The Senran Kagura series is a franchise full of a lot of fan-service, and it’s definitely not ashamed of it. It started out as a combat action game, but has really branched out into many other genres with its varied cast of female characters. With a rhythm game and shooter game already released, the Senran Kagura series is now putting their girls into a dating simulator of sorts with their first ever Nintendo Switch release, Senran Kagura Reflexions. Opting to make use of the joy con motion controls and HD rumble in order to create a unique character interaction experience.

Senran Kagura Reflexions is a narrative driven type of game, where you find yourself summoned into a classroom with main character Asuka. She is unable to fully explain why she has called you there, since she has suddenly developed feelings that are a bit unknown to her. So she asks for your assistance in helping her understand her feelings and to possibly learn more about herself in the process. You do this through the use of touch, where you hold hands with Asuka and rub various interest points like her fingers and palms. This is where the use of HD rumble will happen, and main points of interest will trigger the strongest feelings of rumble. Find a particular rubbing point that relaxes Asuka, and you will then trigger certain scenarios.

These scenarios vary and put Asuka and yourself into certain roles. For example, there is one where you’re classmates and another that has you as siblings. Even one where Asuka is an idol and you are her manager. Each scenario will eventually lead into the player character having to massage Asuka.

This massage sequence is where a chunk of the gameplay starts to take place. Places like her arms, legs, and even chest, are able to be massaged. If you’ve played the main combat titles of Senran Kagura, this massage gameplay is pretty much the touching mechanic that can occur when you’re viewing characters and changing their clothes. Each massage point will trigger a colored response when rubbed or poked, and by continuing to massage certain spots, a certain color will eventually cover the screen. Massage enough, and you’ll move on to the next part of the game.

The next portion of gameplay that occurs will certainly draw the most attention. It’s where you will make use of various tools in order to further the massaging. You’ll only have your hands available for use at the beginning, but more tools will become available as you progress in the game. These tools can be controlled with either the sticks or through motion. The goal is to fill up a meter by maintaining your massaging rate at a targeted pace. Once you complete this portion, you’ll complete the scenario.

Once you complete a scenario, you’ll then see a gem start to fill up with a certain color. This is dependent on which color was filling up the screen before you went into the tool mode. It will take five scenario playthroughs in order to fill up the gem all the way, and the final color of the gem will be determined by which color you had most of when completing scenarios. The color type will then determine the type of ending you receive. After viewing an ending, you’ll earn a heart fragment. You will then see the true goal of the game, which is to obtain all five fragments of the heart, which is tied to each different color you can achieve.

Aside from the main story section that involves massaging, there is the typical Senran Kagura set of modes available. Those modes being the dressing room and the photo mode. You’ll unlock various items for use in these modes by progressing in the main mode. There is also DLC available for even more costumes, and even other characters to interact with.

THE GOOD: Whether or not this game will be fun to play through is determined by how much you enjoy the franchise, and these types of fan-service games. This game isn’t hiding what it is and what it sets out to do. If you enjoy interacting with this character and don’t mind the cheesy dialogue, it’s a neat and simple experience.

The motion controls felt a bit odd in the beginning, and it’s easy to mess it up. They are pretty simple though, and it didn’t take me long to fully grasp what it wanted me to do. So I never failed at that portion of the game. I will say though that it can be a mixed experience, so don’t be too surprised if you find yourself struggling a little with the motion. Fortunately, there is a non-motion option available for these sequences. So feel free to use whatever works best for you.

Presentation of the game isn’t much different from what you can find in any Senran Kagura game, but that’s not a bad thing. With fully animated 3D models, it provides a bit more in terms of graphics than your usual visual novel dating game. It’s also fully voiced, even if it’s one character, but it’s good to see every aspect of the game be accompanied by a voice. Just like the other Senran Kagura titles, this is a Japanese audio only release. The music in the game is also quite catchy and has tunes that nicely match each of the game’s scenarios.

A playthrough of the main mode of the game doesn’t take too long, clocking at around 40-50 minutes. However, the game highly encourages multiple playthroughs. As I mentioned earlier, you earn a fragment after completing a playthrough. There are five fragments to earn before obtaining the true ending of the game. While much doesn’t change from playthrough to playthrough, you’ll eventually earn the ability to skip the tool sequence in order to speed up the process of earning fragments. There are also multiple unlocks you’ll be earning along the way. So while a bit repetitive, I do appreciate that there are abilities given to speed up the process by skipping elements you’ve already seen.

THE BAD: Even with that replayability, there isn’t much to this game. Compared to the other non-action oriented releases of the Senran Kagura franchise, Reflexions is the least spectacular in terms of gameplay and overall content. This is basically a short visual novel, with brief interaction sequences. Doesn’t feel as involved as a rhythm game or a even a shooter. Plus, in Reflexions, you only have Asuka to interact with. So it’s already lacking in terms of cast availability. If you do want more content, you’ll have to invest in paid DLC.

Having a lot of DLC isn’t a new thing for Senran Kagura games. With Reflexions, the DLC available is more characters to interact with and extra costumes. The base game costs $9.99 and you only have Asuka available. To gain another character will cost an additional $9.99, and it comes bundled with their own set of costumes that you can choose to buy separately. So you’re essentially buying another new game, and that is why I think this DLC is overpriced.

When playing the game with a new character, the gameplay is largely the same. What’s different is the character you’re interacting with, the dialogue that’s spoken, and the scenarios you’ll find yourself in. The massaging aspects are the same from character to character, and that’s what I found disappointing. I was hoping some new tools would become available that utilized the joy con motions in other ways, but was disappointed when that experience was unchanged. Even more upsetting was that everything needed to be unlocked again for use on the new character. I feel that since new tools weren’t made, this DLC should not be equally priced to the base game, and perhaps could have been half that price or at least a couple dollars cheaper. Also, I felt it would’ve been better to have had some sort of buying option where players could just choose which available characters to have as their base character. Instead of having the need to purchase the base game and doubling up on their investment in order to unlock their more favored character, if Asuka isn’t the one. Mainly cause the experience is exactly the same and that already isn’t much to begin with for the price.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: It’s not hard to figure out why a game like Senran Kagura Reflexions exists. This franchise has a certain demographic they heavily cater to, and I think the game does a decent enough job to please these fans. Helps if you’re an Asuka fan too, since she is a large focus of this game if you don’t plan to invest in more characters. Even with all the DLC, not every SK character is present. So this can feel lacking in comparison to past SK spin-offs. I feel the $9.99 price tag is fair, but the character DLC could certainly be priced a bit lower. If you’re not much of a SK fan, you aren’t missing out on much. Even for SK fans, this could still be a hard buy. If you do find yourself checking this game out, I would recommend you come into it with an open mind and to enjoy it for what it is. I knew what I was getting into and I found myself having a decent time with it in the end. The motion gameplay worked well and I enjoyed the cheesy dialogue enough to actually reach the true ending of the game after multiple playthroughs. It was a neat experiment and I wouldn’t mind too much if a sequel was made that fully expanded the gameplay and featured more characters in the base game.