Now I’m not sure if this is something crazy to say while being an anime fan, but I’m not the biggest fan of Sword Art Online. It’s one of those shows that if you’re in the anime community, you most likely heard about it. It seems like loving the show is like a hate/love relationship. Many people love it, but know it’s slop, which is a toxic relationship to be in. But, even with the hate the show gets, Sword Art Online is an ever lasting franchise in the anime community. And that franchise has expanded into video games, which is a pretty obvious conclusion when the anime's whole setting is about being trapped in a video game. But, those Sword Art Online games never interest me, cause you usually play as Kirito, and are just following his story. But now, Bandai have just revealed their latest Sword Art Online game, and in this one, you’re actually playing in the video game, rather than the show.



Going a step farther and calling the game Echoes of Aincrad, and having Sword Art Online be the tag line, they’re really pushing this as its own thing. This isn’t based off of Sword Art Online, this is based off the game in Sword Art Online. And the thing that really interests me, is the difficulty mode called “Death Game" which literally puts you into the game and KILL’S YOU, if you die in the game…okay, I’m lying, but your whole save file is deleted. Which is super cool, and grabbed my interest right away. I’m just hoping that balance is there, and it’s not just inflated to be hard, just for the sake of it. That mode should be balanced correctly, to be more strategic, and picking your battles wisely, over it being a head slamming Dark Souls difficulty.



Never was interested in Sword Art Online anime, or the video games, but this might finally be my true introduction to the series.

Are you excited for this game? Have you played any other Sword Art Online games? Would you play it on “Death Game" difficulty? Tell us in the comments.