Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed Review

Stripped bare.

By Josiah Renaudin on September 10, 2014 at 9:41PM PDT

The fact that a game called Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed isn’t completely tasteless might be its greatest accomplishment. This is a beat 'em up in which the ultimate goal is to strip all enemies of their clothing--a premise that proves a difficult hurdle to leap. The camera draws attention to the skimpy underwear and bouncy breasts of your bloodthirsty foes as you methodically expose their bodies, but--believe it or not--it goes beyond simple eye candy. The goofy story does its best to justify the sheer volume of bare skin, and the equal spread of male and female characters means you'll see just as many lacy undergarments as you do tighty whities. Unfortunately, Akiba's Trip just isn't any fun to play, and that makes the incessant panty shots and uninspired humor even more difficult to stomach.

Bear with me as I explain the convoluted narrative. You enter Akihabara, Tokyo's electronics district, during an outbreak of vampiric foes called Synthisters. These powerful enemies were once human, but now roam the streets hoping to suck the life energy from the city's unsuspecting residents. Your customizable protagonist, along with a medley of colorful freedom fighters, commit themselves to cleaning up their home the only way they know how--by stripping the opposition down to their undergarments. Like actual vampires, Synthisters are sensitive to the sunlight, so revealing their skin causes them to burn and return to human form.

The yarn unravels to expose seedy corporate involvement and a series of unlikely villains, but it isn't enough to mask the disquieting nature of Akiba's Trip. You spend the bulk of your time ripping off as much clothing as possible to expose nearly naked anime bodies to the world, which is intended to be the real draw here. Stripping bosses will often lead to more detailed views of their often unrealistic, hand-drawn figures, so if it's scantily-clad anime bodies you're looking for, you'll find them here in spades. The unremitting innuendos within the dialogue only weaken the already thin narrative justifications for the partial nudity, and while the focus on bare skin isn't the only attraction, I still felt uncomfortable with what was being asked of me.

You can party up with both male and female freedom fighters when patrolling the streets, but most of your time will be spent impressing your buxom allies. How you choose to respond during conversations determines whose affection you garner, and there's even a set cast member who can provide updates on which woman in your life has become the most smitten with you. It's a mostly shallow mechanic that leads to extraneous exchanges during otherwise heated scenarios. Talk of how you're going to save your city or discover the source of the Synthister menace is often followed by awkward complimentary phrases aimed at your busty childhood friend.

No Caption Provided

Even if you manage to overcome the fact that Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed is about stripping enemies down to their skivvies, you won't be rewarded with much more than a mindless brawler.

The carnal themes and prosaic dialogue would be a bit more palpable if the game played well, but repetitive combat and a painfully inconsistent framerate muddy the action. In battle, you're often surrounded by five or more enemies at once, swinging a weapon at each foe's head, body, and legs in order to score a knockout. A combination of high, mid, and low attacks damage the different pieces of clothing to their breaking point, making it easier to strip them right off of someone's body.

You can combo these strips together if multiple articles of clothing are weak enough to remove, but this strategy isn't enough to spice up an otherwise tedious process. Breaking down the pants, shirts, and hats of a swarm of foes as you protect the durability of your own wardrobe is a chore, and your ability to restore your clothes to full strength during battle by holding down a single button removes any semblance of tension. The systems aren't broken, and less populated arenas tend to produce smoother, more enjoyable action, but I had less and less fun with the mechanics as additional enemies flooded the screen.

The combat's lone saving grace comes in the form of upgradeable weapons, each of which has its own set of unique combinations. Heavier objects like arcade monitors deal serious damage, but your character lumbers with each swing. Boxing gloves, on the other hand, allow for more nimble striking--though you'll often focus on a single enemy at a time instead of the full group. It's enjoyable to find, buy, and upgrade different objects with varying attributes, and the same can be said for your clothing. Whether you prefer to go into battle sporting a three-piece suit or nothing more than a tattered pair of brown slacks, you’ve got options.

No Caption Provided

There's little to do outside of the nonsensical story and lackluster battles. The main quests often take you from the home base to a different segment of Akihabara that's been invaded by Synthisters, while the side missions drag you through dull fetch quests and additional combat scenarios to earn extra spending money. There's a New Game Plus feature that opens up fresh character customization options, but I had more than my fill of Akiba's Trip well before the story’s resolution.

Even if you manage to overcome the fact that Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed is about stripping enemies down to their skivvies, you won't be rewarded with much more than a mindless brawler. The monotonous combat only grows more tiresome as you progress, and it's almost too easy to predict the twists and turns of the formulaic plot. Akiba's Trip has a bizarre concept that might turn a few heads, but once you strip away the promiscuity, there's little left to keep your attention.

  • Leave Blank
  • Equipment upgrades greatly vary combat
  • Action often grows tedious
  • Stripping mechanic is just uncomfortable
  • Story beats are easy to predict
  • Poor framerate kills flow of battles

About the Author

lionheart377

Josiah Renaudin

  • @JosiahRenaudin

More GameSpot Reviews

Use your keyboard!

Log in to comment

akiba's trip rating

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

Review: Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound and Debriefed

Image of Zoey Handley

Show me how you strip

The Akiba’s Trip series is one that I think many people know based on premise alone. It has never reviewed very well in the West, but it’s hard to ignore a game whose central mechanic is undressing people in Akihabara. Undressing people. Stripping them to the nude. Putting them in their flesh tuxedo. They’ve even contrived a reason to do so, but we’ll get to that.

We never got the original Akiba’s Trip over here in North America. It was originally released in 2011 on the PSP, which was close enough to the launch of the Vita to be ignored. Instead, we jumped straight into the sequel, Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed .

Now, however, we’re getting a chance to travel back to 2011’s Akihabara with Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed (oh, I get it, “HD”) and see how the stripping began.

Akiba's Trip Awkward Moment

Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed ( Nintendo Switch [reviewed], PC , PS4 ) Developer: ACQUIRE Corp. Publisher: XSEED Games, Marvelous USA, Inc. Released: July 20, 2021 MSRP: $39.99

Let’s address the whole “HD” part of this package. Akiba’s Trip was a mighty fine-looking PSP game for its time. It is not, however, a good-looking Switch, PS4, or PC game. Models are angular, textures are blurry, and if you look too far off, you can see the cars disappear into the 2D backdrops. It’s an improvement over the original, don’t get me wrong. Textures and lighting have been touched up, but they didn’t go as far as even matching Undead & Undressed’s graphical fidelity.

Even still, the framerate tends to chug on the Switch version when you position the camera just right or there’s lots of stripping going on. I never found it too intrusive, but it was hard to ignore.

That’s not the end of the world, but it doesn’t bode well for any other upgrades. Indeed, the combat, which has been a sticking point for the series in general, is just as clunky as ever. The idea is that you have to damage the enemy’s clothing before you can rip it off, exposing their supple flesh to the world. There’s headwear, upper body, and lower body, and they are all worn down with their individual attacks. As such, you have high, mid, and low attacks, but they can’t be chained together in any advantageous way, so you’re stuck with just kicking them in the shins until their pants break.

The biggest issue is the targeting, which is essentially non-existent. You can’t lock on, so you’re at the mercy of your character’s attention span, and they’re easily distracted. Even when fighting only one enemy, you’ll often find yourself attacking off to the side for no reason, or striking behind your target. In groups, things can get hopeless, and kamisama help anyone who joins you as an ally. Just flail in the direction of the enemies you want to strip and start tearing every once and a while. See what you can catch.

The whole reason for the stripping? Akiba’s Trip tells you it’s because there are vampires preying on the citizens of Akihabara, but it gets a little murky. You’re turned vampire at the outset, so you’re just as susceptible to sunlight as everyone else. Lose your clothes, and you dissolve. Take off a vampire’s outfit, and they dissolve. Strip a bystander, and they just run off in embarrassment.

The weird thing is, the story isn’t all that committed to this concept. It plays along with the whole hidden threat angle, but often when you strip a character with a name, they’re just like, “Hah, I’m too tough to be killed by the sun!” Then they run off because no one has heard of restraints. You can also just strip down to a pair of headphones and be perfectly fine. As long as you’re wearing an article of clothing, the sun can’t hurt you. Your underwear doesn’t count. Thankfully?

Why are all these vampires out in the daylight, anyway? Have they never heard of coffins? I’m pretty sure Akihabara has a nightlife to prey on.

Akiba's Trip Holy Veil

The story of Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound and Debriefed involves you investigating the disappearance of a friend and getting beaten up in an alley. A woman takes pity on you and shares her blood with you by way of a kiss, and you become a vampire — sorry, Shadow Soul — like her. An organization dedicated to the eradication of Shadow Souls, NIRO, recruits you by force to stop their diabolical scheme.

The plan? Vampire bites apparently turn people into shut-ins. It’s not very well explained, but from what I gather, I may have been a victim of these Shadow Souls. I’m also not really certain of the grand plan. Drive down human birth rates in Japan so vampires can thrive? I’m not sure they need help with that, especially not in Akihabara.

I poke fun at some of the more nebulous elements, but the foundation does a decent job of moving things along. While it seems from the outset that NIRO has you by the crotch of the pants, as the plot moves along, you’re given some agency in who you help. Your primary concern is protecting the people of the Tokyo neighborhood, but who has its best interests in mind? Is it really NIRO? Are all vampires bad?

Akiba's Trip Stripping

Likewise, the characters are enjoyable, if not a fair bit archetypal. It does tend to get a bit overly wordy, especially towards the end. There’s a possible romance in the game that I enjoyed, but every so often she’d start to drop analogies that I just didn’t understand. I’m sorry, but an analogy is supposed to clarify a subject, not mystify it further. Poor use of poetic license is a turn-off for me.

At its core, Akiba’s Trip is about being an otaku, which I guess also means being a pervert. Throughout the game, you’ll be subjected to fetishes laid bare. I consider myself to be pretty open-minded, but I found myself feeling somewhat uncomfortable when I had to utilize the protagonist’s little sister to awaken a schoolgirl fantasy in him. Likewise, when I had to find a “cherry” on the street, deceive her, and deliver her to the local BDSM queen, I kind of felt a bit disconnected. But the game rewarded me for being a predator! Not sure what message that sends.

It’s nothing worse than you’d find in some of the lewder anime out there, just be ready to dip your toes into other people’s kinks. Some that you might not be into, but others that you might be! What’s your game, friend? Crossplay, maids, moe, catgirls, bunny girls, fox girls? You’re covered. Just don’t be surprised when it skirts a little near sexual assault territory, as if the core theme wasn’t close enough.

Akiba's Trip Hate Boner

Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed is a horny game if nothing else. It’s not explicit ecchi, but it knows exactly what it’s doing, and it succeeds in a lot of ways. It’s an interesting satire of the otaku lifestyle, both poking fun at and embracing it.

Most of the time, though, it’s like playing a stripped-down version of Yakuza . You wander a Japanese neighborhood, shop, do side-quests, build up your character, much like in that venerated series. But then the combat sucks and the story is poorly paced. On the other hand, I can’t deny it grew on me. It feels like one of those janky, Japanese, early PS2 titles like Mr. Mosquito or Robot Alchemic Drive . It might not be the most fun to play, but it’s unique enough to captivate.

[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]

akiba's trip rating

  • PlayStation
  • Nintendo Switch
  • Nintendo 3DS
  • PlayStation 5
  • PlayStation 4
  • PlayStation 3
  • PlayStation Vita
  • Xbox Series X

Review: Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed Almost Gets It Right

Image of Leigh Price

Akiba’s Trip is one of those games that’s hard to forget about, at least conceptually. It’s a game where the goal is to punch people in the jeans so hard that they fall off. It’s utterly absurd; a joke concept that may be tough to stretch to a full game, and yet the team at Acquire tried to do that.

Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed is the second time they attempted the concept. The first game was a former Japan exclusive that eventually got a remastered worldwide release as Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound and Debriefed . Undead and Undressed , however, did get a worldwide release the first time around, releasing in the West for the PlayStation Vita in 2014. Now, almost 10 years later, it’s getting a Director’s Cut remaster for modern systems. So the question is, how well does the sequel hold up after all this time?

So let’s get this out of the way. Akiba’s Trip is weird. Not just because of its concept, but its execution is all over the place. One moment the game feels like it wears its concept on its sleeve, playing it up for all its absurdity. Then in the next moment, it’s tripping over its own pants with awkward dialogue and clunky gameplay.

Akiba's Trip Stripping

Screenshot by Siliconera

If you’re unfamiliar with Akiba’s Trip , here’s a quick rundown of the plot. You play as a generic protagonist named Nanashi by default. He wakes up in a strange lab after responding to the reddest of red flag job adverts. He’s been turned into a Synthister, a violent emotional vampire. However, he gets rescued by a mysterious girl named Shizuku who helps him escape and shares her blood with him to prevent him from losing his humanity.

Now Nanashi, Shizuku, and his friends in the Akiba Freedom Fighters are heading out to stop the Synthister menace plaguing Akihabara. Of course, the best way to defeat them is to remove all their clothes so they can be burned away by their vampiric weakness to sunlight.

Akiba's Trip Combat

The process of doing this, however, is poorly executed. Combat involves attacking an opponent’s legs, torso or head in order to do damage to the clothing or accessories in that area. With enough damage, Nanashi or his friends can grab the shirt or hat or whatever and remove them. Remove all clothing items and they’re defeated.

This whole system is clunky to control. Fights are often against large groups, and limited dodge and inconsistent targeting can often make it tricky to position yourself in a way that you’re not getting punched in the back all the time. It’s also painfully repetitive. Every fight has the exact same rhythm, and I never really felt like I could mix up combos all that much. It says a lot that combat improves a lot when you unlock the team-up ability. This often causes so much instant damage it feels like it skips most of the fighting.

Akiba's Trip Walking

Not that things are much better out of combat. You get a decent chunk of Akiba to explore, including multiple real stores to visit and buy assorted items from. This would be great if you weren’t wandering into a loading screen every five seconds. Akiba has been split into multiple tiny regions all sectioned away from each other, with the most egregious problem being Main Street split into four separate corners.

These tiny locations also add to the problems with combat, as I frequently found myself backed into corners within the transition points. Thankfully, area transition is usually locked out while in combat, so this doesn’t lead to interruptions. However, the camera shift that indicates the transition does still happen, making it much harder to see what you’re doing.

While the first game had these problems, it could be attributed to its origins on the PSP. However, Undead and Undressed started out on the Vita, a system that boasted Gravity Rush as one of its most prominent games. That was a game with a seamless open world that Akiba’s Trip could have done well to emulate.

Akiba's Trip Dialogue

Where Akiba’s Trip fares a little better, however, is in its writing. There’s a satirical edge to much of the game’s dialogue, acting as a celebration and brutal takedown of otaku culture in equal measure. After all, the game starts with the protagonist taking a sketchy job offer simply because they pay in figurines. This is just a fraction of the self-referential humor about the obsessive nature of otaku. An obsessive nature that makes them a perfect target for a surreal mission to turn their entire Tokyo hangout into a hive of energy vampires. It’s all delightfully silly and it knows it.

Of course, there are times where it walks the line between satirical and just bad. On one hand, the cosplay sequence where the normally serious and distant Shizuku gets super into the hottest anime is genuinely funny. On the other hand, the awkward dialogue of the protagonist’s little sister is generally obnoxious to put up with. It’s a huge tonal problem that runs through the whole game.

Akiba’s Trip is a real mixed bag of an experience. It’s clear there was potential here with some of the writing, and the combat has a solid foundation that it fails to build on properly. It reminds me a little of Deadly Premonition , a game that managed to do so much wrong and yet ended up being a strangely compelling experience. Akiba’s Trip doesn’t quite pull off the same feat, but frequently feels like it could get close. It just never quite comes together as a cohesive whole.

Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed is not a game that has aged well. Its combat is repetitive, its map is too restrictive and its dialogue sometimes leans into the worst tropes too sincerely to be called parody. However, it’s clear that there is an audience for this out there, or it wouldn’t have gotten this remaster. If you can put up with the game’s many issues, it may be possible to lose yourself in the absurdity of its concept and enjoy its more successful satirical moments.

Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed Director’s Cut is out now for Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PC.

  • I will admit there was some nostalgia for me here, as I did visit Akiba around the time of the game's original release.
  • There’s even a mission where Nanashi gets cornered by maids in a side street, which was alarmingly similar to a real experience I had.
  • It was only one maid in real life though, not a whole squad of them. And no one got stripped in the street. Thankfully.

pokemon TCG the best temporal forces cards

Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed Review: Stripped Down Simplicity

A product of its time, Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed is an enjoyable experience that takes you through the streets of Akihabara, circa-2011.

My one and only trip to Japan took place in 2000, when I made the trek with my high school Japanese language class for ten glorious days, exploring the bright neon-lit streets of Fukuoka, the farming and coastal communities of Shimabara, and the industrial-meets-city life town of Sasebo. I have very fond memories of my trip and continue to save and prepare for a return trip to the southernmost part of Japan at some point. However, I also have every intention of making my way through the rest of the island so that I can visit other places like Osaka, Kyoto, Nagano, and, of course, Tokyo.

Ah, Tokyo. I’ve always dreamed of visiting the city that, to me, seems like heaven on Earth. I’ve even recently gone so far as to try to get a taste of the Tokyo city experience by playing games that are based in Japan . So, you can imagine my delight when I was offered the opportunity to check out the remastered Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed for its tenth anniversary – not to mention its official release in the West. Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed isn’t your typical remaster – this is by no means on the level of titles such as Resident Evil 2 Remake . Although the game has its moments of frustration and arguably feels like a product of its time, Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed is an enjoyable experience that takes you through the streets of Akihabara, circa-2011. TLDR: my nostalgic jet-setting Japanese heart is happy.

Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed is technically a brand-new game that has been remastered and released for a Western audience. The original game – called Akiba’s Trip Plus in Japan – was initially released in May 2011 for the PSP, making Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed a near must-have for fans of the series. Can you play the game as a new player to the franchise? Speaking as someone who had never played an Akiba’s Trip game before, I can confirm that there really is no barrier to entry to diving right into Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed. Just make sure you know going in that the game's title is – in quite literal terms – telling you what sort of game you’re about to play.

Related: Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed Preview: I’m Goin’ Back To Akihabara In terms of the game’s story, you’re a newcomer to Akihabara, commonly referred to as an otaku paradise. Trendy shops line up side by side, enticing anyone who passes by to peek in and see what material treasures await inside. Rather than it being a pleasure trip, however, your customizable character is thrown into the fray pretty much immediately, finding themselves on the losing end of a brutal encounter with a vampire-like humanoid. Eventually, you’re contracted to work with NIRO, a secret agency tasked with taking out these demons that walk among the rest of the population disguised as living, breathing human beings. And how exactly are you to rid the world of these monsters? Why, by stripping off the clothes that they are wearing, of course.

The aptly titled Akiba’s Trip series has maintained a focus on “strip-combat” mechanics, and Hellbound & Debriefed is no exception. You’re able to identify demons by using your mobile device, which typically results in a hand-to-hand brawl where your main goal is to strip all of your opponent’s clothes off before they do the same to you first – which effectively results in a game over.

The trick is to wear your opponent down by hitting and kicking them, or smacking them with a variety of random weapons (the loaf of bread being my personal favorite weaponized item). Once they take enough punishment, you can grab an article of clothing and rip it off of them, which becomes all the more satisfying when you gain the ability to string strips together in a combination of button-hitting quick-time events.

The combos are definitely the best part of the combat system, which often feels incredibly clunky. Hitbox inconsistencies, rough camera angles, no lock-on system… it all adds up to a somewhat frustrating experience, made even more frustrating by the sheer amount of fighting that you’ll be doing in the game. Perhaps the most frustrating part, though, is taking on multiple enemies at once. The length of these encounters can be exhausting, especially when you’ve been slain (stripped?) by the same group of enemies a handful of times already. Eventually, you’ll figure out the best way to approach each situation. It just might take you a few tries (or more) to get there.

Aside from any combat woes, Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed is a fun romp through 2011 Japan – made all the more nostalgic thanks to the game’s graphics. As I said, this isn’t the typical high-caliber remake that most players have come to expect. It looks fine for what it is, but it still looks and feels like a step above a PSP or PS2 game. But you know what? It works. Maybe it’s the fact that the setting features all of the stores and scenery that were present in Akihabara in 2011, but there’s a comfortable, simplistic, and nostalgic feeling that courses through the streets and alleyways of Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed. I’m a sucker for those kinds of old-school, retro games , and Hellbound & Debriefed is a solid entry into that category.

There’s a ton of depth to the game’s RPG element as well, allowing you to build up your character with special skills, outrageous outfits and other cosmetic items, as well as steer the direction of the relationships you maintain with NPCs, which ultimately impacts the outcome of the game.

There’s a lot to love in Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed, whether you’re a veteran or newcomer to the series. It looks and plays much like the games of yesteryear, but that’s what gives it much of its charm. You can definitely add Akihabara to my list of spots to visit when I finally make my way back to Japan. I’m no vampire demon, but perhaps I’ll wear an extra layer or two. You know, just in case.

A PS4 copy of Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed was provided to TheGamer for this review. Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed will be available on PS4 and Nintendo Switch on July 23.

Next: King’s Bounty 2 Preview: Revamped Open-World Tactics

akiba's trip rating

Sign in to add this item to your wishlist, follow it, or mark it as ignored

Sign in to see reasons why you may or may not like this based on your games, friends, and curators you follow.

akiba's trip rating

Buy AKIBA'S TRIP: Hellbound & Debriefed - Digital Deluxe Edition

SPECIAL PROMOTION! Offer ends 21 March

Buy AKIBA'S TRIP: Hellbound & Debriefed

Digital deluxe edition.

akiba's trip rating

About This Game

Key features, mature content description.

The developers describe the content like this:

This game uses a stripping mechanic that leaves enemies in their underwear after combat. One game mode allows players to dress a female character in a revealing outfit (e.g., lingerie/underwear) and follow the camera as it moves around her figure. The game text and dialogue also contain sexual references. The words “f**k” and “sh*t” appear in dialogue. In one fighting mini-game, players use knives and cleavers to slash at each other, resulting in brief splashes of blood.

System Requirements

  • OS *: Windows 8.1 or later
  • Processor: Intel Core i5-750
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 560
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 2 GB available space
  • Processor: Intel Core i7-4770
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950

© 2011-2021 ACQUIRE Corp. Licensed to and published by XSEED Games / Marvelous USA, Inc.

More like this

What curators say, customer reviews.

akiba's trip rating

You can use this widget-maker to generate a bit of HTML that can be embedded in your website to easily allow customers to purchase this game on Steam.

There is more than one way to buy this game. Please select a specific package to create a widget for:

Enter up to 375 characters to add a description to your widget:

Copy and paste the HTML below into your website to make the above widget appear

akiba's trip rating

Popular user-defined tags for this product: (?)

Sign in to add your own tags to this product.

Valve Software

Like us on Facebook

Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed (Switch) Review

by Alex Orona - July 20, 2021, 10:03 am EDT Discuss in talkback!

Akiba's Trip: Underwhelmed & Disappointed

Originally a PSP game, Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed is the first of the HD remakes in the franchise to be brought to updated consoles. The series acts as a love letter to Otaku trends, fan service, and Akihabara as a whole with the focal points emphasizing the culture surrounding what’s known as the electric town. The city is alive here with lots to find and explore but one thing I didn’t find a lot of was fun.

akiba's trip rating

Akiba’s Trip follows a young “professional dork” named Nanashi, who is attacked in a dark alley trying to find a missing friend. After the assault, close to death, a vampire named Rui comes to the rescue but can only save him by turning him into a vampire as well. After turning, he’s recruited into NIRO, the anti-vampire task force. Straddling the line between human and vampire (or Kageyashi as they are called in the game,) Nanashi teams up with NIRO to rid Akihabara of the growing vampire threat. Armed with a team of Otaku (young pop culture enthusiasts) and a snappy fashion sense, Nanashi travels around Akihabara exploring the alleys of cosplayers while fighting vampire hordes that have infiltrated.

To combat the vampires, you have three attacks: A head attack, a body attack and a legs attack. Each one targets a specific article of clothing, and once you’ve done enough damage, you can grab and rip off that article of clothing leaving the enemies in their underwear. After you’ve removed all the top level clothes the enemy is exposed to the sun and disappears. This is a silly, fan service-y mechanic that feels a mile wide but an inch deep. Sure there are stats for specific pieces of clothing, or stat boosts to do more damage say to schoolgirl outfits, but it rarely feels profound.

akiba's trip rating

The fashion aspect plays into Akihabara fashion culture, as it’s not uncommon to see cosplay displayed throughout the city. In Akiba’s Trip, it’s used as armor but some missions require specific real world outfits like school girl skirts or business suits so you better dress accordingly. Clothing can be found in tons of shops around the city or taken from enemies. Also there are skill books that will boost your stats against certain outfits so you can plan ahead. Outside of the gear, your stats improve from leveling up from combat encounters, and there are ALOT of those.

The flaw of the combat design is that being a vampire fighting for humans, you end up being attacked by both sides. This includes combat with any and all random NPC’s. At any given time you can randomly be attacked. This is super frustrating because it takes 2-3 seconds for your character to perform their intro combat animation and also combat will continue to occur in NPC conversations. You can get out of combat stance but that also takes 2-3 seconds and even after, you are still vulnerable to attack. The fact that these happen randomly may not be a big deal but I found myself in a combat arena 1 vs 1 story beat that was interrupted by roughly 15 random enemies joining into the frey. On the positive side, it was dynamic so they would accidentally attack and turn on eachother making it comedic but overall felt like a mess.

akiba's trip rating

Adding to the frustration of the dynamic combat is that when facing multiple opponents in story encounters, it’s easy to find yourself stunlocked or encircled and unable to move being pummeled to your death. I found the best solution to strafe around constantly but that led to issues with the camera unable to keep up within the environment. Add in a lack of a targeting system and you are left wildly swinging your weapon and attempting to strip one enemy but accidentally grabbing another.There is a neat mechanic of using your flip phone camera to find hidden enemies but this was rarely used.

The graphics, while HD, do little to improve what clearly looks like a PSP game. The characters art is crystal clear but doesn’t help the muddy textures or lack of detail in character avatars. Each map represents a block of Akihabara, so they are smaller in scale and confusing to say the least. Stores are highlighted with yellow arrows which is sadly a necessity, as some stores were just building walls with no storefront. Other issues are NPC’s. They are numerous in number but sometimes it’s required for you to speak with a specific one and it isn’t until you are right on top of them that a name appears above their head. Details like this make missions obtuse and confusing.

akiba's trip rating

There are tons of other issues that go along with the port such as music being louder than the voice acting, drowning it out, occasional frame drops or a dressing your underage sister for photos mini-game that feels uncomfortable and in poor taste. I know that there’s an implied sexiness to the game (yes I got the title pun) but still. Akiba’s Trip was a series I’ve always been curious about. I understand the fan service of finding quirky excuses to strip your enemies but everything around this just feels outdated. The mechanics have not aged well, the story rarely gets passed ‘eye rolling,’ and combat is frustratingly repetitive. From my understanding, there are many quality of life improvements that have occurred in later entries into the series but this remastered version keeps it faithful to the original, warts and all. Strip away the Akihabara charm, and there’s not much left to enjoy.

  • Long awaited PSP port now on Switch for fans of the series
  • Combat is frustratingly unresponsive
  • Eye rolling story
  • Muddy textures
  • Plays like an antiquated PSP game

Share + Bookmark

Game profile.

  • Reviews (1)
  • Screens (4)

Worldwide Releases

Related content.

Game

  • Advertising
  • Privacy Policy
  • Manage Cookie Settings
  • Top of Page
  • Mobile Site
  • Privacy Policy

Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed Review — A Shadow of Its Former Self

Image of George Yang

The Akiba’s Trip series is such a unique one. When Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed came westward in 2014, I had no idea what to expect. It turned out to be a very shameless beat ’em game with stripping mechanics. More specifically, the main character explores the city of Akihabara and strips the clothes off of supernatural human enemies called Synthesizers, who are vulnerable to sunlight.

Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed essentially uses the same concept but with a different group of enemies. Debriefed is a remaster of the first game in the series that originally launched on the PlayStation Portable back in 2011, though it never made it outside of Japan.

Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed Review — A Shadow of Its Former Self

This time around, the enemies are vampiric entities called Shadow Souls. These nefarious beings feed on the citizens of Akihabara, draining their souls and turning them into antisocial shut-ins. The main character, Tanaka, gets attacked at the very beginning of the game, and a mysterious girl saves them by utilizing her own bodily fluids to heal their wounds.

This grants Tanaka supernatural powers, but at the cost of being vulnerable to sunlight just like the other Shadow Souls. Tanaka then joins NIRO to take down the remaining Shadow Souls to uncover their ultimate plan.

Those who’ve played Undead & Undressed ( U&U) back in 2014 will certainly find themselves in familiar territory. While I’d say they’ll also enjoy Hellbound & Debriefed ( H&D) , it’s lacking in all of the many quality of life and gameplay improvements that U&U introduced seven years ago.

It’s almost as if the game was ported from PlayStation Portable onto modern platforms, but then nothing else was done to make it feel modern.

akiba's trip rating

The lack of a lock-on system or any sort of manual targeting is an issue in U&U , and in H&D , the problem still hasn’t been solved. Combat feels as cumbersome as ever, with inconsistent, all-over-the-place hit detection.

In fact, gameplay has seemingly regressed here. 

You can hit your enemies in three areas: high, mid, and low, each corresponding to pieces of clothing, which are headwear, shirt, and pants, respectively. As you continue to hit your enemies, their clothing turns a different color, indicating that you can try and strip a particular piece of clothing off of them.

In U&U , you can try to strip off an enemy’s clothes by mashing a specific button. If you are unsuccessful, your efforts still contribute to lowering your target’s clothing HP meter. However, in H&D , that HP meter doesn’t go down at all, which effectively means that if you fail to strip an enemy’s clothing, your effort goes to waste. Furthermore, in U&U , you can see how much HP your clothing has. But that feature is completely gone in H&D , so it’s harder to gauge your own condition.

By putting away your weapon and adjusting your clothes, these two animations allow you to recover your HP. But it’s a laborious process, as the animation leaves you wide open to enemy attacks.  U&U does the exact same thing, except without having to put away a weapon, cutting the animation time in half.

akiba's trip rating

The gameplay isn’t the only thing that’s gone backward here.  U&U  lets you open the Akihabara map at any time and go to a different location. In H&D , you have to actually run to the edge of the area to open up the map menu. Additionally, you can only save or change your clothes and equipment when the map is open, removing the change-at-any-time option found in  U&U .

There are side quests in Hellbound & Debriefed as well, and they help expand Akihabara’s worldbuilding. These are the usual fare, with you fighting enemies or fetching some sort of item. You can always pull up the To-Do list in your menu to read what’s next in the main story or a side quest, but one aspect that is notably missing is an objective tracker. At this point, you can probably figure out that U&U had one…

It’s just baffling to see how many quality-of-life functions are missing here. In 2021, we’ve seen many remasters improve on their forebears, such as  Nier Replicant and Shin Megami Tensei 3 HD Remaster . Unfortunately, Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed  hasn’t overhauled combat — like the former — nor does it have an already solid combat foundation — like the latter.

akiba's trip rating

But that’s not to say there aren’t any positives to this game.

XSEED usually provides quality localization, and H&D is no exception. The English voice acting is great, and it’s a noticeable step up from Undead & Undressed . The cast of characters is charming too, with my favorite being the main heroine, Rui Fumitsuki. XSEED’s stellar script really helps bring the main and supporting casts to life.

While the game’s 3D graphics are kind of ugly, I do really love the crisp 2D art style of the character portraits and special CG artwork that comes with the different endings. The music can be pretty good as well, particularly the battle themes.

Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed — The Bottom Line

akiba's trip rating

  • Top-notch localization and English voice dub from XSEED
  • 2D art style and CG wallpaper artwork is crisp and clean
  • Music can be pretty good
  • Gameplay is entirely too cumbersome
  • Lacking any gameplay or quality of life functions that were introduced in its 2014 sequel
  • Graphics look ugly on the big screen

I can really only recommend Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed to diehard fans of the series. It doesn’t have any gameplay or quality-of-life improvements that its 2014 sequel introduced, and as a result, it feels like a relic of the past.

While there are some emotional moments in the game’s story and the cast of characters can be fun, the gameplay is a chore to get through. It’s just disappointing that this is such a barebones remaster.

[Note: XSEED provided the copy of Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed used for this review.]

Space Ship in the Orbit

Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed header image

Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed

Weak

OpenCritic Rating

Top Critic Average

Critics Recommend

Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed Trailers

AKIBA’S TRIP: Hellbound & Debriefed - Launch Date Announcement Trailer

AKIBA’S TRIP: Hellbound & Debriefed - Announcement Trailer

Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed Screenshots

Critic reviews for akiba's trip: hellbound & debriefed, destructoid.

Most of the time, though, it’s like playing a stripped-down version of Yakuza. You wander a Japanese neighborhood, shop, do side-quests, build up your character, much like in that venerated series. But then the combat sucks and the story is poorly paced. On the other hand, I can’t deny it grew on me. It feels like one of those janky, Japanese, early PS2 titles like Mr. Mosquito or Robot Alchemic Drive. It might not be the most fun to play, but it’s unique enough to captivate.

Read full review

Hellbound & Undressed has elements fans will enjoy, and if you dig, you can find quirky and interesting things here, but if it catches you having too much fun, be prepared to have that stripped from you like a finely quaffed set of Shadow Soul clothes. This game is a constant chore to enjoy and should be reserved for the folks that really want to see where the series began.

God is a Geek

Between lackluster combat, outdated graphics and the horrendous stripping mechanic, it's very hard to think of a reason to recommend Akiba's Trip: Hellbound and Debriefed.

There’s a lot to love in Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed, whether you’re a veteran or newcomer to the series. It looks and plays much like the games of yesteryear, but that’s what gives it much of its charm. You can definitely add Akihabara to my list of spots to visit when I finally make my way back to Japan. I’m no vampire demon, but perhaps I’ll wear an extra layer or two. You know, just in case.

COGconnected

I can’t imagine anyone so desperate for content that they would find value in this only marginally improved ten-year-old game. Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed is and has always been, awful and no HD remaster will fix its terrible story, lackluster combat, primitive graphics, and creepy tone. Some games are broken or bad in a kind of fun way, but Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed isn’t broken, it’s just bad and decidedly, aggressively not fun at all.

Push Square

There's a fair amount of side-quest stuff to do such as playing mini-games in the maid café or helping out locals with their problems, although none of it is particularly innovative or memorable. There are also loads of different quirky weapons and hundreds of different clothing options to collect. Roaming around Akihabara while wielding a keyboard and wearing a Gundam cosplay made out of cardboard boxes is kinda fun, despite how average the game is overall.

Everyeye.it

The idea behind AKIBA'S TRIP is delicious and fun, but if in 2011 the product could work despite all its shortcomings and the limitations imposed by the PSP hardware, the same cannot be said for its reissue. The one made by Acquire is in fact a remastered only in name, it is no coincidence that the product has preserved all its historical technical problems, such as the mismanagement of the camera, the inaccurate pointing system, the very slow response times of the commands, the cumbersome animations, and so on.

Review in Italian | Read full review

Screen Rant

Akiba's Trip is a poor attempt at creating a tantalizing video game, and it's only the strength of its humor and writing that makes it even worth a look. This is actually the first official English localization of the original Akiba's Trip, though after spending time with it in 2021, it's a mystery why anyone wanted to remaster it in the first place.

Fair

  • Privacy Certified

AKIBA'S TRIP: Undead & Undressed

  • Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB

Explore More games

Cyberpunk 2077, additional resources.

akiba's trip rating

  • Family Gaming Guide

A user-friendly guide to help provide you with the key information you need to manage your kids' video game experiences.

akiba's trip rating

  • Parental Controls

Parental Controls help you manage your children's video game use, even when you aren't around.

ESRB ratings provide information on what’s in games or apps so consumers can make informed choices

  • Ratings Guide

In-depth information about the ESRB rating system.

mom holding phone at retail store

Use our free mobile app to look up rating information and read rating summaries on the go.

X icon

Proud member of

  • Search ESRB Ratings
  • Most Viewed Games
  • Recently Rated Games
  • Ratings Process
  • Where to Find Ratings
  • ESRB Retail Council
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • ¡Vamos a Jugar!
  • Our History
  • Contact Form

Search ESRB.org

Threads icon

  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy

Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed

Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed

Akiba's trip guide, top guide sections.

  • Walkthrough
  • Collectibles
  • Cheats and Secrets
  • Achievements and Trophies
  • Achievements
  • Easter Eggs
  • Tips and Tricks

Images & Screenshots

akiba's trip rating

Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed News

Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed Director’s Cut - Official Launch Trailer

akiba's trip rating

akiba's trip rating

AKIBA'S TRIP: Undead & Undressed

akiba's trip rating

Game length provided by HowLongToBeat

Review – Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed Director’s Cut

akiba's trip rating

Plenty of years ago, I owned an obscure game known as Akiba’s Trip . There’s really no way I can mask how ludicrous the premise is, but it managed to intrigue me. I’ve got a soft spot for stupid romps like this one. Plus, I’m a weeb, and as a weeb, of course, I’m partial to the anime aesthetic. The quirkiness speaks to me, and the focus on silliness lends itself to the simple notion of fun. Yeah, it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea targeting a specific niche. Hell, when this site covered the first iteration back in 2021 , the writer, Leo Faria, wasn’t thrilled. Clunky controls and a terrible aiming system plagued the release, and that’s on top of the controversial subject matter. Yet, I found the script to be fairly decent – the duality of journalists.

With a name like Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed , it’s not exactly promoting confidence. All it does is highlight the inherent stigma burdening such a style. I can’t even pretend that fanservice isn’t a prominent feature, because anyone with a pair of eyes can immediately refute that. There’s quite a healthy amount of it, but the question I’m looking to explore today is if tits and ass are the sole selling points.

Pitter

Wait, did XSeed somehow hack into the WTMG’s group chat?

The answer is an emphatic nope; there are other facets I enjoyed. Much like with the prequel, this sequel bathes in a humor-driven script. It’ll be subjective, and I reckon several will find it cringey, but I appreciate how Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed leans into that craziness. It’s self-aware, often calling the sheer absurdity of the shenanigans out. In a game with a concept that revolves around stripping your opponents to their skivvies, degeneracy is a guarantee. Characters will also break the fourth wall, noting how damn perverse that act is. It almost shames the player for what they’re doing, and that tickled me. I actually smirked a fair bit during my session, if I’m honest.

I’m not trying to claim the hilarity is off the charts because it’s exceedingly juvenile, and a teenage funny bone is required to embrace this sort of comedy. Serious adults need not apply because I can promise that after one or two hours, you’ll be booting up Pikmin 4 . Most crucially, if you’re not entrenched in nerd culture or role-playing, you won’t be privy to the charm. In fact, a favorite scene of mine sees a group of three girls watching a box set of a fictional series. They binge it before ultimately cosplaying. As they throw on their skimpy outfits, the preceding interaction is one of embarrassment and encouragement, which perfectly nails the friendship dynamic.

Speaking of, I’ve got to applaud how well the cast is written. Sure, nothing about it is going to win awards, and I wasn’t feeling my heart being torn. When it came to the entertainment factor, though, it was high. I was delighted by a few of the personalities (like that of the little sister of the protagonist), I couldn’t get enough. Her peculiar habit of adding “Bro” to other words, creating an amalgamation, like, well, Brotagonist, was a hoot. I was always taken aback by what she came up with, which brought me to a fatal flaw.

Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed - Dressing up like the Stripism Girls!

You can’t deny how gorgeous the hand-drawn portions are.

The biggest appeal of  Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed is how outrageous the dialogue gets. While the majority of lines are soaked with goofiness, the luster does dwindle if you go for a second playthrough. It’s not doom and gloom all across the board, because retreading waters did mean I picked up on jokes I previously missed. The thing is, I also found I was skipping text windows often, and by that, I mean 95 percent. For that reason, it doesn’t do a fantastic job of incentivizing the player to want to jump back in, which is counter to what’s in place.

Essentially, there are branching paths. Or in other words, the women aren’t romanceable in a traditional way, but y’all can become closer. Depending on who is chosen, the ending will be affected. I have to say, the differences aren’t substantial. While I only got one, the others are available online since this title is largely a port. When you consider the above paragraph with what I just mentioned, it doesn’t bode too well for replayability from a literary standpoint. Unless you genuinely enjoyed the general vibe, it may lose its allure.

To add to that criticism, it’s rather disheartening to see that nothing was done to better Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed , and to earn that definitive moniker. Granted, a DLC chapter has been plopped in to sweeten the deal, but I would have loved to see more, particularly with reactions. You see, I have a minor bit of leeway when it comes to my rebuttals. I can be stern, neutral, or absolutely bonkers. Unfortunately, if I were to make an overly sexual remark, it doesn’t alter the answer I receive much. Yeah, there’s a slight variation, but it’s so minute that it might as well not exist. It’s a nitpick, but it’s such a missed opportunity to right all the original’s wrongs.

Nana

It’s bad when even your own flesh and blood thinks you’re hopeless.

If what I’ve rambled on about is piquing your interest, then I’ll always champion that Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed is a worthwhile play, at least once. The characters, while stereotypical, have charismatic energy because of how over-the-top they are. Their banter, especially that of the protagonist’s little sister, is mint. The presence of teasing between the siblings made my experience that much more pleasant. Everything comes off as a faithful mirroring of life – the verbalized jabs and playful insults between friends also. Likely the one facet I’m lukewarm on is the choices I can select when it’s my turn to speak. There’s no sugarcoating how try-hard they sometimes read.

Look, we need to have a discussion. I have painted myself as patient and always seeing the good qualities in subpar literature. I’d say my tolerance is quite high, but to be frank, it was truly tested with this game. Sporadically sprinkled throughout are references to other franchises, with The Legend of Zelda being a common one. My gripe, and what had me shaking my head with disappointment, is how I didn’t find those responses to fit naturally into the conversation. It felt forced, as if the localizers wanted to include those jokes and would do so no matter what. I do admit that it sparingly occurs, but it causes the worst kind of eye rolls.

After devoting roughly twenty-five hours to this naughty adventure, I couldn’t shake the looming sense of familiarity. Out of curiosity, I dug up my old coverage for the initial Akiba’s Trip , and, wouldn’t you know it, a lot of what’s here is a refinement of what once was. If you think about it, it’s oddly poetic how the problematic themes of the past were stripped, like, for example, the fetishizing of a little sister. Otherwise, this title exists in a parallel universe, with a cast that’s reflective of the first – dude that prefers 2D waifus to their 3D opposites, a childhood friend, and so on. In other words, it heavily flirts with anime tropes but isn’t as brash as before.

Stripping off a NPC's skirt

I swear, this photo isn’t what it looks like. Nanashi is only trying to rip the skirt off. Forcefully. Um…

The gameplay is straightforward in that it’s a 3D brawler. I’m running around Akihabara, kicking ass and taking names. Combos are simple to execute, too, demanding I button mash. There’s no complicated sequence, and as someone with an atrocious memory, I’m thankful. The face buttons are what I’m using, with each one corresponding to a body part. If you’ve played the previous entry, you’re acquainted with the system – by tapping X; I hit the head, and A targets the legs, while B is, appropriately, the body. The goal is to brawl with whoever until their apparel is shrouded with a cloudy aura; then, I disrobe them.

Now, to address the clunky controls I skimmed over at the beginning of this coverage, I can report that it’s not as dramatic a problem. See, to tear off shirts or pants, I just hold down X, A, or B. My character will then grab at the enemy’s clothes. The stumble I frequently faced in the past was that, at times, while tapping away at the controller, I’d randomly lunge too early, causing my momentum to shift. It occurred often, to the point of unbridled frustration. Well, those blunders have been greatly reduced, although they’re known to still happen. It’s nothing compared to before, and frankly, my session was infinitely smoother for the entire duration.

This statement may sound insane, but the mechanic I truly relish is the grinding. I earn experience from pummeling anyone that I cross. As an aside, I’ve got to say that I was surprised by the names a few have, such as the privileged skank, but let’s get back on track. By default, peeling the layers off NPCs is typically followed by everything being torn. However, by continuing my rampage, I can build up a meter that, once filled, I no longer shred that article of dress, tossing it into my inventory instead to later adorn. In a way, it feels like a collectathon, trying to gather the various attire options that Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed offers, explaining why I’m pretty keen on it.

Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed - Rin and Nanashi

Breaking News: Netflix is doing an anime adaption of The Matrix!

What helps that addiction further, and will differ from person to person, is my fascination with seeing numbers increase. I’m smitten by the idea of tangibly witnessing myself getting stronger, be it through strength or defense. Well, the equippable items I obtain as drops, be it weapons or, in a way, armor, are capable of being fused. Essentially, I can choose a skirt I like the look of, and by picking it as the base, imbue it with the raw power of any extras I get. By doing so, it raises the protective properties of a wearable while boosting the lethality if it’s a baseball police baton or whatever I smack fools with.

Apart from the main story, I also gain access to side-quests early on. The objectives range from playing fetch to getting into a tussle with delinquents or a huge group of female performers. It’s a fantastic way to build up your technique, as well as the inventory. That said, the variety of missions available isn’t there. On the one hand, they’re fairly quick to complete; on the other hand, though, it isn’t long until a semblance of repetition begins creeping in. As I neared the final act, doing these became a chore. I suppose you could take solace in knowing it took hours for me to be bothered. In that same breath, I’m also tolerant. Whereas I endured the tedium for this long, it may affect other players sooner.

Another contributing factor is the absence of a minimap. There are no waypoints to provide guidance forward. Upon accepting those side quests, I’m given the general location before being left to my own devices. I have to look for the individual I’m required to meet manually. Let me tell you, there were a plethora of examples where I’d aimlessly meander. The one indication I’ve found who I’m searching for is that the box housing their identity floating over their head is colored red. To see it, I have to be modestly close. Basically, they’re hidden – it feels like the developers are artificially prolonging Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed ’s length with this.

Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed Supermoves

Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed doesn’t discriminate. Both males and females are losing their clothing, or even undergarments!

The graphical fidelity isn’t poised to astound. Yeah, it’s acceptable, but there’s an oddity that I can’t ignore. Before I go off on a tangent, it’s important to note I’m playing on the Nintendo Switch OLED. Theoretically, that means the vibrancy of the colors should pop. Well, they don’t, and the textures also fail Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed . Whenever I gaze towards signs of shops, there’s a distinct blurriness. It’s something that has been present since the first. The character models suffer, as well, with subpar resolution. What rockets to the top of my list, though, is how damn lifeless the NPCs look – they’ve got a thousand-yard stare. The main cast fares slightly better, but the soullessness is lately intact.

I’ve got to say optimization is a grand slam when it comes to performance. From beginning to end, I didn’t suffer crashes, consistently or rarely. Animations also maintain peanut butter smoothness. The movements are silky, like a delicious cordial of créme liquor. Framerate isn’t going to peak at 60fps, but I also never noticed a drop below 30fps. I tested it, though, throwing on an item that made me walk like I was intoxicated, crisscrossing my legs and everything. I would prowl the streets as fast as I could, cranking the left analog stick, and yet, as I drunkenly stumbled, the motions remained fluent.

Truth be told, I’m pretty indifferent to the music. I like a paltry number of tracks, like those with lyrics but nothing else. The instrumental bits weren’t anything to write home about; I didn’t find them especially memorable. For what it’s worth, however, I was jamming to the opening theme, but then again, I’m unreasonably infatuated with those musings. Genericism isn’t the only hiccup, either, as the overall mixing is bad. The volume levels constantly jumped, and I always had to adjust, particularly when connected to speakers. I did toy with the settings, but doing so didn’t fix it.

Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed Combat

The old gutteral one-two jab. That makes no sense but I’m going with it.

What I’m positive will be the most contentious aspect of  Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed is the dub. To put it bluntly, it’s alright, at best. The best showcase of the voice acting was the protagonist’s sister – she did fantastically to illustrate the sarcasm that’s lace throughout her dialogue. Sure, one could argue that it’s monotone, but there was the tiniest sliver of inflection that was enough to help amplify the emotion, no matter how one-note it is. Shizuku, the heroine of the plot, proves to be the real head-scratcher. Her personality is there, and I saw it in a few scenarios, but there’s an underlying reluctance to commit. She’s at the cusp of breaking free, but for whatever reason, she’s held down.

Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed feels less like a sequel and more like a reimagining. Although, the quality-of-life additions made aren’t sufficient to stave off redundancy. There are big ones, like a pseudo-lock-on mechanic keeping me from punching the air. Still, when it comes to the absence of waypoints, it makes missions of any kind tedious as hell. The combat is quite fun, and the occasional quips from my friends helped ease me through my session. I don’t regret investing twenty-five or so hours into this game, but I’m in no hurry for a New Game+ playthrough. There’s no question that $39.99 would be my sweet spot.

Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed Director’s Cut is available now on Nintendo Switch, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, and PC.

Reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

A copy of Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed Director’s Cut was provided by the publisher .

Share this:

Check these out, discover more from waytoomanygames.

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Type your email…

Continue reading

Outcyders

Parent's Guide: Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed - Age rating, mature content and difficulty

Parents Guide Akibas Trip Undead & Undressed Age rating mature content and difficulty

For more on Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed, check out our full Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed review . Or, for more of the best Playstation 3 games for a 10 year old , why not try our Family Game Finder

Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed is a beat 'em up in which players whack vampiric bad guys with a variety of kooky and crazy implements - from swords and boxing gloves to oversized kebabs and computer monitors - in an attempt to 'weaken' their clothing so it can be stripped off, thus revealing their skin to the sun's deadly rays, and defeating them. Hey, at least it's logical.

akiba's trip rating

A third person action game with something of a weird story behind it, you'll spend most of your time completing missions set in and around the Akihabara district of Tokyo (by far the nerdiest part of town), as, together with your fellow nerds, you take the fight to a group of vampires known as Synthisters.

The combat is pretty easy to get to grips with, with your attacks split into three different 'areas' - a different button press targets headgear, shirts and skirts/trousers. Once they're sufficiently weakened, holding down the button will whip off the offending garment - and if several other pieces of clothing are ready to come off, if you press the corresponding button shown on screen in time, you can chain strips together for mega damage.

But you'll need to keep a close eye on your clothing too, because those dastardly bad guys are looking to strip you too - leaving you to roast in the sunlight instead (in a handy coincidence, you're also a vampire - but a good one!). It can be a little hard to get the hang of at first, particularly if you spend your time trying to set up chain strip combos, but once you've unclothed enough opponents you'll start to build up an arsenal of better clothes and weapons for yourself.

Between the battle sections - which see you patrolling the Akiba streets, rooting out bad guys and girls - are lengthy conversations between characters and story segments. While fully voiced, a decent reading ability is needed to know the details of many of the quests, where to go and what to do, as well as to read the occasional conversation options that crop up during the main scenes. Picking the right conversation options can increase your popularity with a number of the game's female sidekicks, unlocking different endings depending on who likes you best.

For a game that's about taking people's clothes off, it comes as no surprise that Akiba's Trip has a few obvious sexual references. The battles themselves are done in a silly, light-hearted way, as you whack enemies with baseball bats, oversized kebabs and giant rolled up posters, and most end with the person in question disappearing in a puff of purple smoke, or skulking off embarrassed in their underwear. Sometimes the underwear strays into provocative suspenders and such, and sometimes, if you do a particularly impressive combo, they'll lose their underwear instead - although under cover of a bright light so you don't see anything 'naughty'. Occasional sexually suggestive comments are found in the dialogue, such as the musings of the various "Boys Love" Fangirls that roam the streets, talking about how "Kanda is the brutal, sadistic top, while Akihabra is the easy bottom who cries out in pleasure in bed". You can also unlock various wallpapers for your phone, which sometimes feature the game's female partners in provocative positions, with clothes partially stripped off, or focusing on their cleavage.

Swear words, such as f**k and s*it appear in the dialogue from time to time too - although it's by no means every other word like some other games.

Age Ratings

Format Reviewed: Playstation 3

Amazon Logo

Related articles

How many WWF wrestlers can you name from their PS1 Smackdown incarnations?

How well can you remember the WWF games of the early 2000s?

Genre(s): Sports Platform(s): 3DS, PS4, Xbox One, PC, Xbox 360, PS3

How well do you know the Marvel video games?

Prove you're the biggest Marvel fan with this super hero-themed quiz!

Genre(s): Platform (3D) Platform(s): Xbox 360, 3DS, DS, Wii U, PS3, PSVita, Wii, Xbox One, PS4, PC, Switch

How much do you know about video game masks?

Test your knowledge of gaming masks with this themed quiz!

Genre(s): Platform (3D) Platform(s): DS, Xbox 360, 3DS, PS4, Switch

Who's That Pokemon? Food Edition

How many of these tasty Pokemon can you name?

Genre(s): Role Playing Game (Turn Based Battles) Platform(s): DS, 3DS, Wii U, PC, iOS, Switch

Can you name all of Bowser's Koopalings?

Well, one was something like Mozart.... And... what's that shirtless rocker again?

Genre(s): Role Playing Game (Turn Based Battles) Platform(s): Wii U, Switch, 3DS

Soul Calibur VI Review - Welcome to the stage of history

Long-running fighting game adds a character creator and proper story mode in its latest instalment

Genre(s): Beat 'em up Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One

Bonkies Review: Simians in Space

Monkeys building spaceships? What could go wrong!

Genre(s): Puzzle

Bubble Bobble 4 Friends: The Baron Is Back Review

Bubble Bobble is back - and this time it's brought four player co-op

Genre(s): Platform (2D)

Train Sim World 2 Review

Underground, overground, wombling free

Genre(s): Simulation

Train Sim World 2020 Review

A triple pack of trains, and a huge leap forward

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Review - Trust your instincts

Finally, a Star Wars game that's better than the films?

Genre(s): Adventure

The Halloween Video Games Quiz

How much do you know about these spooky video games?

Quiz Type: Normal Quiz

How many video game cats can you name?

Crazy cat person? This is a quiz is for you!

Quiz: How many of these spooky Pokemon can you name?

'Tis the season to be creepy

Quiz: The History of Crash Bandicoot

From the PS1 to the present day, how well do you know gaming's biggest bandicoot?

The Video Game Pirate Quiz

Be ye a perfect pirate captain, or should ye walk the plank?

Outcyders Logo

© 2010 - 2024 Outcyders

  • Navigation:
  • Privacy and Disclosure
  • Terms and Conditions

Screen Rant

Akiba's trip: hellbound & debriefed switch review - a boring brawler.

Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed is a brawler that involves ripping off people's clothes out in public, in a poorly-made attempt at fanservice.

Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed  is a brawler developed by Acquire and published by XSEED Games. The game's flimsy pretense for fanservice is one of its primary selling points, but unfortunately it can't prop up its repetitive gameplay, poor combat system, and ugly visuals.

Akiba's Trip  is set in Akihabara, which is a hub for otaku culture in Tokyo. The area is home to vampiric creatures called Shadow Souls , which drain blood from people, as well as their will to live. Unlike regular vampires, Shadow Souls can survive in the sunlight, so long as only their hands and head are exposed. If their clothes are torn off and they're exposed to the sun, then they disintegrate. The main character has his life saved by a female Shadow Soul, which also results in him receiving a portion of her power. He is drafted into an organization called NIRO, which wants to destroy all of the Shadow Souls in Akihabara. The player soon learns that there is more to this conflict than meets the eye, and they can choose to battle the Shadow Souls or join them.

Related:  Why Nintendo Switch Otome Game User Reviews Are So Important

The protagonist is given a camera that can detect Shadow Souls, as they won't appear in pictures. Once unveiled, the player can battle the undead menace on the streets of Akihabara. In order to rip off their clothes, the player needs to damage the enemy's clothing with melee attacks. The clothing will eventually breakaway, but players can tear it off with a grab attack, followed by hitting the button before the enemy breaks free. If the player is fighting a group of enemies with damaged clothing, then it's possible to tear them off sequentially with a QTE. The Shadow Souls will disintegrate once their clothing is removed, while humans will usually run away in embarrassment.

The combat system in  Akiba's Trip  is dreadful. The environments in the world are 3D, but the fights switch to a 2D plane, like the  Street Fighter  games . When there is only one opponent, it's easy to just spam attacks and stunlock them. Once multiple enemies enter the fray, then the system falls apart. The game's controls don't accommodate for multiple opponents, so it's easy for a group of enemies to surround and stunlock the player with constant attacks, as there is no easy way to switch focus from one enemy to another. The player has to disengage from combat completely, which takes way too long and leaves them open to attacks.

It's also nearly impossible to target a specific foe in a group of enemies, leading to wasted grabs against a healthy foe. This means most combat encounters are either mindless or rely on running around and picking off enemies as they try to keep up. It doesn't help that the camera has trouble keeping up with the action, or that being knocked into the exit of an area will send the player to the map screen, barring a few boss arenas.

There is also the unavoidable creepy factor that is rampant through  Akiba's Trip,  ranging from undressing people against their will in public to paying the main character's younger sister to try on outfits (which comes with its own free camera mode, in order to ogle her better). The game's attempts at titillation aren't even well-executed, as  Akiba's Trip  is a remaster of a PSP game. This means all of the character models look like dead-eyed PS2 sprites. The only saving grace for  Akiba's Trip 's visuals is the character artwork, which is of a far higher quality than the 3D models.

Related:  Space Jam: A New Legacy - The Game Review - Free Is The Right Price

Akiba's Trip  is aware of how silly its premise is and the localizers did a great job with its writing. The game's script loves to poke fun at nerd culture and fandoms, with the protagonist's allies each being preoccupied with their own fictional obsessions. The side missions that the player can take on for extra cash/items also play up the silliness factor of geeks.  Akiba's Trip  has several different endings/story routes to take, for those who want to squeeze some more runtime out of the game. If there's a saving grace in the game, it's a surprising quality in the writing.

Akiba's Trip  is a poor attempt at creating a tantalizing video game, and it's only the strength of its humor and writing that makes it even worth a look. This is actually the first official English localization of the original  Akiba's Trip,  though after spending time with it in 2021, it's a mystery why anyone wanted to remaster it in the first place.

Next:  Ys Origin Review: No Switch Up With Another Port

Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed  will be released for Nintendo Switch, PC, and PS4 on July 20, 2021. A digital code for the Nintendo Switch version of the game was provided to Screen Rant for the purposes of this review.

IMAGES

  1. AKIBA'S TRIP: Hellbound & Debriefed

    akiba's trip rating

  2. Akiba's Trip The Animation (2017) TV show. Where To Watch Streaming

    akiba's trip rating

  3. Akiba's Trip : un trailer sexy et olé olé pour la série d'animation

    akiba's trip rating

  4. Review

    akiba's trip rating

  5. Akiba's Trip: The Animation Debuts January 4

    akiba's trip rating

  6. Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed Review (PS4)

    akiba's trip rating

VIDEO

  1. AKIBA'S TRIP: What are Your Measurements?

  2. Akiba's Trip The Animation 2 preview

  3. 42 Arena C

  4. Akiba's Trip: Rin Route: 03 The Freedom Fighters

  5. Akiba's Trip: Rin Route: 30 Final Courtesy

  6. Akiba's Trip: Shion Route: 010 Synthister Finding App

COMMENTS

  1. Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed Review

    By Josiah Renaudin on September 10, 2014 at 9:41PM PDT. The fact that a game called Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed isn't completely tasteless might be its greatest accomplishment. This is a ...

  2. Review: Akiba's Trip: Hellbound and Debriefed

    MSRP: $39.99. Let's address the whole "HD" part of this package. Akiba's Trip was a mighty fine-looking PSP game for its time. It is not, however, a good-looking Switch, PS4, or PC game ...

  3. Review: Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed Almost Gets It Right

    Akiba's Trip is weird. Not just because of its concept, but its execution is all over the place. One moment the game feels like it wears its concept on its sleeve, playing it up for all its ...

  4. Save 60% on AKIBA'S TRIP: Undead & Undressed on Steam

    AKIBA'S TRIP tells the story of one such unfortunate soul: a young man named Nanashi who was lured into a trap by the promise of rare character goods and transformed into one of the walking undead. ... To view reviews within a date range, please click and drag a selection on a graph above or click on a specific bar. Show graph. Lifetime Only ...

  5. Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed

    AKIBA'S TRIP: Hellbound & Debriefed is the precursor to AKIBA'S TRIP: Undead & Undressed, the smash hit that introduced a Western audience to the seedy underworld lurking in the shadows of the haven of "otaku" culture in the Akihabara district of Tokyo. Released as AKIBA'S TRIP Plus in Japan, players explore a rich setting based on the famous "Akiba" district circa 2011, hunting ...

  6. AKIBA'S TRIP: Undead & Undressed

    AKIBA'S TRIP: Undead & Undressed. This is an action-adventure game in which players help a teenage boy and his friends defend a shopping district from evil forces. Players punch, kick, and use various weapons (e.g., bats, giant kebabs, umbrellas) to defeat human foes and enemy creatures (e.g., vampires) in hand-to-hand combat.

  7. Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed Review

    Aside from any combat woes, Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed is a fun romp through 2011 Japan - made all the more nostalgic thanks to the game's graphics. As I said, this isn't the typical high-caliber remake that most players have come to expect. It looks fine for what it is, but it still looks and feels like a step above a PSP or ...

  8. Save 60% on AKIBA'S TRIP: Hellbound & Debriefed on Steam

    AKIBA'S TRIP: Hellbound & Debriefed. Supernatural creatures are stalking the pop culture mecca of Akihabara—and they've turned you into one of them. Arm yourself with an otaku-themed weapon and expose their skin to sunlight in this HD update of the first game in the AKIBA'S TRIP series. All Reviews:

  9. Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed

    Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed is a fun game full of references to otaku culture, but the ancient design choices hold the game back from being a must have title. ... any who this is a review no me rambling about japan. so about the game, If you like anime, manga, or Japanese pop culture you will love this, Its a mix of a visual novel and 3D ...

  10. Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed Critic Reviews

    40 / 100. Jul 21, 2021. I can't imagine anyone so desperate for content that they would find value in this only marginally improved ten-year-old game. Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed is and has always been, awful and no HD remaster will fix its terrible story, lackluster combat, primitive graphics, and creepy tone.

  11. Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed Review

    Originally a PSP game, Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed is the first of the HD remakes in the franchise to be brought to updated consoles. The series acts as a love letter to Otaku trends ...

  12. Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed Review (PS4)

    The Akiba's Trip series has been going for 10 years and to celebrate Acquire has remastered the first game in the series, which was previously only released on PSP in Japan. The game takes place ...

  13. Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed

    Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed, released as Akiba's Trip 2 in Japan, is a 2013 action-adventure video game for the PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, ... Following the game's release in the west, it received "mixed" reviews on all platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. ...

  14. Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed Review

    The Akiba's Trip series is such a unique one. When Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed came westward in 2014, I had no idea what to expect. It turned out to be a very shameless beat 'em game with stripping mechanics. More specifically, the main character explores the city of Akihabara and strips the clothes off of supernatural human enemies called Synthesizers, who are vulnerable to sunlight.

  15. Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed Reviews

    This is actually the first official English localization of the original Akiba's Trip, though after spending time with it in 2021, it's a mystery why anyone wanted to remaster it in the first place. Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed is rated 'Weak' after being reviewed by 39 critics, with an overall average score of 54.

  16. AKIBA'S TRIP: Undead & Undressed

    AKIBA'S TRIP: Undead & Undressed. XSEED JKS, Inc. Platforms. PlayStation 4. Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence. Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB. Rating Summary. This is an open-world action game in which players help a teenage boy and his friends defend a shopping district from evil forces. Players punch, kick, and use various ...

  17. Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed Review (PS Vita)

    Reviews; XSEED; Vita; Akibas Trip: Undead & Undressed; Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed Review (PS Vita) Undressed to kill. Version Reviewed: North American. review by Edwin Garcia Tue 26th Aug ...

  18. AKIBA'S TRIP: Hellbound & Debriefed Review

    Akiba's Trip is a PSP game ported to modern systems, with a few small graphical options like resolution added, and given a worldwide release rather than the Japanese exclusive one it had back in ...

  19. Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed

    Release Date, Trailers, News, Reviews, Guides, Gameplay and more for Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed

  20. AKIBA'S TRIP: Undead & Undressed

    19.99. Add to cart. Wishlist it. Description. Akihabara. "Akiba," for short. This suburban Tokyo ward's seen it all, from Japan's post-war reconstruction to the economic bubblegum crisis of the '80s. Always on the cutting edge of progress, with a little something to offer even the most fetishistic of appetites, it was almost inevitable that ...

  21. Review

    The answer is an emphatic nope; there are other facets I enjoyed. Much like with the prequel, this sequel bathes in a humor-driven script. It'll be subjective, and I reckon several will find it cringey, but I appreciate how Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed leans into that craziness. It's self-aware, often calling the sheer absurdity of the shenanigans out.

  22. Parent's Guide: Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed

    Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed is a beat 'em up in which players whack vampiric bad guys with a variety of kooky and crazy implements - from swords and boxing gloves to oversized kebabs and computer monitors - in an attempt to 'weaken' their clothing so it can be stripped off, thus revealing their skin to the sun's deadly rays, and defeating them.

  23. Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed Review

    Published Jul 20, 2021. Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed is a brawler that involves ripping off people's clothes out in public, in a poorly-made attempt at fanservice. Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed is a brawler developed by Acquire and published by XSEED Games. The game's flimsy pretense for fanservice is one of its primary selling ...