Customer Ratings & Reviews

The game plays pretty well, it doesn't follow the plot of the material it is based off but it is still fun to play if you're into the genre. There is a lot of playing to be done if you want to collect certain items/weapons etc. The fighting could become repetitive, but its fun if you just wanna go through and fight monsters and clear dungeons. There's also side quests you can do if you get bored of the doing linear things but they also eventually could become repetitive. The character designs are nicely done, as well as the animations for when story segments take place.

Hollow Realization is the latest installment title in this fairly popular series, anyone who's familiar with the anime or the light novels pretty much knows what to expect. You play as protagonist Kirito as he gets back into a rebooted version of the original Sword Art Online, going on quests and hunting monsters for item drops with a colorful cast of characters, many of whom are female and can be romanced. Basically, there's a lot to see and do. You can undertake quests to hunt monsters or farm said monsters for item drops. Certain powerful called NMs (Named Monsters) can be farmed for more powerful equipment. Like most RPGs of this type, gaining experience levels up your characters and gives you skill points, which you can use to learn skills to power up your character and min/max your basic stats. Story is pretty decent, not everything is as it appears at first glance. A sequel to previous games SAO: Hollow Fragment and Re: Hollow Fragment and SAO: Lost Song, but this game is better than either of those. Highly recommended for those who love RPGs or are big fans of the anime or light novel series. I own the PS4 version of the game, and the framerate runs smoothly for the most part, I can't comment on the cheaper PS Vita version.

I understand that the show receives a lot of hate, however the games aren't bad. They offer many hours of gameplay and story (This one yielding around 40 hours) and there's even free DLC and expansions planned (one free expansion giving 20 hours of story and 70 hours of content). Other developers and publishers should take note of the free content.

A nice simulation of the classic MMO playstyle in a single player atmosphere. Despite that however, there are also multiplayer content that you can play with other players online as well. However, the game is largely a single player story driven game that is good enough if you can tolerate the universe that the game is set in.

The game is a little slow to start off with backstory and catch-up in place to ground the plot, establish characters and inform players that may not be familiar with the Sword Art franchise. Most of the dialog is frivolous so setting the dialog speed to highest setting in options and smashing the X button gets you through that quickly enough. Combat is fun and engaging, the monsters are interesting enough and they appear to have some thought to placement on the map. NPC parties run about every field and will offer assistance if you care enough to build up a repor with them. The multiplayer function is not accessible until you've completed the first major quest of the game (level boss). Once it is open you are limited to a single field and given a set of quests to complete with whomever you are playing with. It is noticeably smoother than previous sword art games and easier to manage if not a little inconvenient for switching areas.

Game is good but there are ALOT of cut scenes where its like come on already

I recently started watching the Sword Art online anime and fell in love with it. So when I saw the game I though "Sweet, this is going to be awesome." There is so much going on in this game that it is kind of overwhelming. It plays like an MMORPG but all of the other players in the game are NPCs, which is a pretty cool feature. You can invite them to join your team and help you on your quests. There is also this relationship/affection aspect of the game that to me is kind of too much. You have to go on walks, dates, and even praise your teammates during battles. This affects how they act/feel towards you and how the battle in the future. It’s all kind of confusing to me and I would be happy if it wasn’t in the game. I’m sure that I’ll get used to it eventually. The overall game itself is not bad and it does a good job of linking the anime story arc into the game story.

An interesting JRPG from a long-running franchise. I've only seen 3 episodes and played this game. I do wish I'd started with the previous games, but the beginning helps you catch up quickly. The gameplay is typical RPG. It has many customization options for the protagonist, but because he's already a fully developed character, not an empty avatar for projection, I just left his original look. That can be a good or a bad thing, depending on how much you like to project yourself. Because this game comes with a long multimedia backstory, I think its pointless to try. One should probably check out the other media to fully get the whole story.

Best game in the series. Great for anime enthusiast and for those who are SAO fans.

Is better than the 1st game and more story driven..takes a bit to beat the 1st boss but feels like the game.

The enhancements to this game make it all the more fun! More people allowed in the group as well. The story is much better in my opinion too as the translation seems to be a bit more accurate.

Sword Art Online (SAO) is pretty much anime in game form. This traditionally would sound great but it serves an extremely niche following. The game play is pretty decent but the story does leave a little to be desired. Still, the game executed what its supposed to do. Just don't purchase for someone unless you know they are a fan of SAO or the genre in general.

The world of sword art comes alive. You become kirito, and asuna will be yours. The graphics are amazing and it is almost better playing the game than watching the shows. The only downside is it is not in english, and the cinemas can be long and uninteresting do to the fact that I cannot understand it.

I've only played a little since I'm concentrating more on my other purchase atm, but so far it seems better than lost song, but not sure if I like it as much as re hollow fragment. Still a great purchase for fans of sao, probably not so much if you're not, not until it is in the bargain bin.

If you're a big fan of Sword art online I would definitely recommend this game. It has everything good combat and great story.

The original story for this game is really fun and creative without sacrificing gameplay or characters.

This game is the best so far out massive online play as well

Good game, but the fact that you can only save when you enter a new map is pretty annoying and gives rise to many situations where you lost your progress if you die. Other than that it's great.

If you have ever play White Knight Chronicles, the online portion of the game has a similar feel. It's a fun, long, deep rpg - lots of leveling and customization of skills. Open world to explore, and eventually, bosses to fight with friends. I wish the loot system was expanded more, and there were more challenging dungeons (though they are coming with dlc), but it if fun to hop in with friends and grind for the best gear. Upgrading can be grindy, but all jrpgs are grindy. The only downside is if you are looking to jump right in to multiplayer, you need to complete a couple-few hours of the game first.

While the game is better than Lost Song's gameplay it's just another anime fangame. If you aren't big into the story of SAO it probably isn't worth playing.