Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization

 PlayStation 4
User Score
7.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 100 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 69 out of 100
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 100
  3. Negative: 21 out of 100
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  1. tomvs123
    Jul 26, 2019
    4
    First and foremost, this is a grind/filler game made for Sword Art Online fans. So if you don't like generic RPG grinds or filler story content in your shows, then look elsewhere.

    The main story is basic and contains roughly 30 minutes worth of content (stretched over 40 hours). It deals with a mysterious NPC, who quickly becomes un-mysterious, and the origins of Sword Art Online.    First and foremost, this is a grind/filler game made for Sword Art Online fans. So if you don't like generic RPG grinds or filler story content in your shows, then look elsewhere.

    The main story is basic and contains roughly 30 minutes worth of content (stretched over 40 hours). It deals with a mysterious NPC, who quickly becomes un-mysterious, and the origins of Sword Art Online. Without spoiling anything, the story starts out relatively interesting, but quickly loses steam and ends with a generic whimper where very little is accomplished or learned. Though some might like that this takes the Persona 5 route for its main plot, meaning that your young protagonists know more and are much more capable than the actual developers of the game or the institutions in place that regulate games.

    Note that the entirety of the game takes place within the game world and you don't interact with any of the characters in real life (which is disappointing).

    Besides the main story, you get lots of filler content dealing with the Sword Art Online characters. Well, the female characters at least. It becomes quickly apparent that this is a harem game. Even though you have a wife, you spend loads of time with all of the girls, with your wife generally having equal importance.

    I'm not opposed to harems, and actually had a bit of fun romancing all of the girls. Though I was disappointed when I reached the limit of the romance system: there's simply not much there. To summarize, you talk to a girl at a date spot and say "yes" or "no" to her statements. If she likes your answers, you can hold her hand, carry her, and take you to your bed, where nothing happens (besides more talking). There's other actions you can take, like "stroke hair" and "kiss," but these don't physically do anything and the girl just has a canned response for each.

    The most you get out of the romancing system is the ability to give the girls equipment and a single not-very-risque picture for each girl after you take them to bed.

    The rest of the story involves visual-novel events where you go on quests, cook/eat food, or just talk to the girls. These are self-contained and have no affect on the actual gameplay. It was disappointing when the characters talked about going on interesting quests with strange mechanics and rewards, and not actually being able to do that myself in-game.

    The contents of these story segments is simply filler. Half of them are about doing random daily things as friends with no intellectual depth (save for one or two, which try to be meaningful, but don't quite nail it). The other half are about putting the girls in precarious situations to give you a reason to ogle/touch their bodies/breasts/panties. And of course, there's bath scenes, swimsuits scenes, wet clothes scenes, and white stuff sprayed all over the girls' faces scenes. They're all visually mild, so you'll need to use your imagination.

    The game's playable section consists of one town and about five monster-filled zones. The town is mostly useless. I spent my time there looking for girls I needed to start events with and going to the quest board. There's simply nothing else useful in the town, including the shops, which sell gear that's much worse than what you can find in the zones.

    I was quite pleased when I went to the first non-town zone to fight monsters. It was interesting and full of good loot. But I quickly realized that all other zones were identical. Besides the look of the zone and monster types, all zones are set up the same: Monsters, chests, and events(to kill monsters) are spread out evenly. Your only goal is to get to the next teleport stone. There's little sense of this being a real world, and if this were an actual MMO, players would quickly get bored of its monotony.

    Quests are junk. These are actual fetch quests with no exposition. There's no guy who needs certain items or certain monsters killed so that he can do some thing (outside of the visual novel sections). You simply need to kill monsters or pick up items and turn them in. This is the closest I've been to a spreadsheet/checklist game. But at least quests aren't required. You can just pick them all up, and if you complete one by chance, then great.

    There's a lot of variety in the combat, with loads of different skills and weapon types, but there's no reason to use any of it. I was able to easily get through the game using 1h swords and a single attack skill. Bosses are especially silly since there's a lot of buildup and strategy planning for each, but they can be killed by simply standing in their face and repeating your basic attack.

    I liked the Sword Art Online anime, but this video game representation of it is no where near as good. With loads of filler story content that has no impact on the gameplay, meaningless monster grinding, and an incredibly basic world and gameplay mechanics, this is a below-average game at best.    … Expand
  2. Nel
    Jul 18, 2017
    2
    This game is just very clunky, and confusing. Hard to know what skills you are picking, and hard to know where you are suppose to go. There is nothing fun to be enjoyed here unless you are a real hardcore fan of the anime.
  3. CannibalPikachu
    Dec 4, 2016
    4
    I guess i should preface this by saying i am a bit of a SAO fanboy. Yet that still isnt enough to justify this awful game. The UI and controls got to me right off the bat. There is a reason why i dont play mmos on consoles and that is because those controls just dont work on a controller. Instead of getting a fluid control scheme i got a crappy free to play mmo control scheme that justI guess i should preface this by saying i am a bit of a SAO fanboy. Yet that still isnt enough to justify this awful game. The UI and controls got to me right off the bat. There is a reason why i dont play mmos on consoles and that is because those controls just dont work on a controller. Instead of getting a fluid control scheme i got a crappy free to play mmo control scheme that just doesnt work on a controller. Seriously, the little grid palette that you can place skills on kept popping open even without me tapping the touch pad and intefering with what i already had set on my circle button. Combat feels sluggish and not fluid at all like they got lost in that gray area between quasi-mmo and hack and slash combat. And perhaps one od my biggest irks is the overemphasis on the dating sim element and what they hide behind it. You cant change the gear of your party members without raising their affinity level high enough. Really, they hide an integral part of party based rpg combat behind a dating sim game. Ok thatd be fine if the dating sim thing was actually any fun at all. For example, Sinon starts at level 3 for affinity and she was the first one i tried this one. You have to get to level 4 to swap her weapons and level 5 to switch her armor and accesories. I used "fast" method that loops 5 events in your room at the inn in about 8 minute dialougue segements. It was then i endured the most painful 3 hours of my life. Thats right 3 HOURS. 3 god forsaken hours of the same 8 minute dialogue segment in what has to be the one of the most disrespectful minigame ive ever played in my life. Seriously i dont even care for the feminist movement most of the time, but the fact that you can go up to a girl who is in a "normal" mood at level of "friendly", and go straight in to a kiss with no negative consequence at all. You just nod to the rest of her statments and all of a sudden her mood is romantic and that fixed the fact that you seriously overstepped your boundaries and basically sexually harassed your "friend". Keep in mind thats for one person. To be able to change the gear of your entire party you would have to go through almost 10 hours of that awful dating sim, just to swap the gear of your party members. God forbid if you decide to switch up your party members down the road. Ive logged about 20 hours and i have seriously been bored for just about all 20. Still barely have any clue what the hell the main story is about, you just cant justify pacing that slow. I love SAO with all my heart, i really do. But there is no way to justify this awful pile of trash. A game shouldnt bore me 20 hours in, nor should basic mechanics be hiding behind the worlds worst dating sim ever. At least it looks pretty and the skill trees are actually very well thought out. Thats the only thing keeping me from scoring this lower.… Expand
  4. JWSpeed
    Nov 21, 2016
    1
    Really boring games, fell asleep several times, the only thing good about it is the fighting, even with lots of lag trying to jump! Sure glad I didn't pay full price.
  5. ad-_-noctum
    Nov 9, 2016
    4
    A virtual MMORPG that sadly replicates the hundreds of by-the-numbers, uninspired MMORPGs available on PC( without the "fun" of playing with other "real" players). Graphics look like PS3 quality and the quests are nothing but tiresome "run around and kill x amount of boring monster x" . This game caters to the Japanese and weebo market where anything that involves mostly female charactersA virtual MMORPG that sadly replicates the hundreds of by-the-numbers, uninspired MMORPGs available on PC( without the "fun" of playing with other "real" players). Graphics look like PS3 quality and the quests are nothing but tiresome "run around and kill x amount of boring monster x" . This game caters to the Japanese and weebo market where anything that involves mostly female characters drawn in the typical anime style means a game is awesome. 4/10… Expand
  6. randomgamer11
    Nov 9, 2016
    3
    If you like anime, are Japanese or are a Weebo you will probably love this game. Otherwise you will probably find it boring, bland-looking and full of un-fun quests that exist only as a way of slowly levelling up.
  7. ayrtonmoises
    Sep 1, 2022
    4
    Jogo abaixo da expectativa, muito robótico e sem emoção, combate repetitivo e gráficos ultrapassados para geração.De positivo achei a trilha sonora e arte.

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 34 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 22 out of 34
  3. Negative: 0 out of 34
  1. IGN Italia
    Oct 23, 2017
    79
    Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization is a good JRPG. It's made with diligence, dedicated to anime fans from which it's drawn, but also suitable for simple lovers of the genre.
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  2. RPG Site
    Dec 23, 2016
    60
    Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization is easily the best SAO game made by far. Not only is there plenty of things to do, but the combat, gameplay mechanics, and production is far better than the prior entries. It is clear a lot of work went into making this game, and they continue to add content with nearly every patch they've released so far. Unfortunately, it's weighed down by a low-stakes plot; awful party intelligence; and one too many systems at play. They've an ample amount of potential here, but unless you're a fan of the series or at least have a passing interest, it's difficult to recommend.
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  3. Atomix
    Dec 20, 2016
    71
    Hollow Realization is easily the best game based on the SAO Series; however its far from perfect. Albeit it offers a functional scheme of controls, a rich world to explore and an ambitious relations system, its weak and boring story, confusing menus and poor character AI make this game a hard test for all those die-hard fans. If you are a desperate gamer then maybe you will have a difficult time with this game; if you prevail all of its flaws, then you will get rewarded with a game that overflows with personality and fanservice.
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