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Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed Review

One of the newest titles on the market represents a walking advertisement for one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world, especially when it comes to gamers such as ourselves. The epicenter of Japanese culture, Akihabara has always been one of those places that brings in a variety of different hobbyists. In Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed, the newest inhabitants inside this haven of nerds more closely resemble the soul-sucking variety.

A vampiric group known as the Synthisters have begun to terrorize the local residents by taking advantage of man’s material greed and turning their passions of all things otaku against them, draining their life force and converting their depleted bodies into one of them - superhuman beings overflowing with quick reflexes and monumental strength. Answering a local ad promising valuable character goods and figurines, our hero (default name Nanashi) finds himself recently Synthister’d.

After refusing to do the dirty deeds of the mysterious figures who made you into what you are now, a strange girl named Shizuku busts in to rescue you and drag our protagonist back to MOGRA, the home base of the Akiba Freedom Fighters who serve to protect the town.

There we find the main character’s tomboy of a childhood friend Touko; the foreigner from Finland, Kati; the twin brothers who are nothing alike, Yuto and Kaito; the CEO of a powerful pharmaceutical company, Shion; and your adorable sis Nana who is simply overflowing with “bro” puns (“Brotaku”, “Brofessor”). Their goal is to stop the looming devastation that threatens their town and everything around it by the Synthisters and the Puppet Master behind them.

Much of the story told in Akiba’s Trip is presented in a visual novel format that includes elements of player choice for plot direction. All of this is presented beautifully thanks to Akio Watanabe of Monogatari fame who did the character designs. Anyone who has watched those shows knows how much focus they place on the expressions, and all of that is represented well here with the sometimes hilarious reactions the characters give in different circumstances.

The character models are nicely detailed with a slight cel shading given to them, helping make Akiba's Trip one of the better looking titles available on the Vita platform. This is backed by the great inclusion of Dual Audio, of which both the Japanese and English dubs are pretty good and serve to keep things engaging.

The game also features dating sim elements, allowing you to choose from a selection of women to hook up with in typical harem fashion. There are five different endings to unlock each including a different relationship route, so the replayability here is solid, even if the story is very by-the-numbers and arguably a little generic given the silliness of its plot hooks, especially if you’ve been keeping up with modern anime as I have.

Although much of the game serves as this amazing recreation of a geek paradise that is Akihabara, a lot of the gameplay centers on its combat. In the style of a brawler, players are able to dish out high, medium, and low attacks using one of the dozens of weapons available in the game. By constantly attacking and weakening a specific section of the body that is clothed, the glowing garment can be stripped, exposing the Synthister to direct sunlight and destroying them like any good vampire.

By weakening groups of enemies, extended stripping combos can be carried out, driven by QTE-tapping sequences, which also builds an experience multiplier to help one level up quicker. Once the QTE combo hits its artificial peak, the player has the ability to remove not only the clothing but even the underwear from the enemy (which is censored via the infamous “White Pillar of Light”). There are different fighting styles to unlock to make these sequences more entertainment, like one that makes you look like Jackie Chan out of “Drunken Master”.

Unfortunately, the combat in Akiba’s Trip is somewhat poor and can be best described as unwieldy, hampered by imprecise controls, confusing button sequences for pulling off the different attacks; the lack of a hard-lock which would come in real handy while surrounded; and the sometimes non-existent hit detection. This left me feeling frustrated at times where I felt that it was the game’s fault that I lost.

Both the equipment and the weapons dropped can all be picked up and, thanks to the lack of an encumbrance system, makes it easy to acquire money to use in the game’s shops and maid cafes. This is where the game truly shines - its sheer amount of items that are obtainable that gives the game a high volume of customization.

You will be able to pick up a huge assortment of hats, glasses, shirts, pants, shoes, accessories - even underwear. Weapons range from paper fans and glow sticks to stop signs and dakimakura (hug pillows). There’s also a relatively deep crafting system, letting you transfer the traits of one weapon or piece of clothing to another, serving as a good really to build up the stats of your character overall.

While it’s great being able to visit these fine establishments (of which a snapshot of the real-life locale is taken and displayed in the background), the only real downside is how few of these places are actually accessible. You can clearly see Sega Arcade and the Gundam Cafe, but you won’t be able to enter their domain. There only appears to be one arcade game to play based around a group of in-game anime characters, but you can’t play on pachinko machines or mahjong or anything like that.

I would hope that if the developers ever plan on making a sequel that they’ll consider bringing more activities into the fold for the player to enjoy. Of course, I am not saying that the game is barren, but much of the game will mostly consist of zipping from one story sequence to the next. Thankfully, there is a New Game Plus that injects some nice bonuses and extras into the game to keep the experience fresh for a bit longer. Just don’t walk in expecting a Yakuza level of interactivity, but that’s honestly asking too much from what is otherwise a faithful representation.

The storefronts themselves are a little disappointing with their low-res textures. Sure, you can tell what they are supposed to be as the developers did a good job in the depiction, but there’s almost no depth to them, making you feel like you’re running around inside of a pop-up book than a living, breathing city. It struck this weird contrast between the higher-resolution 3D models against these cardboard cut-outs.

There is also the rather short draw distance where NPCs that are not too far way appear as these gender-specific cursors that don’t appear unless you run up alongside them (some don’t even appear when that happens. Technically, the game ran smoothly on the Vita, though I did notice some stuttering going on with the PS3 version and slightly longer load times (offset by the assortment of store ads displayed here). If you have to pick one platform over the other, I would personally recommend grabbing this game for the Vita, though the PS4 version set to release later features higher quality graphics and faster load times.

Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed is a wonderful experience for a big game and anime nerd such as myself. Not only was it a pure blast being able to walk around the place of my dreams, but I loved seeing the many different in-game ads that feature prominent properties such as Disgaea, Genshiken, Hyperdimension Neptunia, and Super Sonico. If the game’s job was to serve as a tourist trap to give players a good look at the town’s many appealing attractions, it does a wonderful job in that respect

While it may have its fair share of shortcomings, like its clunky combat and relatively few places to visit, there is plenty of here to to enjoy such as the high degree of customization and a script that the translators appeared to have a lot of fun working with. That along with the strong presentation, beautiful art design, and slick UI, there’s plenty here to enjoy and a definite purchase if you’re big into otaku culture. For everyone else, you may want to consider your options a little more carefully more before diving in.

Versions tested: Vita

Disclaimer: A copy of this game was provided to RPG Site by the publisher.

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Review: Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound and Debriefed

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: 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.

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?

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: 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.]

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Akiba's Trip

Akiba's Trip is a series of Beat 'em Up Action RPGs developed by Acquire Corp, known for its three-way combination between geek culture, Urban Fantasy , and brawlers. Set in the tech and hobby capital Akihabara, the basic plot follows humans as they fight off dangers to the town, including store riots, ornery thugs, energy consuming vampires, the city's dark unconsious...

Your player character, a run-of-the-mill otaku caught in the middle of supernatural happenings, is imbued with power and must fight off the enemies of the game before they wreak havoc on the entire town. And you typically do this by stripping them of the will to fight. Literally. Without the clothes on their backs, they're exposed to enough energy to turn them into dust, but since you've got the same powers as them, you're just as toast as they are if you show enough skin.

Titles in the series include:

• Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed (2011, PlayStation Portable)
• Akiba's Trip Plus (2012, PlayStation Portable; remake of Hellbound & Debriefed )
• Akiba's Trip for Gree (2012, Android/iOS; port of Hellbound & Debriefed )
• Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed (2013, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PC, and PlayStation 4)
• Akiba's Beat (2016, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4)
• Akiba's Trip 2+A (2017, PlayStation 4; a rerelease of Undead & Undressed with content from The Animation )
• Akiba's Trip (2012, written by Kenji Mizuta)
• Akiba's Trip 2 (2014, written by Rei Kusakabe)
• Akiba's Beat! (2016, written by Choboraunyopomi; yonkoma spinoff)
• Akiba's Trip the Animation (2017, GONZO )

Tropes present throughout the series:

• Bland-Name Product : Twitter appears in Strip as "Pitter" and Beat as "Quipper", though the latter seems to also have some resemblances to Instagram or TikTok.
• Combat Pragmatist : Sure, stripping their clothes off is useful when fighting vampires, but the player character also does it to normal humans in order to humiliate them enough into running away . Just don't attempt this on non vampire females... Just. Don't.
• Double-Meaning Title : Obviously; a trip through Akiba + stripping down enemies to defeat them. Beat is a little harder to figure out without knowing the mechanics: "walking a beat" as you're investigating delusions + a rhythmic beat as your primary weapons are basically music players and you get in-universe Theme Song Power Up music for fights.
• Delusions in Beat only exist as long as the deluser still believes in them. Only once a deluser is about to experience anxiety or a mental break does a way to dispel the delusion become apparent.
• Fanservice : What did you expect from a game about stripping? Most of it comes from the Male Gaze when girls get stripped to their underwear, but there are a few bones thrown for the ladies in Undead & Undressed .
• Intentionally Awkward Title : An invocation of The Problem with Pen Island in the logo and the series' spelling in Katakana (アキバズトリップ) is pretty much guaranteed to make you say "Akiba Strip" .
• Otaku : All kinds of otaku are represented in the series, befitting a franchise taking place in Tokyo's geek culture mecca.
• Our Vampires Are Different : Sensitive to light they may be, but the vampires of Akiba's Trip need most of their body exposed to the sun before they can turn to ash.
• Later-Installment Weirdness : Unlike the other entries, Beat involves taking down demon-like entities with no strip combat present at all.
• Lighter and Softer : Played with. Beat has an underlying plot that's as dark as the rest of the series, but doesn't have any of the strip mechanics and tends to poke a little more fun at itself and its primary protagonists.
• Product Placement : The games and brands represented in the game are all real, often including ads for franchises that really were advertised in Akihabara at the time. The game also has legit flyers from that time for business in Akihabara
• Beat is about fighting literal manifestations of the dark side of otakudom.
• Takes One to Kill One : The only way the protagonists stand a chance against the vampires is by getting turned into one, since normal humans can't fight on equal footing.
• Thematic Series : While the games are disconnected from each other, they all follow the basic premise of Akihabara culture clashing with paranormal trouble.
• Urban Fantasy : Classic demon slaying and vampire hunting action meshes with contemporary pop culture and the youth that consumes it.
• The Adventures of Bayou Billy
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• Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed
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• Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed
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Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound and Debriefed — ugly and unenjoyable

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• July 22, 2021

Remasters have become increasingly common over the last few generations of consoles, bringing older titles to modern hardware with varying levels of graphical improvements. PSP remasters, however, aren’t exactly common — of the few that exist, Final Fantasy Type-0 did a decent job at updating the game’s visuals overall, and Conception Plus: Maidens of the Twelve Stars featured some noticeably improved character models and artwork.

As for Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed … things are decidedly less positive. Despite some changes to the 2D assets, this is still just a bad port of a decade-old game.

Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed is set in Akihabara, an area in Japan known for its focus on otaku culture. For whatever reason, sun-hating vampires (or Shadow Souls are they’re known here) seem to be using Akihabara as part of their plans for controlling humanity. One of them ends up attacking your friend, leaving you for dead in the process.

After being revived by a mysterious girl and turned into a Shadow Soul yourself, you’re “recruited” — read: captured and threatened — by an organisation named NIRO. NIRO are supposedly fighting against the Shadow Souls for the noble purpose of saving humans, but their shady introduction doesn’t inspire much confidence. Either way, the protagonist must work with his friends, the Akiba Freedom Fighters, and NIRO to find out the truth behind the Shadow Souls’ presence in Akihabara.

It’s a somewhat goofy premise, made even weirder by the various characters you’ll interact with during the story. Considering the game’s setting, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that you’ll run into various otaku, maids, and other larger-than-life characters — in fact, this is probably the best part of Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed. Its not going to be for everyone, but the solid characterisation and interactions between the cast do a good job at keeping the otherwise simple plot interesting.

Unfortunately, I can’t really say the same for everything else. Visually, barely anything has been done to make the game presentable on even the Switch’s screen. UI elements have been given some updates, and character art is higher resolution than in the PSP original — everything else though is downright ugly. Taking a game that looked OK on the relatively small screen of Sony’s handheld then increasing the resolution was never going to end well without any improvements to character models or textures.

Exploration is also hampered by the original hardware Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed was made for. Each area of Akihabara is tiny, often just being a short street with a couple of shops. There’s very little to actually do outside of beating up Shadow Souls or buying items, which makes the constant backtracking and searches for specific things even more tedious. Adding to this are the noticeable framerate issues in certain areas, something that really should not be an issue for a game that looks like this.

But if Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed’s exploration is boring and lacking much variety, combat is downright abysmal. With Shadow Souls being weak to the sun, battles revolve around stripping your opponents before they can do the same to you (because of course they do). This takes the form of simple three button attacks and blocking. Each attack button relates to a certain body part, letting you wear down a specific piece of clothing before attempting to strip it off. If multiple clothes are weakened, you can quickly strip them off by performing multiple QTEs.

It’s an incredibly basic battle system, even once you’ve visited a few shops and gained new moves, and things often devolve into button mashing. Any real chance for skilful play is thrown out of the window thanks to the awful lock-on and janky hit detection. Your character often swings wildly in the wrong direction — something that happens even more frequently when multiple enemies are on screen. There’s little fun to be had, even if you can dress up in stupid outfits and beat people up with a baguette.

It’s hard to really see who Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed is aimed at. People that were put off by some of the issues in Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed aren’t going to play its even jankier predecessor, and £34.99 is a steep asking price even for someone that might be interested in trying this out. If you’re desperate to see the series’ origins, then this might be worthwhile — just go in with appropriately low expectations!

This review of Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed is based on the Switch version — the game is also available now on PS4 and PC via Steam and GOG . Thanks to Marvelous Europe for supplying a review code.

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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.

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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.

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