Bleach Rebirth of Souls review — A fun but flawed Shonen Jump fighter

Bleach Rebirth of Souls arrives to delight fans of the beloved manga and anime with its most ambitious video game adaptation yet. This is the first main fighting game rendition of the Bleach saga since Bleach Resurrecion (also called Bleach Soul Ignition) for the PS3 back in 2011. Over a decade later, is this worth fans' time, or is it another mediocre anime fighter that's all bark and no bite?

Thankfully, fans can rest easy. Bleach Rebirth of Souls has many tricks up its sleeve. Read on for our full review of the game on PC.

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Bleach Rebirth of Souls is a love letter to both series and anime fighter fans

Many of the show's key moments are told through handcrafted cutscenes (Image via Bandai Namco Entertainment)

For the uninitiated, Bleach Rebirth of Souls is a 3D arena fighter featuring iconic characters from the titular Shonen Jump manga. The story stars the protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki and his adventures as a Soul Reaper tasked with fighting evil spirits known as Hollows.

The game covers everything from the start of the Substitute Soul Reaper arc to the finale of the Arrancar Arc with the showdown against Sosuke Aizen. With the Thousand Year Blood War arc set to arrive as a future DLC, fans seeking the complete package will likely be disappointed for now.

Thhe game boasts 32 characters in its base roster, including two distinct variants for Ichigo. Other key additions range from Uryu Ishida, Rukia Kuchiki, and Kisuke Urahara to relatively obscure ones like Ikkaku Madarame and Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck; there's something for every fan here.

The Story Mode is a mixed bag (Image via Bandai Namco Entertainment)

It is a shame that some fan-favorites are missing, like Orihime Inoue, while others aren't playable despite appearing in the story. No spoilers here, but I hope these will arrive as DLC fighters since they already have character models and partial movesets in the game.

Coming to the meat of things, there are a ton of modes to enjoy in Bleach Rebirth of Souls. Starting with Story Mode, players will fight through many iconic set pieces from the manga, taking on different characters and fighting distinct foes as close as possible to the story canon in the Main Story selection.

Each character is different; Ichigo strikes with his Zangetsu sword, while Uryu uses his Quincy powers to attack from a distance with a magical bow and arrow. Unique to this mode, players will also fight the monstrous Hollows, but these pale in comparison to the 1v1 humanoid enemies.

Fight Hollows and other foes in the story (Image via Bandai Namco Entertainment)

The content here should easily last a dozen hours and almost double that, considering the additional scenarios featured in the Secret Story section. Meanwhile, Offline mode lets players partake in Training, Versus, and Missions. Training a comprehensive tool that lets players familiarize themselves with the game's roster, and I highly recommend spending a lot of time here.

Versus allows putting learned skills to the test against CPU opponents or in local co-op against a real partner, while Missions is an Arcade mode of sorts to earn in-game progression.

Online is where the game's longevity shines, but that seems to be a drifting dream. With less than 700 active players in Bleach Rebirth of Souls, finding online matches can be tough. There are no ranked leaderboards, so players must contend with finding randoms or inviting friends to play in private lobbies. Next is Tutorial, where players will be familiarized with the game's basic mechanics: combat.

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A battle of power

Evolve to turn the tide of battle (Image via Bandai Namco Entertainment)

Bleach Rebirth of Souls tries to separate itself from the rest of the 3D anime fighters with mechanics that veer from their traditional implementation. For one, players can perform light and heavy attacks on top of signature moves and dashes to evade incoming danger. Powerful cinematic finishers, evasive maneuvers, and recovery moves add further depth.

With the game deploying a form of always-lock-on feature, you only need to worry about getting to grips with the rock-paper-scissors aspect of the gameplay. Besides attacks,you can perform Guards and Breakers. Guards block Attacks, Attacks counter against Breakers, and Breakers destroy Guards, ensuring players are on their toes at all times.

The biggest differentiating factor is the concept of stocks or Konpaku. Each character will have a series of stocks during a match, and depleting these to zero is the way to victory; so, simply whittling away at HP won't do. This is where the game's core power system comes in.

Each character has unique gimmicks that make them worth a checkout (Image via Bandai Namco Entertainment)

In a nutshell, just decimating enemy HP triggers a Soul Break that destroys a few Konpaku; however, pairing this with other moves, such as a Kikon Move (cinematic finisher), will destroy more. Raising character power by filling the Evolution gauge, whose effects range between characters, also aids toward Konpaku destruction.

As such, Bleach Rebirth of Souls is essentially a race to see who can lay it down thick on the opponent and destroy their lives first. To accomplish this, players must play aggressively and utilize moves such as Reverse Gauge abilities, Hoho teleportations, and Spiritual Pressure Moves.

The combat is fun, if not a bit repetitive due to how the couple of cinematic finishers for each character are not skippable. It is interesting to note, however, that the game packs a handful of Japanese terms that can be a mouthful. Some of these are picked from the manga, others are new, and a few still have entirely different meanings, like Konpaku, which stands for soul in the show.

As a side note, Bleach Rebirth of Souls offers equipping items like Talismans and Soul Crystals that yield perks and bonuses during combat. These are optional in both the arcade mode and PvP fights and feature an upgrade system alongside it. However, it feels unnecessary and tacked on — something most players will barely pay any attention to.

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Graphics, sound, and performance

Bleach Rebirth of Souls is the best-looking game in the saga, but that isn't enough (Image via Bandai Namco Entertainment)

Bleach Rebirth of Souls is developed by Japanese studio Tamsoft. Having only worked on niche games before, such as Onechanbara Z2 Chaos and Senran Kagura: Estival Versus, this marks the developer's biggest project yet. I would say it has passed the test, but only barely.

For one, the game's PC version, which I received for review, was broken on launch. An odd red glare and single-digit FPS performance made the game unplayable for me. While I was lucky enough to have the game boot at all, it constantly crashed for other players on the internet or refused to run in the first place.

Thankfully, the developers have been hard at work since then and have fixed most of the issues. The game doesn't run as well as one would hope. As an Unreal Engine 5 title, the character models and effects are top-notch. The same cannot be said for a lot of the environments, and especially the stiff, low-quality cutscenes during the single-player mode.

On the flip side, the aesthetics on display in the menus as well as the soundtrack are excellent. The latter especially incorporates tracks from the show as well as original creations, each of which fits the action well. This also has a gameplay effect where music changes as characters initiate their Evolutions, further ramping up the hype.

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In conclusion

There is a fun game here beneath the flaws (Image via Bandai Namco Entertainment)

Despite a disastrous PC launch, Bleach Rebirth of Souls is in a much better state now. Fans wanting a stylish, adrenaline-pumping fighter will enjoy what's on offer here, thanks to its flashy visuals, over-the-top action, and ample fan service.

However, the same effort was not ubiquitous throughout the game. The story mode skips through key set pieces from the anime, and while I recognize that cramming a 300+ episode narrative into a 20-30 hours story is a tall order, it is still disappointing nonetheless — as such, it is the worst entrypoint for a newcomer to experience the lore and world of Bleach.

Those eager to flip through the Story Mode will also be greeted with some lackluster fights and shallow cutscenes. Technical issues aside, the combat can get repetitive due to the same few Kikon animations, as well as a lack of movement abilities, ala Dragon Ball Sparking Zero.

Even with these issues, Bleach Rebirth of Souls has several positives, including a great soundtrack, a cast of unique characters with distinct playstyles, and varied modes to fight through, all of which combine to create a neat present that will make series fans happy.

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Bleach Rebirth of Souls

Our final verdict on Bleach Rebirth of Souls (Image via Bandai Namco Entertainment/Sportskeeda)

Reviewed on: PC (Review code provided by Bandai Namco Entertainment)

Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S

Developer(s): Tamsoft, Inc.

Publisher(s): Bandai Namco Entertainment

Release Date(s): March 21, 2025