| HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Release Date | Gameplay & Story | Pre-Order & DLC | Review |
HUNTERxHUNTER NENxIMPACT is a 3v3 tag fighter that features the titular Japanese manga and anime series. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT Review Overview
What is HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT?
Hunter x Hunter Nen Impact (or HxH Nen Impact) is a 2D fighting game being developed by Eighting and Bushiroad Games and to be published by Arc System Works. Set to be released on the PC and PlayStation 5, it was delayed from its initial 2024 release to 2025 to ensure better netcode and improvements for fans of the series. The game is set to be the franchise’s first major video game.
Hunter x Hunter Nen Impact stars the series’ most popular characters battling it out in a 3v3 tag fighter, allowing players to assemble friends and foes to fight against each other.
HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT features:
⚫︎ 16 Playable Characters
⚫︎ 3v3 Tag Fighter
⚫︎ Various Single Player Content
⚫︎ Online Matchmaking
⚫︎ Simple Controls
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT’s gameplay and story.
| Digital Storefronts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Steam |
 PlayStation |
 Switch |
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| Editions | Price | ||||
| Standard Edition | $59.99 | ||||
| Deluxe Edition | $74.99 | ||||
HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Classic Tag Fighter Gameplay Simple Controls |
Archaic Online Features Tutorials Aren’t Very Helpful Combos Feel Extremely Repetitive More Fan Service Than Depth |
HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT Overall - 54/100
HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT is a fighting game for the fans because of its mechanics, high-damage combos, and the volatility that you’d normally expect from the tag fighter genre. However, it falls prey to modern fighting game pitfalls like poor online features, weak tutorials, and a lack of depth. It feels as though the game is made purely for fan service, rather than being a competent offering in a subgenre that desperately needs a revival.
HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT Story - 5/10
The story of HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT is an extremely shortened version of the 2011 remake and compiles it into a series of slide shows and stills. It’s mainly used as a tutorial for players to familiarise themselves with mechanics and the playable characters, but it does it through text and extremely simple do-this, do-that sections. While not much was expected from this aspect of the game, it’s still quite disappointing since there are other games out there that put in more effort towards this particular piece of content.
HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT Gameplay - 7/10
HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT offers gameplay that is enjoyable for fans of the tag fighter genre. The assist features, combo structure, high damage, and other mechanics make it familiar for those who have dabbled in other games in the genre. However, it has a ton of problems, like its weak online features that seem like they’re built back in the 2010s and the game lacks the depth offered by its contemporaries in the same genre.
HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT Visuals - 4/10
In terms of visuals, the game looks like it came out two console generations late. The stages are static, the animations lack oomph, and the overall image just looks bland. If anything, the only good element of this aspect is the UI being straightforward to understand.
HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT Audio - 7/10
The audio design is decent, and sadly, it may be the best aspect that the game has by default. The music and sound effects weren’t particularly noteworthy, but they weren’t horrible. What is noticeable is the game’s voice acting, since they were able to use the anime’s voice actors for the game.
HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT Value for Money - 4/10
For $59.99, HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT is a horrible game in terms of value. It offers the bare minimum that you’d expect in a fighting game and somehow still executes it poorly. With poor online functionality, players are forced to either play the game offline or play its single-player content, which only teaches the bare minimum as well.
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HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT Review: Bare Minimum Tag Fighter
As a longtime fan of any and all fighting games, it’s no secret that I’ve been wanting to play a new tag fighter since there haven’t been any high-profile releases in the genre since 2018. In what seems to be the start of a new era of fighting games, HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT kicks it off by being the first tag fighter to be released.
This is also a huge deal because this is the series’ first-ever video game to date, and I’m also just a big fan of its manga and anime series. That being said, does HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT have what it takes to stay in the brutal niche of fighting games in 2025? Spoiler alert: it doesn’t. Especially if they don’t fix its many problems soon.
As Expected From a Modern Tag Fighter
First off, let’s start with what’s good about the game. It’s definitely a tag fighter just from the mechanics alone. It has everything that you expect from one, and more importantly, it plays like one too. The assists, high damage output, and overtuned characters make it a familiar battleground for those who are familiar with the genre.
Additionally, the game also features simple controls, which alleviates the execution issues that people may have when playing a fighting game. Yes, the game combines one-button special moves with all the volatile things that a tag fighter brings. Sadly, that’s pretty much all I can say about the gameplay.
It plays pretty much how you’d expect a fighting game to be, let alone a tag fighter. It doesn’t push the envelope or innovate the genre to greater heights; if anything, it sets it back. Which brings us to…
Looks Are Still a First Impression
Now, believe me when I say that graphics aren’t always the best case to make a game appealing. But none of us can deny that looks matter because first impressions are built on what you see first. HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT looks bland and extremely dated. Stages are static, the character animations are stiff, and it just looks off. For a game released in 2025, it feels as if the game should’ve been out five years ago.
Of course, it’s completely unfair not to point out that the game is low-budget. It’s not that anyone was expecting something of a AAA game, but just a little better than what’s given. One can even argue that there are a lot of indie fighting games that look way better than the game, and it’d be hard to dispute that.
Even the game’s story mode just uses a slideshow approach to show the 2011 remake to summarize the story. It feels cheap and an easy way just to get something out. Speaking of the game’s story mode…
Trial By Combat
The story mode of NEN IMPACT primarily functions as the game’s tutorial. But when you try it out, it seems more of a reading session than a practical exam. In addition to the game’s poor looks, the game also has poor tutorials. For context, the story mode has tutorial sections that explain game mechanics with a wall of text.
It’s doesn’t exactly teach players the intricacies of its mechanics or even how to use them properly in a practical sense. It’s like expecting someone to know how to drive by giving them a book to read about driving, which is absurd to say the least.
Additionally, the game's combo trials mainly challenges you to find a combo that kills the opponent using a certain starter. In some cases, you can easily just use the autocombo function to fulfill these challenges.
Bad Implementation of Rollback
Ever since the events of COVID back in 2021, fighting games have improved on their online infrastructure. This was because during the pandemic, people couldn’t go to local playspots and play offline. As a result, most fighting games would already have rollback netcode so that players could comfortably play online at home.
For those who haven’t heard about it, rollback netcode is a technique used to handle network latency in online games, specifically fighting games. How it works is that the game will predict what the player does next and roll back the game state to a point before the lag spike happens to correct the prediction when lag occurs.
It has become a necessity for any fighting game since then to have something like rollback netcode, let alone a functioning online mode. And in this case, HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT does feature rollback netcode. However, the implementation of it is pretty shoddy, resulting in frequent disconnects and desyncs for online matches. Also, the poor implementation carried over to its online matchmaking, which is also suspect.
Simple Isn’t Always Better
Are you familiar with the saying less is more
? It’s a straightforward saying that is pretty obvious in what it means. But what it doesn’t mean is that you should sell a game for $60 and give the players the bare minimum. I, myself, am a fan of the HUNTER x HUNTER franchise, but I wouldn’t consider myself a big enough fan to delude myself into paying that much for so little.
The visuals are bland, the gameplay lacks depth, it doesn’t have good online features, and it barely has anything to teach outside of showing you walls of text. In terms of value-to-cost ratio, it’s a horrible deal because of the lackluster features that the game has. It’s not that the game is completely horrible, but a game as lacking as this shouldn’t cost this much money. Can Eighting use Over Gear and turn this around? Yes, but they’ll need to work fast on improving the online features and resuscitate themselves. As of now, the game is dead on arrival.
Is HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT Worth It?
Absolutely Not.
It saddens me to write this as a longtime fan of the series, but HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT just doesn’t offer enough to warrant a price of $60. We do not recommend anyone pick up this game due to the number of problems it currently has. The weak online functionalities, poorly executed single-player content, and lack of depth result in what seems to be the bare minimum. Only the most dedicated players would find joy in discovering the nastiest setups, most ambiguous mixups, strongest combos, and more. Which is ironic considering that they wanted the game to be accessible for anyone and everyone.
| Digital Storefronts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steam |
PlayStation |
Switch |
|||
| Editions | Price | ||||
| Standard Edition | $59.99 | ||||
| Deluxe Edition | $74.99 | ||||
HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT FAQ
What are the System Requirements for PC to play HUNTERxHUNTER NENxIMPACT?
The System Requirements as listed on Steam are as follows:
| Specifications | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 8/10 (64-bit OS required) | |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-3770, 3.40 GHz | |
| Memory | 8GB RAM | |
| Graphics | GeForce GTX 660 | |
| Storage | 16GB | |
| Additional Specs | Direct X11 | |
Game8 Reviews
HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT Product Information
 |
|
| Title | HUNTER X HUNTER NENXIMPACT |
|---|---|
| Release Date | July 17, 2025 |
| Developer | Eighting (8ing), Bushiroad Games |
| Publisher | Bushiroad Games, Arc System Works |
| Supported Platforms | PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch |
| Genre | Fighting, Action, Anime |
| Number of Players | 1-2 |
| ESRB Rating | T |
| Official Website | HUNTER x HUNTER NENxIMPACT Official Website |
