Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed has to have one of the most brilliant puns in a videogame title. The open-world action-RPG takes place during a trip to Tokyo’s bustling geek Mecca Akihabara, but also tasks players with defeating vampires by exposing them to sunlight… naturally by stripping them of their clothes in cartoony violence hijinx. You see what they did there?
The story goes that you play Nanashi, a regular guy who simply goes to Akihabara to get his hands on some rare character goods. Through a bizarre chain of events he ends up killed and then revived as vampire, and eventually finds his way to the “Akiba Freedom Fighters” who are fighting to uncover the truth behind the vampire-creating Synthister plague.
The concept sounds a bit out-there and reminds us of other Japanese titles taking risque approach with their premise, such as the “star children” procreation-based Conception series and the recently announced Criminal Girls, which puts players in control of a group of delinquent girls that need “disciplining”. But Akiba’s Trip hopes to differentiate itself from the pack by being more of a satirical take on anime and videogame tropes. One such example being “Fitter”, a service where players can read comments on their phone and a clear nod towards Twitter.
Akiba’s other claim to fame is its “faithful” recreation of the Akihabara ward. Although the game is cel-shaded it still features over 130 real-life shops, real-life locations and brand names. The Yakuza series have transported us to convincing replications of major Japanese cities before, but they’ve never been to Akihabara.
Akiba’s Trip: Undead and Undressed is actually the second entry in the series. Known as Akiba’s Trip 2 in Japan, the game garnered a Famitsu score of 33/40. There are currently no plans to localize the first entry though, so we’ll just have to make do with only one game where you defeat enemies by removing their clothing. Ahem.
There’s no word as to whether or not the the PS4 version of Akiba’s Trip 2 (which was recently released in Japan) will be coming to western shores. So far, all we know is that we’ll see it on PlayStation 3 and PS Vita in Europe on October 10, with the North American release on August 5.
Shehzaan Abdulla
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