Review — Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed
Become an otaku and battle shadowy creatures by removing their clothes in Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed.
The original Akiba’s Trip was released in May 2011 for the PlayStation Portable in Japan. Although the game did receive an updated version in 2012 with Akiba’s Trip Plus, the game unfortunately never made it to our shores. After all, Akiba’s Trip was released shortly before the PlayStation Vita would appear. A port was therefore soon abandoned in favor of a new part that also came to us for both the PlayStation Vita and the PlayStation 3 and 4: Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed.
In honor of the tenth anniversary of the original Akiba’s Trip, the game recently received a remaster for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC, for which, of course, Akiba’s Trip Plus was used as the basis. Among other things, this version brought additional voice overs, a new difficulty level, and additional costumes and side activities to the game. To the delight of fans of this series, the new remaster was also released in the West and they can now discover the origins of the series. Although, of course, with the sequel Undead & Undressed, the setup did remain largely the same.
It’s All About the Expectations
You have to take the latter with a grain of salt though. Considering Akiba’s Trip Plus is the predecessor of Undead & Undressed, many elements in the game are more rudimentary than in the sequel. As such, your experience of this game depends greatly on your expectations. It is important to remember that Akiba’s Trip was a PlayStation Portable game aimed at a more niche audience and itdid not have the same resources as a triple-A game.
The game, like its successor, was mainly characterized by using the famous Akihabara district in Tokyo as its setting and the large amount of ‘fanservice’. This mainly implies the sexual tone of the game. Those who do not have a slightly perverted side or are politically correct to the bone, better not start this game. Even the battles revolve around stripping your opponents until they are in their underwear. The twist to this for the story is that you are mainly fighting against some kind of vampires and trying to expose them to sunlight to defeat them.
So get ready for a silly story full of cheesy humor and more sexual innuendos and nods to otaku culture than are good for you. Fortunately, you’re also joined by a colorful, if rather archetypal, collection of characters. So the story itself is enjoyable to follow and also has some very different endings. In addition to the story, there is a lot to collect and do in the game such as shopping in one of the many stores, visiting Maid Cafés or just like in the Yakuza series playing mini games or using the UFO catcher. The setting in which the story takes place is a fairly accurate representation of Akihabara and if you have been here before, it will certainly be a familiar sight for you. Though this enjoyment might be tempered due to the way this remaster was handled.
Disappointing remaster
Unfortunately, this remaster of Akiba’s Trip seems to be one of the least amount of effort. While there are some improvements, such as the addition of English voices and HD resolution, this is a fairly straightforward port of the PSP version. Visually, the characters seem to have received the best treatment, but as for the environment, it’s pretty depressing. Many low-resolution textures were not updated, and stretched out on a large television these look, compared to the small PSP screen, terribly blurry, as you can see above. Additionally, the game doesn’t contain the most detailed environments, so everything quickly feels quite bare.
Furthermore, the creators have not taken the opportunity to add some quality of life improvements to address existing problems. I’m talking about improvements like the ability to customize your gear when in a certain area and an autosave feature, instead of only allowing both when you’re in the menu between two areas. A less erratic camera and a better lock-on feature during battles would also have been welcome, as now the battles are rather cumbersome.
Unfortunately, the combat system doesn’t have much going for it and quickly boils down to button bashing in the hopes that you can strip your enemies faster than they can strip you. Moreover, the game is not exactly easy, especially when they attack you in group, which quickly makes it a frustrating experience. Combine this with tedious and repetitive side quests, and you soon end up with a game where you wish the creators had paid just a little more attention to the final product.
2/5
Reviewed on PlayStation 5 (PlayStation 4 version).
Download code provided by the publisher.
