Today, Crunchyroll Games is announcing the English launch of popular mobile anime RPG, Princess Connect! Re: Dive, published in partnership with Cygames, the acclaimed developer of hit mobile titles, and funplex, a live-ops management and game operations company developed by GREE, Inc. The mobile game, which is more of a Gacha than an RPG honestly, originally launched in Japan in February of 2018, following up on the successful launch of the original Princess Connect in 2015. Now, the sequel game is joined by an anime adaptation (with Season 2 on the way) and now this English version of the mobile hit. But is this harem-managing mobile Gacha game worth playing for those of you who aren't familiar with the waifu-filled anime-styled story?
Princess Connect! Re: Dive follows fighting characters called Heroines whom you "collect" to "fight spirited, real-time battles across the land of Astraea." Players win those characters -- more than 50 in total -- through a Gacha mechanic and then strengthen them with different abilities, equipment, and experience upgrades, earned by deepening their bonds to unlock exclusive story content. Fans also have the chance to unlock the fan-favorite character Djeeta from the fantasy RPG Granblue Fantasy, if you're lucky.
I had a chance to check out Princess Connect! Re: Dive ahead of launch with little knowledge of the game, the anime, or the mythology going into it. The first thing that struck me was PC!R:D's significant download size, on the order of 6GB or more depending on if you want to download the whole thing right away or add more as you go. The extra data comes courtesy of full, HD cutscenes worthy of the anime itself (or perhaps either inspired by or pulled directly from it) along with fully voice-acted stories (in Japanese, with English text). If you've got an older or fully loaded phone like I do, you might want to clear some room ahead of time.
Now, since this was billed as a mobile RPG, I was expecting the classic role-playing elements: Building a team of specialists, battling together to earn experience and loot, perhaps completing odd jobs to earn currency for various merchants, and getting to know each other along the way. You do some of that ... kinda, but it's mostly passive, all designed to speed players through battles, quests, stories, and missions alike in search of Jewels. This prized currency is what you'll use to run the Gacha, which is how you "collect" all your waifus. While the tutorial quest gives you a Gacha run for free (and probably a higher-level character to get you hooked; I ended up snaring a three-star Anna Rose Von Stechpalm, who was delightful to get to know through stories), the Jewels are not all that difficult to earn over a short play period, easier still for those who pre-registered:
"The global anime community has been eagerly anticipating the launch, with over 800,000 global pre-registrants since pre-registration began on December 3, 2020. All players will receive 1,000 jewels to celebrate the launch of the game and an additional 2,100 jewels for surpassing 500,000 pre-registrants! Jewels are the in-game currency and can be used to unlock new characters and items."
However, the Jewel grind feels kind of hollow without any real battling along the way. Your Anime Girl Squad will absolutely wreck their way through early quests without you having to lift a literal finger. You can occasionally tap a prompt to perform a special attack known as a Union Burst, but most of the time you won't even have to. I genuinely dislike this approach to RPGs in recent years, the hands-off, turn-em-loose style of letting a game play itself runs counter to everything I've ever played in the RPG world. While I appreciate the idea of building a team and hoping for the best, sort of like Auto Chess, that idea plays a lot better in PvP rather than solo play. (I believe this game is supposed to have PvP in order to pit your team against others, but for the pre-launch review, I was unable to test this.)
Clearly that mechanic doesn't bother the legions of passionate and dedicated fans who love this mobile game. When you shift your perspective to understand PC!R:D as more of a grindy Gacha battler than a traditional RPG, it becomes a little easier to understand what makes this game worth playing. Investing time in watching character-focused and Guild-focused stories (which you can also skip, FYI) allows you to earn Jewels and get to know each of the Heroines. Sending them into battle on their own will quickly tell you if you need to respec, change gear loadouts, or even switch up the team members or positions altogether. And with 50+ characters to choose from, and a team of 5 to form, that gives you some 250+ million combinations (if I've done my math right).
And as far as anime games go, this one's both familiar and fantastic (in the genre sense) while also offering pretty much every flavor of waifu you can think of out there. The visuals are top-notch; the game doesn't give you anything you haven't seen before, but manages to deliver solid character designs (be they the anime versions or the battling sprites themselves) and even alternate costumes for certain characters. Each of the Heroines' individual stories are also enjoyable and uniquely tailored to them. These cinematics were created by popular light novelist Akira as the main scenario writer, composer Kohei Tanaka, who wrote the main theme song for Sakura Wars, and WIT STUDIO, the animation studio behind such hits as Attack on Titan, among other studios. If you were looking to measure the quality of this game's anime content, look no further than the pedigree of the above-mentioned talents.
For me, Princess Connect! Re: Dive isn't a game I'd come back to much at all, even as a casual mobile pick-up-and-play. I have no connection to the original game nor the anime adaptation, no real sense of the Heroines (or even the player character) beyond their tropes, and no investment in their battles since I, as the player, don't actually get to battle at all. It feels like being a disconnected puppet-master to an ever-expanding catalog of anime waifus, and it's just not for me. But for those of you who are into collecting, customizing, and battling your best squad against others on the platform, Princess Connect! Re: Dive is a solidly designed game that delivers exactly what you're asking for.
Beyond the playable game itself, Princess Connect! Re: Dive is also teaming up with Hololive Production, a talent agency for Virtual YouTubers, "to bring fans sneak peeks and special livestreams of the game alongside Hololive EN!" A lineup of upcoming events with the Vtubers on their respective channels follows below; at each event, five lucky players will win an additional 1,500 Jewels:
- January 19 – Global Launch Celebration stream with Amelia Watson
- January 21 – Fan Art Stream with Ninomae Ina'nis
- January 23 – Karaoke Stream with Gawr Gura
Princess Connect! Re: Dive is available to download now on both iOS and Android devices. The mobile game will also be the title sponsor of the upcoming Anime Awards, with voting live now through Friday, January 22 and the live show streaming on Friday, February 19. The anime series Princess Connect! Re: Dive is available to stream on Crunchyroll now.
Check out the newly released launch trailer below:
A whole new adventure begins! Princess Connect! Re:Dive is NOW AVAILABLE on iOS and Android worldwide! ✨ Get the game now at https://got.cr/pc_cryt