Tokyo Necro Review Summary

Its engaging narrative and unique worldbuilding are praised, but this multi-route visual novel suffers from pacing problems, criticized story and writing, and severely lacking character development.

Engaging Narrative Praised: Players highly praise the game's story, describing it as engaging, complex, and well-written with great characters. The narrative leaves a lasting impression and is a major highlight.

Grand and Unique Worldbuilding: The worldbuilding is described as grand, imaginative, and well-developed, with a vast and dark setting. The cyberpunk world setting is specifically highlighted as a strong point.

3D Cutscenes Enhance Presentation: The incorporation of 3D movies, cinematography, and cut scenes is praised for enhancing story presentation. Gorgeous action sequences using 3D cutscenes are a highlight.

Stylish and Immersive UI: The user interface is frequently commended for its impressive design, unique style, and immersive presentation. The UI and text presentation are considered excellent and add to the overall experience.

Excellent Music and BGM: The background music (BGM) and soundtrack are frequently described as perfect, amazing, and perfectly used. The OP and ED are also well-received.

Pacing and Narrative Structure Issues: The story suffers from poor pacing, with slow beginnings, rushed developments, and excessive dragging in routes. The dual-perspective narration and frequent perspective switches are confusing and disrupt immersion.

Story and Writing Criticized: Many reviewers find the story mediocre, with poor characterization, clichéd plots, and underdeveloped worldbuilding. The script quality is often described as dull, terse, or second-rate, failing to convey grand themes.

Character Development Lacking: Characters are poorly fleshed out, with inconsistent motivations, thin characterization, and abrupt romance developments. Some routes, such as Iriya's and Consu's, have logic problems and insufficient buildup.

Steam Version Heavily Censored: The Steam version removes substantial fight scenes, gore, and important lore, requiring a patch to restore full content. Some users report that without the patch, less than 10% of the original content is available, and the story feels disjointed with missing exposition.

3D Visuals and Animation Criticized: The 3D models and animations are rough, blurry, and awkward, with some effects causing discomfort. Battles rely too heavily on 3D visuals instead of good writing.

Visual novel with multiple routes: The game is a visual novel structured around multiple character routes, with some routes leading to different endings. This core structure is frequently mentioned across several clusters.

Four routes plus true ending: Players must complete all four character routes to unlock a hidden True End route. This gating mechanic is consistently noted and adds replay value.

Dual protagonist system: The story is told from the perspectives of two protagonists, often switching between them. This narrative device is highlighted in multiple clusters.

3D animated battle scenes: Combat and action sequences are presented using 3D animation, including full-screen CG cutscenes. This visual style is a distinctive feature.

Choices determine route branching: Two key choice points, each with two options, determine which of the four routes the player enters. This simple branching system is noted for its clarity.

Post-Patch Error Reports: Players report that the game throws errors after patches are applied, indicating update-related stability problems. The issue appears in isolated feedback but may affect players immediately after each update.

Slow Initial Loading: Booting up the game takes a long time, delaying access to gameplay. This slow startup hurts first impressions and adds friction every session.

Slow Save And Load: Saving and loading progress is notably slow, interrupting gameplay flow. Frequent saving or loading makes these delays more noticeable and frustrating.

Essential patches and DLC: Many reviewers emphasize that the 18+ patch from JAST or the official website is essential to unlock extra content, uncensor fight scenes, and experience the full game. They warn against playing the Steam version alone, as it intentionally cuts content.

Recommended for Nitroplus fans: Multiple reviewers recommend the game specifically for fans of Nitroplus and its style, noting it as one of their best works. Some suggest playing other Nitroplus games first, but overall it is a must-play for fans.

Positive general recommendations: Many reviewers give general praise, calling it a great game, highly recommended, and worth buying. It is described as creative, performant, and worth the price.

Mixed and negative reviews: A few reviewers express regret or middling opinions, calling it overhyped or not worth the time. Some suggest avoiding the game or waiting for a sale.

Recommended route order: Several reviewers strongly recommend playing the routes in a specific order, typically Mitsumi, then Con Su, then Kiriri, and finally Iria for the true ending. Leaving Iria's route last is advised to avoid frustration and spoiling the plot twist.

Community fair range: $20.00 - $30.00.

Game completion: 45.0h.

Story completion: 30.0h.

The game has a slow, terminology-heavy first route, but players report that it becomes more interesting after starting the second route or getting past the first half of Mitsumi's route.

Friction: Slow start in the first route; Heavy sci-fi terminology early on; Slow UI and startup; Tedious launch animation before the main menu; Uneven pacing between routes; New game option easily mistaken for continue in the first few hours.

Unlock drivers: Starting the second route; Getting past the first half of Mitsumi's route.

Nitro+ Hardcore Sci-Fi Veteran: Reads all routes for hardcore themes and tolerates gore, psychological twists, and messy plotlines. Motivation: Dark, philosophical sci-fi and the distinctive Nitro+ transgressive style. Stance: buy.

Heroine Route Completionist: Plans route orders, replays branches, compares heroine screen time, and evaluates romantic development and music. Motivation: Experiencing all heroine routes and arranging them for the best true-ending and romantic payoff. Stance: buy.

Uncensored Gore Content Purist: Installs patches, compares Steam and unrated versions, and warns others about missing content. Motivation: Playing the full uncensored game with all gore, sex, and lore content preserved. Stance: buy.

Steam Deck: Audit of the Steam Deck experience for Tokyo Necro. Reviews show the game can run on Steam Deck after manual tweaking, but it is not seamless. Users must follow external guides or apply patch workarounds, and one user cannot play on Deck without a direct patch method. Additionally, the Chinese version suffers from frequent crashes, a stability issue that can affect Deck play. These factors place the experience in the Broken range despite some reports of perfect performance after tweaks.

Official Patch from JAST: An official patch to restore cut content is available on JAST's website. Players need to download it to experience the full story, including additional scenes.

Developed by Nitroplus: The game is developed by Nitroplus (also known as Nitro Origin) and published by JAST. It is a work by the studio Nitro+ (N+).

Compared to Muramasa: Reviewers compare this game unfavorably to Muramasa, stating it is not as good and scores lower in personal ratings. It is also compared in terms of excitement level.

15th Anniversary Work: This game is a 15th-anniversary commemoration work for Nitroplus. It celebrates the company's anniversary.

Playtime 30-60 Hours: The game offers about 30 to 60 hours of playtime, with some reporting over 30 hours and others around 50-60 hours. One review mentions under 30 hours.