Jujutsu Kaisen comes to the video game stage for the first time, known for its high-octane clashes between curses and sorcerers. Yuji Itadori and his classmates must learn to use jujutsu sorcery while an ancient evil thrives, luring danger ever closer. Although the series is popular among both manga and anime fans, does the magic translate to the world of video games?
Right at the start, the main menu looks like something from a 2000s title screen, with scenes from the anime playing in the background and a simple bar of options at the top. I mention this because the user interface in this game is awful to look at and maneuver, and it feels completely amateurish for the price this game has. This was my first red flag that this game might be of lower quality.
When you start a match in most modes, you will play some combination of 1v1, 1v2, or 2v2. It seems that the 2v2 mode will likely be the most popular, as many moves, combinations, and balance seem focused precisely on this setup. This is further cemented by the fact that outside of Story Mode, there are currently no options to set up a 1v1 match. I say combinations lightly here, because although there are three attack buttons, about ninety percent of the time you will be mashing square the whole match. This is mostly due to the game's biggest flaw; there are attacks that legitimately do no damage.
Mechanics that make no sense
Yes, you read that right, the only moves that do damage are moves enhanced by cursed energy, which are usually just the moves at the end of your strings. The game states that these non-damaging moves are cursed energy extractors, allowing you to build your curse meter, but what is the point when I can just spam to build the meter and do damage at the same time? This problem is worsened by the fact that a ton of your moves simply do not flow into one another. If you start an attack with triangle, you can't follow up with anything except an occasional ranged attack. If you use circle to knock down an opponent, all you’ve done is give them incredibly long wake-up armor to punish you, and you haven’t dealt any damage to boot. It certainly doesn't help that movement feels both floaty in the air and sluggish on the ground, with attacks feeling like they have no weight behind them. Sure, some Awakened abilities have some mildly cool animations, but even those become a drag when they pull you out of the fight because your teammate across the map triggered their super move. There is almost nothing here to keep you in the fight, which really rots the core of this game.
A bare-bones story mode
The Story mode is the most bare-bones you can get, adapting the narrative of the first season of the anime and JJK 0 into a concise slideshow. There are rare moments of actual scenes, but most of the time it’s just photos from the series with text laid on top. If you are already familiar with the story, this is hardly worth your time, and if you aren't that familiar… let’s just say there are far better ways to experience the narrative than this game. It doesn't help that many of these fights are ridiculously easy. It would be a harder challenge not to rank ‘S’ on almost every level on the first try. It’s quite clear that very little passion was put into making the story mode even slightly engaging, leaving behind a boring and borderline worthless mode.
Other modes on offer don't stir up Cursed Energy much either. You have a handful of online modes where you can face other people or team up to fight waves of bots and progress characters, but the problems just pile up. I had numerous issues with servers, which prevented me from joining matches or kicked me out in the middle of a round. There were plenty of moments where I experienced a noticeable ping spike, making it difficult to fight against the lag. Even when things go right, simple things like setting up a lobby are still a nightmare. The game bombards you with screen after screen of match settings that could have been easily sorted into an options menu, and changing modes with your friends is even harder.
Final thoughts and value
The fact that JJK: Cursed Clash is being sold at a premium price of $60 is akin to highway robbery considering the quality of the game you get. I really wanted to find something to love here, because I’m a fan of Jujutsu Kaisen, but there is simply nothing here but bones. There isn't even an option for local co-op, or hell, even a real training mode for that matter. I would be overjoyed if the developers somehow turned this game around in the future, but I can't hold my breath for this game surviving long given how boring and repetitive the core gameplay is. In its current state, you are better off playing almost any other anime fighting game.
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