Sword Art Online, the most debated mainstream anime of all time. Seriously, how many times do you go online or meet up with fellow otaku and find yourself hearing Sword Art Online is loved by someone and hated by another? Needless to say, Sword Art Online’s anime hate also tends to veer toward the games too. While we honestly love the anime series ourselves here at Honey’s Anime, the games have definitely been a mixed bag. Still, we do enjoy most of the games based on the series including the more recent Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris that was released in 2020 for the PlayStation 4. Adapting the Alicization Arc of the light novel/anime series, Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris took some liberties with the tale to fit it more into the game versions but we kind of enjoyed the experience, despite some minor issues. Now in 2022, Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris has been ported to one of the best hybrid devices ever, the Nintendo Switch. Obviously, we dove back into the world of Kirito and once more became the black swordsman but was it worth it? Let us find out in our review of Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris for the Nintendo Switch!

We won’t sum up the entirety of SAO for you readers—we figure you know about it at this point—but we can at least semi-explain the world of Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris. Assuming the role of Kirito, real name Kirigaya Kazuto, our hero of the world of Sword Art Online has found himself once more trapped in a digital world that feels more real than any of the VRMMOs he’s ever played. Fans of the story will know why he’s been trapped here but we won’t spoil that in case you’re only playing the games. As Kirito, your goal is to escape the fantasy world called the Underworld and that won’t be an easy task. Luckily, Kirito isn’t unfamiliar with the dangers and challenges of being trapped in a game, so he’s ready and so will you.

Probably one of the greatest strengths—and weaknesses—of Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris is the story. Even if you’re an anime/light novel veteran of the SAO world, Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris takes some big liberties and you’ll love seeing them unfold as they are genuinely quite engaging! However, fans will also have to wade through several hours—and we mean real hours—to get to that new content, and even with a so-called Lightplay mode which skips a lot of the fan-known info, you’ll still be trying to skip as much as possible to get to that sweet new content.

Being the famous black swordsman of the SAO world, Kirito is no slouch in combat and you will feel his strengths while playing yourself. Similar to most action RPGs, Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris has players use light/heavy attacks to damage enemies and various arts which can be unlocked via a deep skill tree that takes some time to fully unlock! You won’t be alone either as Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris will often give you an AI partner to help you with battles or you can even go online with up to 3 other friends but good luck finding that many friends playing Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris…honestly we couldn’t sadly. Still Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris offers a surprisingly good combat system that plays well offline and online.

Kirito might be “blown away” with how great the Underworld looks but we can’t deny Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris looks a bit weak, especially on the Nintendo Switch. When it was released in 2020 on the PS4, Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris was ripped apart by reviewers for having some dated visuals and we can’t deny the visuals are a bit weak. When the animated cutscenes occur, Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris looks stellar! However, when you dive into the main game and explore the bland landscapes and the sometimes weaker enemies, you will feel a bit taken aback…especially when you realize this is a 2020 game and now a 2022 port. We did notice the frame rate tends to have less issues on the Nintendo Switch than the original PS4 version but visually, this game could have used a bit more polish…especially when you look at the price.

As with any port, we know you readers want to know the most important question again…is the game worth buying again? Short answer, yeah if you loved Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris originally and are a fan of the series. The Nintendo Switch version doesn’t have many differences from the original—outside the ability to play on the go or at home—but if you somehow missed the original release this isn’t a bad game at all. We do feel though still asking nearly $90 for the expansion pass—aka the DLC additions—is a bit much but they do add significantly more content that fans of the game and series won’t want to deny themselves.