Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash is the first video game adaptation of the hit manga/anime of the same name! Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash Review Overview
Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash Premise
Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash will have story scenarios from the manga/anime, more particularly the chapters/episodes from "Cursed Womb Must Die" to "The Origin of Blind Obedience." It will basically retell the story of the anime’s entire first season.
It will also feature stories from Jujutsu Kaisen 0, the prequel manga telling the events before the start of the main series.
Yuji Itadori was a highschooler who accidentally swallowed a great-cursed object called Sukuna’s Finger. This consequently transformed him to become a vessel of the Sukuna, the King of Curses. Itadori/Sukuna is taken captive by Jujutsu sorcerers and is placed under careful watch. He is then enrolled under Tokyo Jujutsu High while he gets accustomed to having the King of Curses within him. What will become of Itadori’s fate?
Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash Overall
Jujutsu Kaisen(JJK) Cursed Clash was cursed from the start with its clunky and uninspiring gameplay, and is further marred by the fact that its story mode is a copy-and-paste visual novel that uses literal screenshots from the anime. The worst offender is its lack of crossplay across all devices, where finding matches will always be a painful wait. Cursed Clash does the characters justice, however, with great models for all the cast, as well as their original voice actors from the anime.
Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash Story
Jujutsu Kaisen has a really great story, filled with intense moments, amazing action, and emotional consequences. It’s so great that Cursed Clash opted to directly copy paste stills and scenes from the anime onto its Story Mode to create a visual novel and call it a day. It’s a very abridged version that retells the entirety of season 1, where the fights are so easy that they can last up to less than a minute.
Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash Gameplay
Cursed Clash’s gameplay is very bog standard, with no specially fun mechanic for the fighter. Almost all attacks and movement feel so clunky and slow, where all actions have so such slow recovery time or "negative frames." Due to this, 1v1 fights feel almost turn-based. And although 2v2 fights are more fun, the combat itself is neither deep nor fulfilling in the long-run with its meager set of 16 available characters that have very limited movesets.
Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash Visuals
The best the game has to offer is its very accurate and detailed models of the characters. They translate them from 2D to 3D to amazing effect, and the shaders and lightning make them look directly ripped from the anime. Unfortunately, there are frequent cases during combat where the camera keeps getting obstructed by the environmental props, and the transparency effect being applied to them is never enough to see through them.
Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash Audio
Cursed Clash has the anime’s voice cast in various languages participate in the game, and their presence is felt all throughout. From all corners of menu exploration, to quips and dialogue during combat, their performances, though a bit repetitive sometimes, are well immersive and appreciated. However, the game doesn’t have much of the iconic music the anime had, and resorts to somewhat generic-sounding "royalty-free" tracks that end up seeming uninspired.
Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash Value for Money
Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash is not worth the base price of $59.99 due to how barebones of a game it is. Its story mode is a complete rehash with screencaptures direct from the anime, its combat gameplay offers not much depth, and you’ll be having trouble getting matches online due to the lack of crossplay across all devices. Even if you’re a diehard fan of the franchise, buying Cursed Clash at any price above $15 would feel like a gigantic rip-off.
Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash Review: Yeah, It’s Pretty Cursed Alright
Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Characters are Accurately Adapted |
Story Mode is a Copy-Pasted Visual Novel Clunky Gameplay With Limited Movesets No Crossplay |
To be completely honest, I didn’t have high hopes for this game, and yet it still disappointed me somewhat. Anime arena fighters such as Dragon Ball, Naruto, Demon Slayer, Jump Force, and a lot others have a bad reputation in recent times. When it was announced that Jujutsu Kaisen was next in line to receive a 3D arena fighting game, the fan base collectively groaned and for good reason. Still, from seeing the footage of the game beforehand, I was impressed with the visuals and the art direction, along with some of the highlighted combat before release. Well, seeing is very different from playing it, as we all know, and wow was it drastically different.
Every move I made felt like I was underwater, where every missed attack, block, dodge, jump, and dash I performed had such a long recovery time after finishing. It felt like anything I could do always left me open immediately afterwards. Alright, sure, for actual fighting games, those are usually true, and the most dedicated players study the actual frame data of certain moves and abilities of their characters to only use ones that end up having less negative frames, or less vulnerable states. However, in Cursed Clash, it feels like EVERY character is negative for a LONG time on ANY action they perform. If you play just a single 1v1 match, you’ll immediately understand what I’m talking about. It all boils down to who can catch someone off guard after doing anything to be able to lay attacks in.
There’s a certain running joke in the fighting games community that says fighting games are all turn-based games. Cursed Clash feels like the embodiment of that joke, as it all boils down to who can take their turn first, and take it again for the next.
Cursed Clash doesn’t have a lot of great things going for it, but its visual art direction is probably the best I’ve seen from an anime arena fighter. They’re practically 1:1 adaptations of the characters into 3D, with so many unlockable customizations available as well. Might as well play this game as a dress-up fashion game rather than as a fighter, because you won’t be able to get much from the gameplay – that is, if you can even find a game online. It’s going to be very difficult to find populated servers or active players due to the lack of crossplay across all the SIX devices it released on. Offline CPU battles are available, but the most fun is definitely the ability to play beat up, or get beaten up, by random people online, clunky gameplay and all.
Pros of Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash
| Things Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash Got Right |
|---|
|
Characters are Accurately Adapted |
Characters are Accurately Adapted
What Cursed Clash does really well is its adaptation of the characters from illustrated manga/anime to a 3D game. The available cast of characters are accurately modeled, so much so that they look dissimilar from drawn in 2D at certain points. They also have very extensive wardrobe options, where each character has tons of alternate costumes and outfit color palette swaps available to unlock and choose from.
Aside from the visuals, the voice acting talent of various languages from the anime return to reprise their roles in the game, and their presence is felt throughout. Short voice lines are sprinkled all over the menus, from going online, looking through lobbies, perusing through the shop, reflecting at your gallery, and even in the settings! These little touches add much charm needed for the game as it largely lacks in other aspects such as the gameplay.
Though the characters’ adaptations in their visuals and voices are great, their combat gameplay is just fine. There were clear efforts to properly translate each character’s personalities and movesets from the anime to the game, but it lacks much needed depth that this review will expand on later.
Cons of Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash
| Things Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash Can Improve |
|---|
|
Story Mode is a Copy-Pasted Visual Novel Clunky Gameplay With Limited Movesets No Crossplay |
Story Mode is a Copy-Pasted Visual Novel
Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash’s story mode offers nothing new to fans of the series, both manga and anime. It’s almost entirely a visual novel that utilizes direct screencaps of scenes from the anime with either written narration, or redone voice acting from the cast. Though the unique presentation is appreciated, with its manga-like paneling and showcasing, it offers no new unique visuals nor story beats, and merely completely rehashes existing animated JJK media.
In the hypothetical scenario that the game didn’t receive permission to use the JJK license, its story mode would be a very blatant and lazy form of copyright infringement.
Clunky Gameplay With Limited Movesets
Cursed Clash’s gameplay is very stiff, where each and every action you take seems to have so much weight and momentum behind them that you’re always reeling afterwards. Say for example, you miss a punch: it takes you a full second to be able to do ANYTHING else, leaving you vulnerable. It’s the same for dodging, blocking, jumping, and dashing. Everything feels so rigid and sturdy, and lacks the fluidity and frenetic energy you get from watching the anime’s fights. Even the manga’s static illustrations depict the fight with more dynamism and intensity.
Aside from the gameplay, the character diversity has the potential, but lacks more depth from each. A lot of the characters have different playstyles in accordance with their techniques from the source materials, and that’s really commendable. However, their movesets are still very limited, with most sharing the same "Extraction Techniques" or basic attacks. They mostly differ in their "Cursed Energy Techniques" or special moves, and their "Awakened Moves" or their ultimate moves that can only be used once per battle.
However, each character only has at most two Cursed Energy techniques and only one Awakened Move. For all the variety of attacks and beatdowns the characters have from the source material, it’s rather disappointing to be left unsatisfied with such a shortcoming. Players are given a small taste of their unique playstyle and special moves, but there just isn’t enough by the end.
No Crossplay
Jujustu Kaisen Cursed Clash is available on PC, the PlayStation 5, the PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch. You would think that a modern "fighting game" where its main appeal is to jump online to team up and fight others would be able to freely do so with other console platforms, right? Unfortunately, no.
Crossplay is a must nowadays, and for a popular online game to release without it is just a shot in the foot in the game’s future success. Making it available for all platforms was the first step, but without crossplay, it just further divides the player base, which would lead to even less chances to find an online match.
I was lucky enough to find a few matches here and there, but this was during the first two hours of the game’s release. And even then, it still took me upwards of 3-4 minutes to find all the matches I managed to play.
Is Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash Worth It?
Read the Manga or Watch the Anime Instead
The premium price of $59.99 for this barebones of an experience you would call a game is an outright scam, and you would definitely have a much better experience with engaging with the source materials. The story is an abridged rehash through a visual novel which adds nothing to the narrative. The gameplay feels so lackluster compared to the manga and anime that it ends up being less maddening, but rather disappointing. The only good things it has going for it are the great character visuals and the performances of the returning voice cast across different languages.
