The story centers around Misa, a Japanese schoolgirl and Blade Templar who protects the world from demons and cursed artifacts. Misa is on a mission to hunt down and destroy a cursed weapon known as the Demon Blade, a demonic sword that steals the life-force of those that wield it. Unfortunately, the Demon Blade has fallen into the hands of her former classmate Suzuka, who has become possessed by its power. Reluctant to fight her friend, Misa sets out to destroy the Demon Blade while slaying hordes of (robotic) demons that stand in her way.
The game is a Stylish Action in the veins of Devil May Cry, in which Misa fight against several enemies in arena-based levels using melee attacks, lightning-fast katana slashes, and powerful Holy Techniques to create stylish combos. The game also incorporates light RPG Elements that allows players to improve Misa's abilities and unlock other techniques by using points gained from slain enemies.
Originally released on August 12, 2013, the game was later published by Active Gaming Media and released via Playism. An overseas released of the game was subsequently through Playism's English webpage, Desura, GOG.com, and Steam. Additionally, a version of Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae is out now for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.
Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae demonstrates the following demon-slaying tropes:
- Achievement System: The game features over 30 achievements that can unlocked through gameplay. Some can be unlocked defeating bosses, clearing the game under a certain difficulty, scoring combos, and purchasing upgrades.
- Action Girl: Misa. When she's not taking tests, she's slicing up demons and hunting down evil artifacts.
- Audible Sharpness: Every swing of Misa's katana provides a faint "shzing" sound. The Iai Strike creates loader "shzing" sound with each strike.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: A shrine maiden outfit can be unlocked by beating the game once, and a Suzuka palette swap by beating the game on Hard mode. Players can also spend 100,000 SP for a hakama and a sailor fuku.
- Artifact of Doom: Misa described the Demon Blade as an evil artifact powered by demons that steals the wielder's life-force and drains them of their blood until there's nothing left.
- Awesomeness Meter: Misa's zeal builds up to five levels indicated next to Life and Katana Meters as she deals damage to her enemies or uses her defensive techniques to avoid damage, and goes down if enemies lands any attacks on her. The higher her zeal, the more SP she gains from slain enemies and greater the damage dealt by Zanshin to bleeding enemies.
- Barbie Doll Anatomy: Magatsu Hino Tsurugi is completely nude but lacks nipples and genitalia.
- Battle Amongst the Flames: The final boss battle with Suzuka and Magatsu Hino Tsurugi takes place in ruined version of Stage 4's area in flames, complete with a Ring of Fire.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: Type-III with Kaina, who has a BFS for an arm. In Stage 4, it comes back with two blades on each arm.
- Blade Spam: The Celestial Judgment and Divine Wind techniques can be upgraded with follow-up attack called Tsumugi at Lv. 3, where Misa delivers a series of lightning-fast quick draws against her enemies.
- Blocking Stops All Damage: Guarding attacks will prevent Misa from taking damage, but there are some attacks that Misa can't block and while others staggers her upon blocking the attack. Just Guards, when executed properly, not only nullifies damage without the staggering effect, but also gives her breathing room to attack or escape.
- Boss-Only Level: The fifth and final stage only consist of a boss battle with Suzuka and the Demon Blade's fully-possessed form, Magatsu Hino Tsurugi.
- Bullfight Boss: The second boss Kaiser is fond of charging into you.
- Charged Attack: Misa has two charged attacks: the Celestial Judgment, the first charge level where Misa performs a powerful quick draw attack; and Divine Wind, a deadly flurry of razor wind strikes. Suzuka also uses them during her boss battles, either vertically or horizontally.
- Counter-Attack: Two counter moves can be unlocked for Misa: the Counter Attack, where Misa can counter an enemy whenever she successfully performs a Just Guard; and Flourish, where Misa performs a powerful quick draw attack at the moment she takes damage.
- Dash Attack: The Sonic Blade allows Misa to swiftly charge into an enemy and slice them with her katana. This attack can be upgrade to allow her to perform the attack up to three times in a row.
- Difficult, but Awesome:
- Just Guards, a maneuver that is tricky to pull off, but a successfully guarding attacks at the right time will nullify damage and allows you to quickly follow-up with a counterattack. It also increases zeal and protects you from most attacks that are otherwise unblockable.
- The unlockable Flourish technique can only be done by pressing the Holy Technique button just before taking damage and it has a smaller window than the Just Guard, but when done successfully, it yields a devastating retaliation.
- Difficulty Levels: You start with the standard Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulty levels. After clearing Hard it unlocks Very Hard, and upon clearing that difficulty unlocks Inferno difficulty. Each difficulty affects how much HP enemies will have, how many enemies you fight per wave, and how aggressive they are.
- Downer Ending: Despite Misa's attempts to talk some sense into Suzuka and save her, the Demon Blade's influence was too strong for her, which ultimately leads to Misa killing her in the process of destroying the blade.
- A Winner Is You: And that's precisely where it ends, with no denouement or final speech of any kind.
- Evil Weapon: The aptly-named Demon Blade, a demonic sword that possesses the wielder and drains their life-force until they're reduced to nothing.
- Evolving Attack: Misa's repertoire can be leveled up by spending SP earned from slain enemies by adding another stage to the attack or giving it extra properties such as guard-break or higher damage.
- Excuse Plot: A schoolgirl's friend gets possessed by an evil sword, go hack up demons and robotic monsters in style.
- Flat Character: Although the game's intro gives a little bit of background on Misa and Suzuka, the game hardly makes any kind of character development or characterizations with them, and instead focuses on them clashing steel while providing some eye-candy.
- High-Pressure Blood: Enemies will start spraying blood when they start to bleed or receiving damage from Misa's Zanshin when they are in a bleeding state.
- Iaijutsu Practitioner: Misa is one through and through. She utilizes both her blade and her saya in her fighting repertoire, and uses quick blade strikes as she fights off demons.
- Immune to Flinching: The Sweep Kick prevents Misa from flinching when she's attacked. Some enemy types such as the Brutes are resilient to flinching until they're put into bleeding status.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Misa's weapon of choice. The Demon Blade is also a katana and is wielded by Suzuka.
- Kick Chick: Most of Misa's melee attacks consists of kicks, including a roundhouse kick and a sweep kick.
- Killed Offscreen: Misa mentions in the game's opening that Suzuka killed a teacher when she got her hands on the Demon Blade.
- Launcher Move: The Flash Kick allows Misa to kick enemies upwards, which can be followed up by a Comet Kick, Aerial Zangeki, or Iai Strikes when unlocked.
- New Game Plus: After beating the game, you can replay it again on a different difficulty level along with all of the skills you've unlocked.
- One-Winged Angel: After Misa defeats Suzuka in the final stage, the Demon Blade fully possesses Suzuka and becomes Magatsu Hino Tsurugi.
- Panty Fighter: Panty shots are abound during Misa's battles with Suzuka as they clash blades in their school uniforms.
- Sword Beam: The blue Cyborgs and Suzuka are capable of firing shockwaves from their blades.
- Sword Lines: Misa's katana leaves behind light-blue lines with each swing of her blade.
- Unblockable Attack: The third upgrade for Misa's Sweep Kick gives her a guard-break effect to break through enemies' defense. The Sonic Blade and Iai Strike also give this affect. Bosses and some enemies also have attacks that Misa can't block against, however most of the unblockable attacks can be blocked with a Just Guard.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: Kaiser, the boss of Stage 2, is a big step up in difficulty. Unlike Kaina, Kaiser is fast and it has hard-hitting punches.
