars 2020 is. 6/10.    … Expand
  2. TsukasaHiiragi
    May 18, 2020
    6
    Pros/

    Great opening sequence Nice anime clips Great musical score New cast of characters with a new Sakura who's cute and endearing. Cons/ Action/RPG element is very weak and tacked on Action/RPG elements are few and sometimes take way to long for another mission Visual Novel questions can be frustrating playing blind with more wrong choices than right. Koi Koi is not    Pros/

    Great opening sequence
    Nice anime clips
    Great musical score
    New cast of characters with a new Sakura who's cute and endearing.

    Cons/

    Action/RPG element is very weak and tacked on
    Action/RPG elements are few and sometimes take way to long for another mission
    Visual Novel questions can be frustrating playing blind with more wrong choices than right.
    Koi Koi is not friendly for non-Japanese players who don't understand the game.
    Can be boring in places

    I desperately wanted to like Sakura Wars, especially considering I loved the original DC game and the anime series too, but the the new PS4 game has numerous problems especially trying to balance the visual novel aspects with your typical AJRPG elements, the problem is the actual rpg is basically tacked on and never lives up to any expectations, yes - it has it's moments especially during large scale demon boss battles, but other than that, it's spread too far apart often countless hours apart and feels like a poor version of Dynasty Warriors with wave after wave of small fry mobs, and honestly isn't even really a RPG if I'm really being that honest.

    The visual novel part is fine although playing blind will leave the player with a sour experience as unfortunately, quite often the multiple choice answers have multiple wrong answers harming your chances to get true endings, and eventually you'll usually resort to either using a guide or save scumming for each question. Because the action sequences are so far apart, people who don't typically go for VN games will get bored and potentially, in fact more than likely wili drop the game fast.

    Graphics is passable, animation sequences are very good but often just short clips. The opening sequence, music and sound are also very good, the opening song is fantastic and Sakura Wars fans will be happy with it. As always, comes with the bonus Koi Koi game which is fine but for foreign players...they are not going to understand it and it will a full guide in order to play effectively, and occasionally you'll get koi koi challenges in-game which unfortunately, if you don't know how to play....and most will not, then it's almost 100% will end in a loss.    … Expand
  3. RuriGokou
    Jun 20, 2020
    5
    If you're a fan of the older games you'll hate this, but if you never played them then maybe you'll like this? Personally, I played the older games and I really don't like this game too much. There is a horrible balance of too much text adventure and not enough gameplay. The older games had a nice balance of having enough visual novel and battle. It actually felt like it was an episode ofIf you're a fan of the older games you'll hate this, but if you never played them then maybe you'll like this? Personally, I played the older games and I really don't like this game too much. There is a horrible balance of too much text adventure and not enough gameplay. The older games had a nice balance of having enough visual novel and battle. It actually felt like it was an episode of an anime because each chapter had a problem, reaction, and solution.

    This game is mostly 90 percent text adventure, and the plot is all over the place. You could go hours without having the next gameplay section. What happened? Maybe I wouldn't mind so much if the characters were actually interesting and written well. Honestly I only liked chapter 4 (Azami's chapter). That felt the most Sakura Wars-like to me.

    The long time fans never asked for this reboot. All I want is Sakura Taisen 1 to 5 released on PSN with trophies. Just do that Sega. That's all I want. You didn't have to revive the franchise with some stupid plot elements.    … Expand
  4. MuffpuffZeBuff
    May 10, 2020
    6
    I wanted to like this game but I just can’t get behind it. While the actual gameplay mode isn’t broken or anything, it gets very repetitive and isn’t super deep. I would have liked a little more meat.

    While the characters are fun and they try really try hard to make sure there is a variety, done of the interactions were really basic or uncomfortable and it made it hard to really get    I wanted to like this game but I just can’t get behind it. While the actual gameplay mode isn’t broken or anything, it gets very repetitive and isn’t super deep. I would have liked a little more meat.

    While the characters are fun and they try really try hard to make sure there is a variety, done of the interactions were really basic or uncomfortable and it made it hard to really get invested in the cast. The main character in particular is weirdly hard to like even though he’s mostly a self insert and I think that might be why I couldn’t get behind things.

    But overall it isn’t a bad game, but it is a game you need to turn your brain off to enjoy .    … Expand
  5. Lookie
    May 5, 2020
    5
    While the battle aspects are pretty run-of-the-mill for it’s genre, the music and animation are good. That said, the characters are very anime and not in the good way, as in very oddly designed, overemotional, and relying on cheesy anime tropes will be off putting to some people.
  6. deplorable
    May 10, 2020
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. if you play it without expecting too much, or all the trophies and just enjoy the adventure, you'll like it. But that's it, the game falls down is the "battle" bits, and there's a lot of battle bits. OH and for trophy hunters the mandatory hanafuda mini game. I hate hanafuda. You will too after a few tries at this. It's not that it's difficult, it's just so much time each game for so little rewards. And you have to beat EVERY character. Also there's a practice and main mode which are all the characters.

    I mean even if they had snap, no one wants to play that 40 times.

    As for the battle mode, well after you unlock the "battle bot" mode you get to play all those little arena battles constantly again and again with all the other characters, doesn't that sound like 46 stages of FUN. Worse some boss battles are created so you need anti air to beat them so if you plan on getting that S rank with sakura, it's going to take a while and you're going to scream at the terrible camera and controls. because that's what they are.

    You have team attacks though which makes it easier, what's weird is how these are unlocked, you can go through the entire game making sure you're affection for say Claris is the top and you get her secret ending but still don't unlock her team attack. Yeah the game design IS that bad. You love me, and you can do anything and we've been to rank 10 (morale) but no team attack. Isn't she the greatest.

    honestly, if they had just did a turn based like the previous adventure it may have worked out better, but dreadful camera, the poor excuse for jump mechanics and the lock on which is about as much use as a condom machine in the Vatican, you're not going to have fun in the battle parts. It's a drag. Like slave labour, so yeah the battle bots where you can play all those dreadful repetitive missions again and again with different characters. It probably looked good on paper.

    As for a singing and dancing troupe who put on plays you'll be surprised to know there's none of that in the game. They do a song number at the end. And that's it. And it's brief. as for the secret endings 3 kisses, a holding hands moment and looking at stars. As for the other ending after you unlock all the 5, yeah it's just a picture of all 5 smiling.

    Collecting the bromides, the comedy and the scenes are what make this game. Everything else is terrible. We waited all this time after they cancelled 3 projects in 2008. Over a decade, and we get this.

    It could have been so much better. I really hope they get enough money back for a next one, but just buy cold steel 1/2/3, you'll have much more fun, a better story and more rewarding romance.

    if you are a masochist though, you'll love this to the fullest.    … Expand
  7. DrSiko
    Dec 23, 2022
    6
    This is my first Sakura Wars game, with no prior knowledge of the series. I added the game to my wishlist for 2 years until I finally bought it for $25.

    What I loved most is the Anime 3D style of the game. The models are very well-designed and the animation is good for a PS4 game. Every scene is beautifully made and well-crafted. Sadly, it looks like all the budget went into the design    This is my first Sakura Wars game, with no prior knowledge of the series. I added the game to my wishlist for 2 years until I finally bought it for $25.

    What I loved most is the Anime 3D style of the game. The models are very well-designed and the animation is good for a PS4 game. Every scene is beautifully made and well-crafted. Sadly, it looks like all the budget went into the design as I found the rest of the game is very limited.

    The game suffers a clear identity crisis; is it a dating sim? a life sim? An action/adventure game? A mech battle game? Unfortunately, it tries to be all these and failed at each one badly. The game ended up a 3D animated visual novel with decent and attractive characters.

    The game introduces you to theater, which your division should manage. Yet, you have no control whatsoever. The fight levels are lazily done and they give no challenge.

    The bosses are more annoying than challenging and the levels are a rehash of same assets and monsters it becomes boring and you end up mashing the buttons to move on. Unless you use a character who can hit from far like Claris and Anastasia, fighting air enemies drove me insane with the terrible camera and controls.

    Interacting with the girls can be fun sometimes but as long as you choose the middle choice you're safe and at the end all girls will like you equally and you can choose which you want to be with in the finale. Sadly, you can't date Sumire, the big boss, which was a let down. Azumi looks too young it's creepy to add as an option.

    The Koi-Koi game can be fun at times but I sense they cheat and get better cards than you.    … Expand
  8. Devereux
    Nov 3, 2020
    6
    You know those 'down-time' moments you have in your JRPGs where your party members split up and you can talk to them for bonding scenes? Well that's basically what all of Sakura Wars is... with a small amount of hack and slash combat on the side.

    You spend the large majority of the game engaging in light hearted Anime-esque skits and conversations with the almost exclusively female    You know those 'down-time' moments you have in your JRPGs where your party members split up and you can talk to them for bonding scenes? Well that's basically what all of Sakura Wars is... with a small amount of hack and slash combat on the side.

    You spend the large majority of the game engaging in light hearted Anime-esque skits and conversations with the almost exclusively female cast. You'll be peeping on them in the bath, looking up their skirts and getting up close and personal with all of them as the Captain of their Combat Revue. This is what the core gameplay is made up of so if you're looking to tap into your inner perv, you're golden! However if you're looking for a deep JRPG with a focus on combat or exploration, you'll want to keep moving.

    It is unclear whether it was intentional for the gameplay balance to be so far on the dating sim side and so lacking on the action role playing side, but this is what we have. To break up your ogling and peeping, there are short hack & slash combat sections. There isn't much to say about the combat other than it is extremely simplistic and easy with no character customisation, EXP or skills to gain or advanced mechanics to learn.

    It's clear the main chunk of development was put into the visuals and music because the game looks and sounds incredible. The level of polish on the character models & environments is extremely high, the textures on clothes and surfaces are gorgeous. From the shiny marble floors of the theatre cafe to the intricate stitching on Sakura's kimono, everything in the game is a treat to look at. The soundtrack is equally as delectable, with distinct themes for each character and unique, catchy music for each area of the game.

    The pacing of the story is very slow for the first two thirds and then bulldozes through to the end, it almost feels like the game was cut down to be a lot shorter than it was intended to be. Certain plot twists happen and then are not relevant at all and a lot of foreshadowing never amounts to anything. It's a shame because it feels like this was intended to be a much denser game than what the end product has ended up being.

    SEGA unfortunately dropped the ball with Sakura Wars. What we have is an extremely good looking, great sounding interactive Anime show. If you're looking for a next-gen dating simulator then you will be very happy but for anyone rightly expecting a JRPG with complex combat or expansive exploration, you will be disappointed.    … Expand
  9. caysjose
    Apr 12, 2022
    7
    Must play for anime/visual novel fans. It does a lot of things, battle, dating, "Tete a Tete", collecting cards, hanafuda play. But excels at none of it, especially the battle is rather mediocre, I usually finished the boss in 1 special attack. The most important is the story and it's very good and the variety makes it exciting, almost feels like Yakuza. It makes me become fans of the series.
  10. Hill417
    Nov 10, 2021
    7
    I, like many westerners, have never got to experience any of the Sakura Wars games due to fact that they were released exclusively in Japan on the Sega Dreamcast and Sega Saturn. Now Sega has decided to give us a new entry after ten years that serves as a soft reboot for the franchise allowing more people to experience the action dating sim. The final product is an odd, but delightfulI, like many westerners, have never got to experience any of the Sakura Wars games due to fact that they were released exclusively in Japan on the Sega Dreamcast and Sega Saturn. Now Sega has decided to give us a new entry after ten years that serves as a soft reboot for the franchise allowing more people to experience the action dating sim. The final product is an odd, but delightful experience that stuck with me long after I stopped playing. If you are familiar with the original games or perhaps watched the anime and movie then you are probably wondering where the original characters are. Well don’t worry about that, it will be explained in the story. You take the role of Seijuro Kamiyama who has just been appointed as the new captain of the combat revue known as the Flower Division, the absolute bottom of the barrel compared to the other combat units. How do I know that their status is so low? Because literally every other combat revue will show up to your base of operations to remind you how pathetic your group is. Seriously they go out of their way to belittle you. So it is up to you and your new unit to prove to everyone that the new Flower Division is just as capable as their predecessors.
    No underdog narrative like that would work unless you have likable characters and thankfully Sakura Wars has a bunch of lovable leads.

    We have the fiery shrine maiden Hatsuko, the aspiring ninja master Azami, the actress Anastasia, Clarisis the book worm, and the pure hearted swords woman Sakura. It’s through helping them with their insecurities that you see new sides to these girls and you start to form a genuine connection. You can develop these bonds even further with romance or the “te a te” moments as they are referred. If your bond is high enough before the final missions you can choose who will be your destined partner. The fact that every woman gets a different ending makes each of them feel special. Just for the love of god DO NOT FORGET TO GO ON A DATE WITH THEM. The consequences of doing so are severe. Our protagonist Seijuro is a treasure because you can decide if he is a stand up guy who would die for his comrades or you can make him a total sleaze bag who can’t resist peeping into the girls showers. Seriously the dialogue choices range from earnest and encouraging to perverted and juvenile and it’s pretty humorous to be honest.

    Now onto the gameplay. The combat is easy to learn and pick up on as you slice and shoot your way through enemies in your mech. In fact a little too easy as I never once died and my health only dropped to orange once. If you save up your special attack then you can reduce the bosses health by 3/4ths instantly. Hell I obtained several S ranks with ease. I get taking the new player friendly approach, but there still needs to be some challenge. At least these segments don’t last long which was the right call. If you do yearn for more mech action then you can replay missions with the other characters. Again they are the exact same missions, but they really serve as what I like to call “makeup bonding”. If you select the wrong dialogue choice then you can increase your bond levels with the ladies with these mission replays.

    While I stated that I adore our main characters I can’t say the same about our villain. Who is so obviously evil that its shocking no one has once said “Guys I think this man is completely off his rockers. We should probably speak up” Another nitpick I have is that there is no English dub. I don’t mind if I’m playing in Japanese, but there are scenes while in combat characters will deliver loads of exposition that I should be giving my undivided attention to, but I’m a little distracted with the constant fighting. If it was in English then I could hear what they are saying. If you are one of those people who prefers subs over dubs then you’ll be pleasantly surprised that the cast includes several top tier Japanese voice actors like Ayane Sakura, Miyuki Sawashiro, Maaya Uchida, and Tomokazu Sugita (anything with Gintoki’s actor is always worth watching/playing). These actors deliver a hundred and ten percent in almost every scene… even the drag out ones. My final gripe is that while the story is passable it tends to drag out certain moments that end up being total fake outs. Some of them try to tug your heart strings, but these don’t feel earned. Maybe that’s because at the end of the day it is still a dating sim game with potential perverted moments. Kind of a drastic change in tone.
    While the lack of a complex story and straightforward action are some of Sakura Wars glaring issues, it makes up for it with it’s cast of oddballs that you can’t help, but grow attached too.    … Expand
  11. TianLong1
    Jun 28, 2023
    6
    Dating sim and hack'n slash game, with a lot of cutscenes. If you are into anime, you might somewhat like the game, because it has japanese voice acting. The story is kinda interesting and have some nice sequences, but the main characters are definitely the reasons to play. However, if you are looking to feel stimulated throughout the game and have a lot of fun with compelling gameplay, iDating sim and hack'n slash game, with a lot of cutscenes. If you are into anime, you might somewhat like the game, because it has japanese voice acting. The story is kinda interesting and have some nice sequences, but the main characters are definitely the reasons to play. However, if you are looking to feel stimulated throughout the game and have a lot of fun with compelling gameplay, i would not advise you to spend time with it.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

61
#61 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 62 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 30 out of 62
  2. Mixed: 30 out of 62
  3. Negative: 2 out of 62
  1. GameMAG
    Sep 14, 2020
    80
    Sakura Wars has its drawbacks, and it is not only a weak combat system with forced battles in the championship, but also some templating, the length of some elements and spoilers-announcements between episodes. But all this is offset by deeply developed characters, beautiful animation and good humor. It is one of the best games of the genre in the last few years and the best that could happen to the series.
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  2. LaPS4
    Sep 8, 2020
    78
    Sakura Wars is the return/presentation of one of the most iconic series in the Japanese videogame industry. Dating simulator, visual novel, interactive anime and real-time combat system are the basics of this unique project. Sega is ready to captivate the world with its most daring game until the date. But, is the world ready?
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  3. Gamer Escape
    Jun 10, 2020
    70
    Those who already enjoy the series or this style of action-RPG meets dating simulator will still have a fun experience and find a good game to play here. Despite the faults with pacing or mechanics I may have discovered along the way, it won’t be enough to scare away this existing audience. But in a more general sense, unfortunately, Sakura Wars fills a need for a part of its player audience that, no matter how I look at it, isn’t something that feels right. Especially when you consider the decades of hard work the women of Takarazuka have put in, only to be attributed to this. It makes me hope that somewhere, someday, there can be a Sakura Wars without so much of those other moments. Maybe it could still be a dating simulator, just a more consensual-feeling one.
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