That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime – Isekai Chronicles

Okay, I’ll start with this That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime – Isekai Chronicles I’ll end my review by saying that I’m honestly shocked at how little I heard about the game before launch. I remember an initial announcement, the release date announcement, and maybe a few mentions on social media. But other than that, there didn’t seem to be much recognition for it worldwide. TenSura game release. That’s a shame because I really enjoyed it and think it’s a bit stripped down Stories from experience in some way.

That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime – Isekai Chronicle is essentially a shortened version of the TenSura Story in the form of a game. We start with Rimuru Tempest as a slime who was originally a man from our world who died and was reincarnated in a fantasy world. Due to the way the human version of the character lived, the slime version started out with a number of abilities such as the absorbing predator and an “assistant” to the Great Sage. When he meets a dragon named Veldora, the slime gains new abilities such as vision and a mission: to create a safe place where people can live in peace.

From there, the game fast forwards to when Rimuru took on a human form from Shizu and allied himself with the goblins they named. So we play as a slime after he takes on this new form, allies himself with the ogres who become kijins, and they all continue to build up the village. In the end, the crew reaches the Falmuth Kingdom battle arc, so a decent amount of the story is covered in a CliffsNotes sort of way. Elements are skipped so we can get more action-packed moments. This is fine, but those who really like the series might be a little disappointed to jump around so much.

The structure for That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime – Isekai Chronicle is rather simple, with every element of the game essentially serving to improve the combat segments and the TenSura Plot. So you will see some story-based segments that either Stories from Stylish conversations with character portraits, art, or character models in the world that interact. This gives you an excuse to go to a location in the world and fight. You set off with a party of five people. Three of them are active members that you control, and two are support members that can be summoned with a button press for a single support action.

The dungeon encounters are really the best part of the game and I had so much fun with them. In some ways they are a little reminiscent of the Stories series. You control one of three characters in a completely two-dimensional dungeon. The idea is to string together combos to deal as much damage as possible. You have standard attacks that can change direction or output depending on button presses and directions. You can equip special attacks, and more are available if you press the directions at the same time as the inputs. Each character has what feels like an ultimate move that can be triggered when a meter is full. (In Rimuru’s case, that’s Predator, of course.) You can also dodge, and switching between your three characters is highly recommended. It’s definitely a highlight, especially since using special attacks breaks enemy shields, and better performances yield greater rewards.

The dungeon crawling is also interesting. It is somewhat similar to the 2D branching paths of a game like Valkyrie Profilewhere you can go to the foreground and background to take different paths for additional encounters and treasure. Most dungeons are rather short, just enough to get through a few fights, check out your current party composition, and really enjoy the combat system. It’s not super intense or detailed, but it’s fun enough. It almost feels a bit like a mobile game in terms of structure and mission length, but not in a bad way.

On returning to the village in That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime – Isekai Chronicleseverything that Rimuru and the group have achieved serves to improve them and the TenSura campaign so they’re better prepared for future battles. The materials you collected from battles and treasure chests? Those go into building the village. Each building you build improves the party’s stats. Likewise, characters you keep for battles get points you can apply to the skill tree to improve their stats and ability to use special skills. I wish there was a bit more actual town management in the village development portion of the game. However, I appreciated seeing the tangible impact each time I built something.

I really appreciated the gameplay loop! Especially because the combat system is so much fun. It really reminded me of one of the older Stories entries sometimes. However, I will admit that it does get a little repetitive. If you’re not a fan of the series, it might not click. Also, it’s wise to be aware that you’ll be spending a lot of time reading story sections, going to the same places to fight a certain number of enemies, and acquiring materials so you can do it all again.

That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime – Isekai Chronicles is one of those anime games that I would say is more than serviceable, but not exceptional. People who like TenSura many will definitely get more out of the game than someone who doesn’t know it at all. I would even say, for the right price, someone who enjoys the game Stories from Combat system, you might even want to consider it. That’s really the attraction of the title and it’s fun to take advantage of the characters’ unique traits. While it’s not groundbreaking or great, it’s perfectly fine.

That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime – Isekai Chronicles is available on Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC.