“Sekiro but with cute anime girls” Sekiro-like Japanese indie game releases to rave reviews 

Japanese developer Tonoji released the “Sekiro-like” action game Kannagi Usagi on November 3 for the PC (Steam). The game is available for free. 

Kannagi Usagi is a stage-clearing sword fighting action game in which the player competes in one-on-one sword fights against bosses only. In this game, you play as a girl with rabbit ears wearing Japanese-style clothes. You can challenge the bosses that await you in each stage in any order you like. 

During battle, even if you slash at your opponent with your sword, your attack will be blocked and you will not be able to deal any damage. On the other hand, by blocking and deflecting your opponent’s attacks at the right time, or making your opponent block your attacks, you can gradually exhaust their stamina gauge. As the enemy’s stamina is depleted, they will be more likely to lose their balance, creating an opening for you to deliver a fatal blow. In Kannagi Usagi, you defeat powerful bosses by parrying your opponent’s attacks and breaking their stance. The tense one-on-one sword fights that don’t allow you to let your guard down continue one after the other. 

There are a total of 8 bosses in the game. Each boss has different motions and patterns, and attacks the protagonist with thrusts and sweeps that cannot be blocked by defense. As for the protagonist, even if she is knocked down, she can recover on the spot one time. As the developer Tonoji mentioned on their X/Twitter account, Sekiro-like battles await players. The nominal play time is approximately 10 to 20 minutes. 

This game has been attracting some attention on X/Twitter since it was in its development stages, but even after its release it seems to be making waves on social media as a “Sekiro-like.” The game has an Overwhelmingly Positive status on Steam, with 96% positive reviews as of the time of writing.  

However, this game is not just equipped with a system similar to the original Sekiro. Although bosses with similar movements and effects do appear, this game focuses only on boss battles, and you can immediately fight bosses again. While retaining the tension of sword fights, the balance has been adjusted to be more casual, making it easy to play as a short action game. The content shows a strong respect for the original, probably contributing to its rave reviews. 

Kannagi Usagi was made by the Japanese developer Tonoji. In the past, they had released several projects on the creative platform Dreams Universe. As can be seen from the X post above, they started work on this game around December 2021. As the game progressed, they made updates about it on X. The game was released for free, and Tonoji explains that they made it free because the content is very close to the “original.” 

Note that this work is classified as adult-oriented content on Steam. According to the description on the Steam store page, the content is considered adult-oriented because it depicts revealing costumes and underwear, suggests the consumption of alcohol, and expresses violence such as characters slashing and stabbing each other. The developer Tonoji has mentioned that “there are no erotic scenes,” so the age restriction on Steam was probably imposed for the reasons stated above. 

Written by. Sean Parker Sullivan based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2023-11-03 20:02 JST)