Mugen Souls

Mugen Souls didn’t get good reviews back in the day and I’m not too sure it’ll get them nowadays either. It’s for the most part mediocre RPG that’s lifted up by a mixed bag of presentation and it’s practically porn like minigames. Still, it’s nice to see it not stuck on a PS3 anymore if you want it physically.

If you read the manual, you can take over the universe with Moe.

This is not a game that comes recommended for the faint of heart or for anyone who desires a polished or thoughtfully designed JRPG. At the very least, Mugen Souls is interesting and has a lot of weird ideas that are worth experiencing. The ramshackle build of the game is almost impressive that it is a product from an established industry developer.

The fanservice and the narrative focused almost entirely on humor make Mugen Souls even more of a niche game. Despite that, for those who aren't bothered with these aspects, there's a rich and fun combat system, allowing the player to reach immeasurable strength levels and facing equally powerful enemies.

More than 10 years on, Mugen Souls remains a wildly entertaining little game. It’s never going to appear in those “1000 games you must play before you die” books, but that’s okay. Not every project needs to aspire to be that. For those who missed out back on the PlayStation or PC, or who always wanted to play the full experience with that missing minigame, EastAsiaSoft has done you all a favour with this release.

Mugen Souls is a rerelease that is very faithful to the original Japanese release. Unfortunately, the game is very dated in mechanics and aesthetics, and it's hard to recommend it with so many good titles of the genre on Switch. It's worth buying only for those who already were curious about it and who like RPGs with lighthearted humor ambiance.

I really don’t like having to pick on Mugen Souls as much as I did throughout most of this review. All-in-all, it was a fun JRPG with an entertaining storyline. I also understand that this game is a remake of something that came out a decade ago. And, heck, this game even has every bit of DLC (of which there is a lot) that was released during its initial run included for free! Unfortunately, neither of those things can entirely make up for the game’s misgivings. If you’re a fan of Compile Heart or JRPGs with weird and wacky stories, it might be worth giving a shot. I would, however, caution those out there who only want to spend their time playing RPGs with a bit more… well, quality.

Mugen Souls is a fun game when you don't look too much into the intricacies of the gameplay and characters. It has value giving more Disgaea type ridiculousness but not with Disgaea.

At the end of the day, this is probably the best release of Mugen Souls we’ve got here in the West. The content is complete, and while the game doesn’t run perfectly on the Switch, I don’t think it’s terrible either. The story here is still pretty solid, but I would’ve liked to see the localization get more of an update. The personality names really bother me, and this would’ve been a good time to fix this. The excuse of “folks wouldn’t know the anime terms” is weak. Anyone buying this game would know exactly what they were. At the end of the day, even with my gripes, I feel like this one is well worth the $39.99 asking price. I still had a lot of fun with it, and having all the content from the Japanese version is a big plus. I hope EastAsiaSoft decides to port Mugen Souls Z next, since I feel like it plays better than this release, but I always liked this story just a bit better.

Mugen Souls is a fun trek, and you might as well do it right if you’re that determined to assist this pink haired demon in taking over the universe.