Learn Japanese To Survive! Katakana War

92%
Game Brain Score Based on 390 reviews
  • story
  • gameplay
  • music
Learn Japanese To Survive! Katakana War Game Cover
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"Learn Japanese to Survive! Katakana War" is an educational game that teaches players the Katakana writing system of the Japanese language. It's the sequel to Hiragana Battle and is designed for players with no prior knowledge of Japanese. This immersive game provides a fun and interactive way to learn a new language, with a journey full of action, adventure, and intrigue. No prior experience or additional resources are needed to start learning with this game.

  • Mac OS
  • PC
  • Windows
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

92%
Audience ScoreBased on 390 reviews
story27 positive mentions
grinding15 negative mentions
  • The game effectively teaches Katakana through engaging gameplay, making memorization enjoyable.
  • Improvements over the previous game include better graphics, a more streamlined combat system, and the ability to see enemies on the map, reducing random encounters.
  • The inclusion of voice acting and character interactions adds depth to the story and enhances the overall experience.
  • The voice acting can be cringy and inconsistent, detracting from the immersion of the game.
  • Some players found the story and characters to be cliché and lacking depth, making it less engaging.
  • There are occasional bugs and performance issues, particularly during cutscenes and after battles, which can disrupt gameplay.
  • story153 mentions

    The story in "Katakana War" is generally viewed as mediocre, with many players finding it generic and lacking depth, though some appreciate the effort put into character development and humor. While the narrative serves its purpose in supporting the educational aspects of the game, it often feels undercooked and overshadowed by gameplay mechanics. Overall, the storyline is seen as an improvement over its predecessor, "Hiragana Battle," but still fails to leave a lasting impression.

    • “The storyline of the game is an epic tale, resonating with the adventures and legends of Howlstrom.”
    • “As I ventured through this digital Japan, I encountered various characters, each unfolding a new chapter of the story and deepening my connection to the language.”
    • “It teaches you katakana while you are having fun and the storyline is amazing.”
    • “The story is... there.”
    • “The story and characters are pretty bad, and the gameplay (while better than the previous entry) is bland.”
    • “The plot of course, isn't all that great.”
  • gameplay95 mentions

    The gameplay in this title combines RPG mechanics with language learning, allowing players to defeat katakana enemies by selecting the correct sounds, which enhances memorization. While improvements have been made in combat mechanics and user interface compared to its predecessor, some players find the gameplay repetitive and basic, with a need for more variety in enemy encounters and additional engaging elements. Overall, the game effectively serves its educational purpose, making learning katakana enjoyable, despite some lingering flaws in gameplay depth and story.

    • “The gameplay involves defeating katakana enemies by selecting the correct sounds, a concept that's both innovative and fun for those willing to overlook its RPG flaws.”
    • “The main gameplay loop of fighting katakana enemies forces you to memorize each character, and is a great way of revising what you've already gone over, especially since every character you've learned can show up to a fight.”
    • “The gameplay has received some improvements, like boss battles and being able to see the turn order, and the boost of presentation is nicely improved, with great character portraits and some voice acting.”
    • “The gameplay is very repetitive and basic; the music is decent and serves its purpose, but the voice acting is mediocre to bad.”
    • “The battle mechanics are okay, but they could be improved a bit. For example, the enemies are not random, so you battle the same enemies too much, and when you battle letters from the Roman alphabet, you can do it just by remembering the order of the katakana lessons.”
    • “The gameplay consists of study sessions where you learn characters used in combat against obake ('monsters') in a somewhat streamlined way of playing, but there are only 20 very simple side quests, totaling about 10 hours to complete the game in its entirety.”
  • music40 mentions

    The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many praising its catchy J-pop and traditional Japanese influences, particularly highlighting the improved boss battle themes and overall soundtrack quality compared to the previous installment. However, some players noted issues with repetitiveness and abrupt looping, while others felt that the music, though decent, did not reach the heights of the first game's soundtrack. Overall, the music enhances the gameplay experience, contributing positively to the learning aspect of the game.

    • “The soundtrack is J-pop and traditional Japanese music inspired, and is way more catchy and fitting than the last game; the boss battle theme rocks way harder than it should.”
    • “The game graphics and music are both much improved over the original, with the visual novel style working well for laying out the story.”
    • “Awesome music collection.”
    • “The music can be repetitive, and the storyline is not very interesting.”
    • “As far as gameplay features, the music doesn't loop very well and ends and restarts abruptly.”
    • “The voice acting isn't great and the soundtrack is absolute garbage but turn those down and it achieves what you'd hope.”
  • graphics30 mentions

    The graphics in the game have seen significant improvements over its predecessor, featuring a beautiful art style and enhanced visuals that evoke a nostalgic, old-school feel reminiscent of classic titles like Zelda. While the pixel graphics are detailed and characters are more engaging, some users noted performance issues and a lack of character artwork variations that can detract from the overall experience. Overall, the graphics and art style contribute positively to the game's immersive storytelling and learning experience.

    • “The game graphics and music are both much improved over the original, with the visual novel style working well for laying out the story.”
    • “The graphics are superior, the art style is significantly better, the characters are more likeable, since this time you can actually befriend them.”
    • “The pixel graphics are detailed, and the characters have traits that make them stand out from the others.”
    • “Plus the graphics look like something from SNES or Game Boy Color.”
    • “Lastly, I think the most important issue here is that the artwork of the character that appears when they speak should have more variations. Because there is only one artwork for each character, sometimes they don't match what they're saying (like someone is saying something furiously but their artwork shows them smiling).”
    • “It has better visuals, even though it still has that 'RPG Maker' look; it clearly looks much better than the first game.”
  • humor16 mentions

    The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with some players finding it charmingly dumb and genuinely funny, while others feel it falls flat as the game progresses, becoming overly forced and cringe-inducing. Many appreciate the humorous dialogue and light-hearted jokes that accompany educational content, though some criticize the voice acting and attempts at humor as basic and unoriginal. Overall, while the game starts strong in its comedic elements, it struggles to maintain that level of humor throughout.

    • “The voice acting is a little funny, but it has a charm.”
    • “There is some really dumb humor, but it's so dumb that it's actually funny.”
    • “Most dialogue with characters is humorous in some way, and the game makes sure that there are a few jokes before each lesson to make sure that even the driest parts of the game are still enjoyable.”
  • grinding15 mentions

    Overall, the grinding aspect in the latest game iteration has been significantly improved, transforming it from a tedious experience into a more engaging quest-driven process. Players appreciate the removal of random encounters and the ability to control combat more effectively, making grinding feel purposeful and rewarding. However, some still find it tedious, especially when leveling up multiple characters, and suggest that a more balanced leveling system could enhance the experience further.

    • “I played the previous version, Hiragana Wara, but stopped playing it because grinding was tedious and it felt not that fun to play.”
    • “The ability to swap party members was a great addition; however, the game just threw almost all the characters at you at once, and since they're all low level, grinding them felt tedious. Unless you're going for 100% achievement, don't bother—find the characters that work for you and stick to them.”
    • “I wished all the members of your party leveled up with you, so you wouldn't be stuck using the same members you chose at the beginning of the game just to avoid hours and hours more of grinding.”
  • optimization12 mentions

    Overall, the optimization of the game has received mixed reviews. While some players appreciate the quality of life improvements and find the gameplay well-optimized, others report significant performance issues, including slowdowns during particle effects and high CPU usage despite the game's low graphical demands. Additionally, there are complaints about the functionality of control options and inconsistent performance across different systems.

    • “With Katakana War, the game is fairly well optimized, with lots of quality of life improvements that are non-existent in its predecessor: no more random encounters, a more simple and fluid leveling system, achievements, an endless dungeon for easy drilling of everything you've learned, and even lots of scenes that are fully voice-acted, which was an extremely pleasant surprise.”
    • “The characters are fun and cute, and the gameplay itself is very optimized compared to Hiragana Wars.”
    • “All in all, a very good price-performance ratio makes this game very attractive to anyone wanting to learn Japanese.”
    • “There are optimization issues, which is strange to say about a game as undemanding as this, but there were moments of genuine slowdown, especially when particle effects were on screen.”
    • “It's not optimized for computers; the options provide a choice to use the WASD keyboard configuration, but it doesn't work. Despite being no more graphically intense than a Super Nintendo game, this game eats up CPU like crazy, making it hard to run.”
    • “Even though it's a 2D RPG game, I get some performance issues when playing the game; it could be an issue that only happens on my PC, though.”
  • stability4 mentions

    The game has been reported to experience frequent crashes and various glitches, including issues with cutscenes freezing while audio continues. While some users appreciate the overall experience, these stability problems detract from the enjoyment.

    • “I've read in the comments and other places that the game sometimes has glitches.”
    • “It's good, but it crashes a lot and there are quite a few glitches.”
    • “During the final affection event of a character, is it just me, or does the cutscene freeze after they finish talking, while the audio continues in the background?”
  • character development4 mentions

    Character development in the game is a mixed bag; while some players appreciate the modern and appealing designs along with ample interactions among party members, others criticize the shallow writing and lack of depth in character bios, leading to a disconnection from the characters. Additionally, the voice acting and music choices have been polarizing, with some finding them overly cutesy and annoying, detracting from the overall experience. Overall, the execution feels rushed and incomplete, leaving many players unsatisfied with the character development aspect.

    • “There’s a lot of focus on your party members, with plenty of interactions and character development.”
    • “The character designs are modern and appealing.”
    • “The story so far is quite good, though the playable characters and voice acting aren't to my personal taste; the very cutesy and annoying style of voice acting and character design detracts from the experience.”
    • “(Some) incorrect phonetics and pronunciation references, half-hearted kana stroke order representations, terrible voice acting, and an overabundance of clichés in character design. I found myself not caring about the characters in any way whatsoever; the character bios were poorly written and did not make any difference in the game, not even in relation to other characters.”
    • “There’s a lot of focus on your party members, but the character development feels lacking and fails to engage the player.”
  • emotional3 mentions

    The emotional aspect of the game is enhanced by its beautiful character art and heartfelt voice acting, despite some moments being perceived as cringy. The shift from random encounters to engaging battles through character interaction adds a more personal touch, contributing to a warm and immersive experience.

    • “Happily, this game improves upon hiragana battle with wonderful art of all the characters, voice acting (which I admit is sometimes cringy, but heartwarming all the same), and a little bit of visual novel action too.”
  • replayability1 mentions

    The game's replayability is enhanced by the addition of voice acting in cutscenes, a variety of playable characters for player preference, and improved combat flow that allows for more strategic gameplay. The removal of random battles in favor of visible enemies on the overworld and dungeons also encourages exploration and tactical engagement, making each playthrough feel distinct.

    • “The addition of voice acting in cutscenes and more playable characters allows for a fresh experience with each playthrough, as players can swap characters based on their preferences.”
    • “Improvements to the flow of combat, such as turn order being based on character speed, enhance the strategic depth of the game, making each replay feel unique.”
    • “The removal of random battles in favor of visible enemies in the overworld and dungeons adds a layer of strategy, allowing players to choose their encounters and explore the game at their own pace.”
    • “The game lacks significant changes in story or gameplay mechanics upon replaying, making it feel repetitive after the first playthrough.”
    • “Once you've completed the game, there isn't much incentive to go back; the side quests and collectibles don't offer enough variety to keep me engaged.”
    • “While the initial experience was enjoyable, I found that replaying the game felt like a chore due to the predictable outcomes and lack of new content.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

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Play time

13hMedian play time
13hAverage play time
13-13hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs

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