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KILL la KILL: IF

Kill la Kill The Game: IF managed to exceed my expectations in almost every way delivering a fantastic experience for Kill la Kill fans like myself who have been waiting a long time for a game.
70%Game Brain Score
story, gameplay
optimization, stability
73% User Score Based on 1,606 reviews
Critic Score 57%Based on 21 reviews

Platforms

PCPCPlaystation 5Playstation 5Playstation 4Playstation 4WindowsWindowsPlayStationPlayStationNintendo SwitchNintendo Switch

About

"KILL la KILL: IF" is an action game based on the popular anime series. Play as Satsuki, Ryuko, or other characters in 1v1 battles, using unique abilities and combos. The game features a original story supervised by the anime's creators, and offers multiple game modes including story mode and online multiplayer.

KILL la KILL: IF screenshot
KILL la KILL: IF screenshot
KILL la KILL: IF screenshot
KILL la KILL: IF screenshot
KILL la KILL: IF screenshot
KILL la KILL: IF screenshot
KILL la KILL: IF screenshot
KILL la KILL: IF screenshot
KILL la KILL: IF screenshot
KILL la KILL: IF screenshot
KILL la KILL: IF screenshot
+19

73%
Audience ScoreBased on 1,606 reviews
story122 positive mentions
optimization22 negative mentions

  • The game captures the art style and spirit of the anime, with beautiful visuals and animations.
  • Combat is fun and engaging, with a unique system that allows for creative combos and character diversity.
  • The story mode offers an interesting alternate narrative for fans of the anime, featuring original voice actors.
  • The PC port is poorly optimized, leading to frequent crashes, frame rate drops, and other technical issues.
  • The roster is limited, with only 10 characters available, which may disappoint players looking for more variety.
  • The story mode is short and heavily reliant on cutscenes, making it feel rushed and lacking depth.
  • story
    700 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story mode of "Kill la Kill: IF" has received mixed reviews, with many fans expressing disappointment over its brevity and reliance on cutscenes, which can make it feel rushed and disjointed. While the narrative offers an alternate take on the anime's plot, it often lacks depth and coherence, particularly for newcomers unfamiliar with the source material. Despite these criticisms, some players appreciate the effort to capture the anime's essence and enjoy the unique gameplay elements, though the overall experience is hindered by a limited character roster and a dead online community.

    • “Very nice alternative story for the anime.”
    • “The new alternate story line is very interesting and they go out of their way to capture the same feel that the anime had.”
    • “The story mode is honestly a massive highlight in this game for me.”
    • “Personally, as a big Kill la Kill fan, the story mode was a letdown.”
    • “The story has barely been touched and that was arguably the whole point of this game (hence the name 'if').”
    • “The story is very boring and it barely has any content.”
  • gameplay
    363 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay of "Kill la Kill: IF" is a mixed bag, featuring a simple control scheme that allows for engaging combat, but is often criticized for being overly simplistic and reliant on button mashing. The unique "bloody valor" mechanic, which introduces a rock-paper-scissors element, adds depth but can feel luck-based and detracts from the overall skill expression in fights. While the game captures the anime's aesthetic and offers fun mechanics, many players feel it lacks content and depth, making it more appealing to die-hard fans of the series rather than those seeking a robust fighting experience.

    • “The gameplay is finely tuned and deceptively rich and deep; hands-down the best simple-combo 3D arena fighter I've ever played.”
    • “Each character is massively unique, and coupling that with a lot of not-so-immediately-obvious mechanics, strategies, and moves really begins to show just how much work they put into making this game's gameplay top notch.”
    • “The combination of beautiful visuals with tight gameplay mechanics and a unique roster provides a fun gameplay experience for newbies and veterans of the genre.”
    • “It's not all good though, the very literal rock paper scissors bloody valor mechanic makes it difficult to take the game seriously at times.”
    • “Firstly, the gameplay of this game is too button mashy; there aren't any intricate, hard to pull off combos.”
    • “At worst, the game is playable but people can't comprehend the deep mechanics the game has to offer and people assume it's a button mash fest.”
  • graphics
    206 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of "Kill la Kill: IF" have received mixed reviews, with many praising the beautiful cel-shaded art style that faithfully captures the anime's aesthetic. However, several users noted issues such as pixelation, jagged edges, and a lack of comprehensive graphics settings, which detracted from the overall visual experience. While the visuals are generally considered impressive, some players feel that they could benefit from further refinement and optimization.

    • “The visuals are incredibly damn good and faithful to the original show, recreating scenes, moves, and ultimates straight from the source.”
    • “The combination of beautiful visuals with tight gameplay mechanics and a unique roster provides a fun gameplay experience for newbies and veterans of the genre.”
    • “Firstly, the art style and visuals are beautiful, and very faithful to the anime.”
    • “Terrible game, runs like garbage, story is everywhere, the character selection is too small and the graphics are not great for the year this came out.”
    • “The art style is also sadly marred by ugly, jagged outlines and a limited resolution.”
    • “The game doesn't have borderless fullscreen, doesn't allow for use of the d-pad (and in turn doesn't allow fully customizing controls), forces you to play the story before playing any other modes, has sub-par graphics that show just how low budget this game was, and on top of all of this, it doesn't even have an option to close the game so you have to either press the x on the window if you have it in windowed mode or force it closed in fullscreen mode.”
  • music
    106 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game is widely praised for its strong connection to the anime, featuring a killer soundtrack that enhances the overall experience. While many tracks are lifted directly from the anime, they are complemented by some original compositions that fans appreciate. However, several users report frustrating audio glitches, such as overlapping tracks and music that fails to stop at appropriate times, detracting from the otherwise high-quality sound design.

    • “The music is a very strong point in the show, so I was happy to see a lot of the OST being used in the game as well.”
    • “Kill la Kill has a killer soundtrack, and -if was definitely made better by utilizing it to its full extent.”
    • “Also worth noting the art style is perfect, the voice work is pretty top-notch, and the music, whilst definitely different from the anime, is very good.”
    • “Hell, I muted the music because it all sounds so similar that I legitimately thought there was only one track in the game.”
    • “Do you know how annoying it is to hear the same music playing over itself during gameplay?”
    • “I sometimes get a bug where music will keep playing forever, and every song that starts to play will overlap everything else, until about 20 songs are playing at the same time.”
  • optimization
    90 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with many players reporting significant performance issues, including frequent frame drops, stuttering, and crashes, particularly during intense battles. While some users managed to improve performance by adjusting GPU settings, the overall consensus is that the game feels poorly optimized, resembling a rushed port from consoles. Despite its fun gameplay for fans of the franchise, the technical shortcomings detract from the experience.

    • “In regards to performance, the game runs pretty much flawlessly on my GTX 1050, which is certainly not anything fancy.”
    • “The frame rate is locked at 60 fps, but otherwise the performance is very smooth as the game is not demanding at all and should work great even on low-end systems.”
    • “If you're a fan, it's a must buy, just be aware there are performance issues.”
    • “The game won't run any higher than around 30fps, though it frequently runs at significantly less than that due to constant stuttering.”
    • “Game freezes and crashes constantly, poor optimization, and this is long after the game stopped updates.”
    • “I have never seen a game less playable in my life - there was no optimization done.”
  • stability
    56 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's stability is heavily criticized, with numerous reports of frequent crashes, freezes, and poor optimization, particularly in the PC port. Many players experience issues such as cutscenes freezing, audio glitches, and significant lag, rendering the game nearly unplayable for some. Overall, the consensus is that the game requires substantial polish and fixes before it can be recommended to potential buyers.

    • “The game wouldn't stop crashing and it was buggy as hell.”
    • “I don't know if I get to have an opinion as the game basically freezes when I get to the first cutscene. It just freezes the screen but the sound keeps going like the game is still running. I basically can't do anything as I've seen on the internet it's a problem that, so far as I know, there is no way to run it and have it work on my laptop. So yeah, please fix.”
    • “Literally has become unplayable for me. Every single time I open it, go through the first cutscene, the screen freezes, audio cuts out, and then it closes itself. Each and every time I try reopening it, changing settings, etc., it always does the same issue. Not sure if anyone else is having this issue, but I personally wouldn't recommend spending money on it until its issues are proven to not happen.”
  • grinding
    18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The grinding aspect of the game is widely criticized, with players finding it tedious and frustrating, particularly due to the reliance on RNG and the lengthy story mode that locks content. While there are enjoyable multiplayer and survival modes, they quickly become monotonous due to a lack of challenging AI. Overall, the grinding experience detracts significantly from the game's enjoyment, making it hard to recommend for completionists.

    • “This game is a usual 3D fighting game that can be fun to tackle a couple of times, but if you want to complete it 100%, forget it. It's the most annoying thing I have ever attempted, RNG-based and tedious for the most part, so I can't recommend this game; just play it!”
    • “Fighting the 'suits' or whatever you want to call them, as well as the final boss, is so tedious that it felt like it was just filler for the game.”
    • “The long combos are fun in theory, but not being able to do anything for half the match gets really tedious.”
  • humor
    14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is noted for its quirky and absurd moments, particularly the transformation of the primordial life fiber into a baby, which stands out as a highlight. Players appreciate the comedic elements inspired by the anime, especially the amusing interactions involving characters and their clothing. However, some critiques suggest that the humor may not resonate with everyone, as it can feel hit-or-miss.

    • “It is a funny system that is obviously directly inspired from the anime where the characters do this all the time.”
    • “Idk, it's just very funny.”
    • “Funny AI.”
  • replayability
    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game suffers from low replayability due to a limited roster of characters and a lack of content beyond the story mode, which diminishes long-term engagement. While the online play is stable and accessible, the absence of a vibrant online community further detracts from replay value. Players express frustration over the need for updates to enhance the overall experience.

    • “Playing the same 10 characters over and over again is boring; there's no replayability for me.”
    • “The lack of content outside the story, which is further worsened by a dead online mode, cuts hard into replayability.”
    • “There's no replay value without online competition.”
  • monetization
    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The monetization of the game is heavily criticized, with users labeling it a "cash grab" due to poor optimization and lack of fun, suggesting that it feels more like a rushed early access title than a polished product. Many reviewers advise against purchasing the game, arguing that it does not warrant financial support for its current state.

    • “Horribly made game, that's not fun and it's just so badly optimized/ported that it feels like a cash grab 1000%.”
    • “Don't buy this game, don't reward another broken PC port cash grab.”
    • “Let's go through what I just said one by one and explain why this could use more polishing to seem like a full game rather than a quick early access cash grab.”
  • character development
    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Character development in the game is largely criticized, with reviewers noting a lack of depth and introduction for the characters, leading to a disjointed narrative. While the character designs are praised for their fidelity to the source material and high-quality presentation, the absence of meaningful character arcs detracts from the overall experience.

    • “To top it off, the source material's top-notch character design and personalities are reproduced faithfully, with high-quality subs and dubs.”
    • “Of course, this also includes Trigger’s great character designs, something they really did well when Kill la Kill originally came out.”
    • “It represents the anime very well with the character design to the story mode.”
    • “No one's given anything resembling character development; the characters aren't even given much introduction, and things just happen with little rhyme or reason.”
    • “The character design is ugly and lacks depth.”
    • “The characters are not developed at all, making it hard to connect with them.”
  • emotional
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players express a mix of frustration and disappointment regarding the emotional experience of the game. While some enjoy the fun aspects and their connection to the anime, the brevity of the story and the challenges in gameplay lead to feelings of emotional upset. Overall, the emotional impact is marred by gameplay frustrations and a lack of depth in the narrative.

Buy KILL la KILL: IF

5h Median play time
4h Average play time
4-5h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 8 analyzed playthroughs

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