SWORD ART ONLINE Alicization Lycoris

61%
Game Brain Score Based on 1,700 reviews
  • story
  • gameplay
  • graphics
SWORD ART ONLINE Alicization Lycoris Game Cover
The latest SAO game spins the anime's story into an RPG. Our review.
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"Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris" is a role-playing game set in the Underworld, a virtual world from the SAO anime. Players control Kirito, who must explore this new world and fulfill a promise with a new companion, Eugeo. The Deluxe Edition includes a Premium Pass, bonus costume, and virtual currency. Real-time combat utilizes sword skills and sacred arts in this immersive SAO experience.

  • Nintendo Switch
  • PC
  • Play​station 4
  • Play​station 5
  • Windows
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X|S
  • Play​Station
  • Tablet
  • Xbox
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

61%
Audience ScoreBased on 1,700 reviews
story204 positive mentions
optimization83 negative mentions
  • The game has a great story that expands on the Alicization arc, providing new content and character development.
  • Combat mechanics are engaging and allow for strategic gameplay, with a variety of skills and weapon types to choose from.
  • The graphics are visually appealing, showcasing beautiful environments and character designs.
  • The game suffers from long loading times and frequent crashes, making it frustrating to play.
  • Chapter 1 is excessively long and filled with cutscenes, which can feel tedious for players familiar with the anime.
  • The AI companions are often unresponsive and require constant player input to be effective in combat.
  • story869 mentions

    The story in "Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris" is a mixed bag, heavily influenced by the anime's narrative, particularly in the first chapter, which many players found tedious and overly long with excessive cutscenes. While some appreciate the depth and character development, particularly with the introduction of new characters like Medina, others criticize the pacing and repetitive nature of quests, feeling that the game often prioritizes dialogue over gameplay. Overall, fans of the franchise may enjoy the story's expansion, but newcomers might find it overwhelming and less engaging compared to other RPGs.

    • “My honest review about this game is overall the story is vast and great.”
    • “The story is pretty good and you do get to see some new and familiar faces.”
    • “The main story is also quite interesting, and builds upon the Alicization anime's story in a new direction.”
    • “The cutscenes feel barebones, the quests seem rather arbitrary, and I never would have imagined the story branching off from the show/manga in a way that does not feel all that engaging.”
    • “The story is pretty boring overall, which I don't know how they managed to make it this boring; the Alicization anime was pretty top-tier.”
    • “The story is a collection of absurd and incoherent discoveries about what is happening to the underworld, which turns quickly into a series of skip cutscenes because it's hard to bear.”
  • gameplay356 mentions

    The gameplay of "Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris" has received mixed reviews, with many players noting its clunky mechanics and slow pacing, particularly in the early chapters filled with lengthy cutscenes. While some appreciate the depth of combat mechanics and character customization, others criticize the repetitive nature of gameplay and technical issues such as poor optimization and camera control. Overall, the game offers enjoyable moments for fans of the series, but many feel it falls short of expectations due to its execution and balance between story and gameplay.

    • “The gameplay is great.”
    • “Amazing gameplay and character development system.”
    • “The gameplay is smooth, feels rewarding when you kill something, and the story is godlike.”
    • “Gameplay is very clunky and game models leave much to be desired; the art is way below average even compared to an indie game.”
    • “The story has terrible pacing; you will be spending like 15-45 minutes in cutscenes followed by 5-10 minutes of actual gameplay.”
    • “After 100 hours of gameplay, here's what I saw: the gameplay is similar to Hollow Realization, but the skill connects and chains are still in place, making the combat really fun.”
  • graphics303 mentions

    The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many players noting significant improvements over previous titles in the series, yet still falling short of modern standards. While some praise the visuals as "stunning" and "beautiful," others criticize them for being glitchy, poorly optimized, and reminiscent of older console graphics. Overall, the game's aesthetic is appreciated by some, but many players express disappointment with performance issues and texture quality, suggesting that the graphics do not fully meet the expectations for a game released in 2020.

    • “The graphics are beautiful, the soundtrack is amazing, and the gameplay feels a lot smoother than what I've experienced with previous titles.”
    • “The game features stunning graphics and smooth gameplay, making it a joy to explore the various environments and battle enemies.”
    • “The graphics are a major improvement from Hollow Realization (HR), and it is probably the first SAO game that doesn't look like a PS2 game, aside from some non-important NPCs.”
    • “The graphics are also satisfactory, while the game is well optimized all around.”
    • “The graphics for me are absolutely fine.”
  • optimization292 mentions

    The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with many players reporting severe performance issues, including significant frame drops, stuttering, and crashes, regardless of their hardware specifications. While some users have managed to achieve stable performance with specific settings, the overall consensus is that the game is poorly optimized, particularly for lower-end systems, and requires urgent patches to address these issues. Despite occasional improvements, many reviewers recommend waiting for further updates before purchasing.

    • “If you have a middle-of-the-range PC, performance won't be an issue for you at all.”
    • “The first wave of fixes also addressed a lot of the optimization issues for the PC version of the game.”
    • “I haven't had any performance issues, but I turned off V-Sync before I started up like everybody recommended.”
    • “This game is extremely poorly optimized even two years after release.”
    • “Despite my desktop’s RX 580 8GB GPU meeting the minimum system requirements, I was met with significant stuttering even on the lowest graphics settings at 720p resolution.”
    • “The real deal breaker here is the performance issues: according to most older reviews back from release, the game had a number of performance issues regarding major FPS drops on multiple devices across multiple platforms in areas such as towns or even fields, and these issues still remained in my (attempted) playthrough.”
  • grinding95 mentions

    The grinding aspect of the game is heavily criticized for being tedious and time-consuming, often requiring players to engage in repetitive tasks such as farming for gear, leveling up, and completing side quests with minimal rewards. While some players appreciate the depth and challenge it adds, many find the mechanics frustrating, particularly due to the slow acquisition of equipment and the reliance on RNG for drops. Overall, the game is described as extremely grindy, appealing primarily to those who enjoy prolonged gameplay and character development at a slow pace.

    • “It can be a bit grindy sometimes, but the rewards make it worth it.”
    • “You'll need a second life for grinding, but the sense of achievement is incredible.”
    • “Farming 1-3 monsters then having to run 1/2 the zone to find another pack of monsters to kill or looting the very, very few gathering points was annoying.”
    • “Grinding to upgrade weapons and armor after +6 becomes longer and tedious.”
    • “The game is tedious and long-winded in quests that are just fetch and finish and have no real story weight, giving mediocre rewards like XP and that's it.”
  • stability58 mentions
    • “Also, my PC is a potato and it runs great.”
    • “The game runs great on max settings and the game's art is visually stunning; it just looks beautiful.”
    • “A good runner, not stuck, no glitches, no bugs.”
    • “Released extremely buggy, 2 years later after numerous bug fixes, still incredibly buggy.”
    • “Constantly getting weird bugs where the game just freezes my characters when I open the menu and it forces me to have to task manager close the game.”
    • “Game buyers are still receiving an unfinished and buggy version of the game; three patches until now and every patch still makes the game worse.”
  • music37 mentions

    The music in "Sword Art Online: Lost Song" has received widespread praise, with many reviewers highlighting its emotional depth and quality, particularly the DLC boss music and the soundtrack overall. While some noted a few repetitive tracks, the majority found the music to enhance the gaming experience, evoking a strong sense of atmosphere and nostalgia. Overall, the soundtrack is considered one of the game's standout features, contributing significantly to its appeal.

    • “The soundtrack is amazing and the fighting style is better than ever.”
    • “The graphics are beautiful, the soundtrack is amazing, and the gameplay feels a lot smoother than what I've experienced with previous titles.”
    • “Amazing soundtrack gives you that almost bardic feel, like you're living in the medieval ages and traveling to the sound of the town band.”
    • “The OST isn't as good as some of the previous games' soundtracks (at least from what has played during my game time), though the normal battle theme seems like a watered-down remix of 'The Blue Rose Sword Battle' song from the anime.”
    • “Personally, I do not like the repetitive music when you go to the main town where most characters you converse with are (North Centoria).”
    • “Music is okay.”
  • monetization22 mentions

    The monetization strategy of the game has drawn significant criticism, with many reviewers labeling it a cash grab due to the high initial price combined with the presence of microtransactions and a gacha system. Players express frustration over the game's reliance on additional paid content, perceived poor optimization, and concerns about potential pay-to-win mechanics, leading to a general recommendation to avoid purchasing the game. While some acknowledge that the drop rates for lootboxes have improved, the overall sentiment is that the monetization approach detracts from the gaming experience.

    • “Let me clear something up: microtransactions, by definition, are any add-on to the game that you pay for.”
    • “There seems to be planned microtransactions using an in-game shop (season pass contains 200 SAO coins for it already), but the shop isn't available yet; however, it will most likely be down the line.”
    • “The microtransactions aren't that scary; just do your dailies if you care about cosmetics.”
    • “One of the last reasons I don't recommend this game: despite the high price tag that was on the game when I bought it (I made the mistake of preordering, so I spent even more), the game includes microtransactions and a gacha system.”
    • “Overall an overpriced game with DLC, from a dev that tried to sell you a B-level game on the Switch for an AAA price with microtransactions.”
    • “It is unfortunate that this turned out to be a cash grab by Bandai and is just a lazy game.”
  • character development10 mentions

    Character development in the game has received mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the depth and inclusion provided through dialogue and quests, while others feel certain characters, particularly Medina, have undergone forced and rapid changes that lack emotional impact. Overall, the visuals and character designs are praised, but there are calls for more options and a more fluid integration of character arcs into the gameplay.

    • “Amazing gameplay and character development system.”
    • “And nothing has felt grindy so far; I personally enjoyed all the dialogue, as even the filler dialogue gave more character development to the characters and made you feel more included in the journey.”
    • “Story is decent, a lot of interesting quests, and great character development.”
    • “I strongly believed that they are still able to fix her character even though many of us dislike her, but it is up to them to decide it; after all, the next DLC probably has nothing to do with Medina's character development.”
    • “Her character development feels forced and is incredibly fast-paced; I don't even feel anything for her in the plot development.”
  • humor8 mentions

    The humor in the game is a mixed bag; while some players find elements like NPCs misgendering female characters and the absurdity of the game's performance amusing, others feel that the humor can become stale and is overshadowed by the game's shortcomings. The comedic aspects, such as the tutorial's overwhelming pop-ups and the lazy design choices, provide some entertainment, but overall, the humor does not consistently elevate the experience.

    • “I find it hilarious that when playing as a female character, NPCs still refer to you as 'Mr.'”
    • “There are plenty of things that the devs did which are lazy; the fishing is hilariously lazy.”
    • “First try on my boss fight was weird to say the least, as I accidentally skipped through the rather hilarious tutorial. Seriously, you spawn and immediately get almost 10 pop-ups that tell you what to do. There are better ways to do that.”
    • “The humor falls flat and feels forced throughout the game.”
    • “I expected more laughs, but the jokes just didn't land.”
    • “The attempts at humor are cringeworthy and detract from the overall experience.”
  • emotional7 mentions

    Reviews indicate that the game's emotional impact is significantly diminished compared to the original anime, with many players finding the story lacking depth and emotional stakes. While some moments are described as heartwarming, the overall execution is marred by technical issues and a reliance on filler content that detracts from the emotional experience. Additionally, distracting elements, such as a mouse cursor appearing during key scenes, further undermine the intended emotional resonance.

    • “I'd say it is a tie-in game with the series because although the story is a watered-down version of the original story, it later adds its own twist on it that does come across as heartwarming.”
    • “The older heroines are 100% filler, don't add a thing to the table (other than some wholesome and heartwarming bonding events), and to top it off, they just randomly pop into a cutscene, and for the next one they disappear.”
    • “The gameplay is boring, and the story is unengaging since I already know it from the anime, making the entire experience dull.”
    • “The emotional depth is lacking, leaving me feeling disconnected from the characters and their struggles.”
    • “I expected a rich emotional experience, but instead, I found the narrative to be flat and uninspiring.”
  • replayability3 mentions

    The game's replayability is mixed; while some players find it enjoyable and playable, others note significant issues, particularly with certain characters missing and ongoing performance problems that may hinder the experience. Overall, improvements have been made, but further patches are needed to enhance replay value.

    • “It is playable and definitely enjoyable to the point where you will have fun.”
    • “The game is more playable now; at least it's not as bad as before. They still need to release more patches to fix the game, especially the performance issues.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

53% average critic score

Buy SWORD ART ONLINE Alicization Lycoris

Play time

14hMedian play time
22hAverage play time
6-29hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 32 analyzed playthroughs

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