Review
Onee Chanbara Origin Review: The First Two Games Remade
Tamsoft remade the 2004 cult hack-and-slash and its sequel as one game with a new art style and a new playable character. It looks great and plays exactly like the mid-2000s.
Released October 14, 2020Reviewed on PlayStation 4 ProAlso on PCDeveloper TamsoftPublisher D3 PublisherPrice at launch $59.99 USD
2020 was a year of revivals, so a return for Onee Chanbara, the fan-service hack-and-slash about cutting down zombies, fits right in. The first two games came out in Japan from 2004 as part of D3 Publisher’s budget Simple Series and never reached North America. Origin remakes both with a new art style, a new playable character and a reworked story that joins them into one adventure.
High-speed bloody sword fighting
The game calls itself “high-speed bloody sword-fighting action”, and it delivers exactly that. It also still feels like a classic arcade brawler, which cuts both ways. The fun of the mid-2000s originals is intact, and so is their simplicity. Without significant changes to combat or structure, Origin is more likely to please long-time fans than win new ones.
From the opening, Aya carves through waves of shambling zombies with her katana, cutting off limbs and heads by the dozen. By modern standards the combat is basic, built on simple inputs rather than complex combos or a wide set of special abilities, and anyone who played Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad on Xbox 360 will recognise it immediately. Long sessions get repetitive. Progress helps: new weapons and new combat states open up as Aya grows stronger.
The best part of the combat is Berserk Mode, available once Aya is covered in enough blood. Later, Xtatic Mode turns her into a demon capable of devastating combos. Even so, the undead keep falling the same way, new enemy models or not. The systems that thrilled in 2005 feel thin in 2020.
A B-movie story
The story is camp and predictable, in an entertaining B-movie way. Aya and her sister Saki were born into a family of assassins to different mothers and separated young. Aya trained as an assassin like their father; Saki’s life was shaped by loss, leading her down a darker path and into conflict with her sister.
The first part follows Aya searching for Saki, meeting family and unlikely allies along the way. The second continues straight on, with the sisters joining forces to uncover the truth about their family. Some lines are groan-worthy, others genuinely funny, and the villains, mostly evil and frequently unhinged, are a colourful bunch. Nobody plays Onee Chanbara for the plot, and the loose threads hold together well enough.
Rei and the extras
The new playable character, Rei, Aya’s information broker, unlocks after meeting certain conditions, or straight away with the Season Pass. She adds welcome variety, and switching between characters when replaying missions is a pleasure. A large range of paid cosmetic outfits is available for Aya and the others, along with a few free costumes.
Where Origin comes from
Origin is a remake of the first two games in the series, budget releases that appeared on PlayStation 2 in Japan in the mid-2000s and barely reached the West. Tamsoft rebuilt them in a modern engine and joined them into a single campaign. That history explains the simple structure: short missions, small arenas and a story told mostly between fights. At $59.99, it asks full price for a game whose roots are in a budget line, and the content reflects those roots more than the price does.
The verdict
Onee Chanbara Origin runs smoothly and looks great. The new art and character designs suit the series, and watching limbs fly in a spray of blood is gleefully entertaining. Like many remasters of its generation, though, it is mainly a fresh coat of paint, without the deeper changes that would bring the fundamentals up to date. As the first new release in the series in five years, it does little to attract a new audience. Fans looking for nostalgia, and anyone who loves simple arcade hack-and-slash with plenty of fan service, will get exactly what they want.
Questions readers ask
What is Onee Chanbara Origin?
A remake of the first two Onee Chanbara games, released in Japan from 2004 in D3 Publisher's Simple Series. Origin combines them into one reworked story with a new art style and adds Rei as a playable character.
Is Onee Chanbara Origin worth it for new players?
Mainly for fans of the series or of simple arcade hack-and-slash. The combat is fun but unchanged in its fundamentals since the mid-2000s, so it can feel repetitive next to modern action games.