The best anime games showcase the strengths of the Japanese-born genre and give players hours of story driven fun to enjoy. With crossovers with the best JRPGs and gripping visual novels, anime offers some of the most unique characters, experiences, and bright worlds for gamers to dive into, period.
Our collection of the best anime games down below will put you through the ringer as we’ve curated the most memorable titles in this massively impressive genre. From jarring psychological horrors like Doki Doki Literature Club to fantasy classics like Dragon Quest, we’ve made sure that there’s something for everyone. And, although game adaptations of the best anime series like Dragon Ball can be found on this list, our focus is on original titles that borrow from the greats.
There's never a dull moment for fans of manga and beyond, so here are the 10 best anime games to get stuck into right now.
10. Doki Doki Literature Club
Developer: Team Salvato
Platforms: PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch
If you aren't at all familiar with Doki Doki Literature Club, you probably have a lot of questions. And I can tell you that whatever you might think of it given the name, Doki Doki Literature Club probably isn't anything like what you're expecting. Even looking at screenshots, you'd probably imagine you're dealing with a run-of-the-mill, anime-inspired dating sim, but you'd never guess the horrific psychological nightmare waiting for you just beneath that shiny harem surface.
Doki Doki Literature Club is a violent, genre-busting, psychological, interactive visual novel. It's also still one of the best horror games around, so if you love spooky things as well as anime, this is for you. Final warning: Doki Doki's plot deals with shockingly heavy themes and subjects, including depression, suicide, insanity, and the grotesque. If you can stomach it, Doki Doki Literature Club tells a story worth hearing, well worth the scary trip.
9. Dragon Ball FighterZ
Developer: Arc System Works
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
If you've ever wanted to play as the most powerful heroes of the Dragon Ball universe while blasting overpowered alien overlords, Dragon Ball FighterZ offers that satisfying, almost cathartic experience. Of course, you can also embrace your inner villain and fight Goku as Frieza, Buu, Kid Buu, Beerus, Cell, and Captain Ginyu.
It's hard to live up to the sheer energy that's drawn so many viewers to Dragon Ball over more than three decades, but Dragon Ball FighterZ is easily the most successful fighting game at doing so based in the series' universe. It's fast, punchy, visually awesome, and, most importantly, makes you feel like Goku - or Cell, depending on your moral compass.
For more information, read our Dragon Ball FighterZ review. Or you can head over to our guide on how to watch all of Dragon Ball in order!
8. Tales of Berseria
Developer: BNE Entertainment
Platforms: PS4, PC, PS3
If you're looking for a traditional JRPG with a heavy anime bend, Tales of Berseria fits the bill and then some. The combat, if not entirely innovative, is challenging enough to engage through the roughly 60-hour campaign, but the real highlight is the emotionally captivating storytelling.
Bucking so many trends we aren't soon to miss, Tales of Berseria follows a relentlessly badass female protagonist - a first for the series - in her journey to avenge her brother's death by killing his murderer. It sounds formulaic enough, but Tales of Berseria will surprise you at every plot-turn, and in-between keep you satisfied enough with its battling to see what happens next.
7. Astral Chain
Developer: PlatinumGames
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
If the anime you prefer is of the stylized, global, and awe-inspiring type, Astral Chain is right up your alley. And if you're at all familiar with PlatinumGames' other IPs, like Bayonetta and Nier: Automata, you're already largely familiar with Astral Chain's vibe.
The combat is frenetic, the visuals are bright and busy, and boss fights are brilliantly inventive. Better yet, and sort-of surprising for the genre, Astral Chain tells a well-crafted story well worth paying attention to. For a little bit of everything, including smartly designed side quests, platforming, and puzzle-solving elements, Astral Chain is your most stylish and categorically shonen choice.
This anime game grows on you more over time, so check out our Astral Chain review for more details on this title.
6. Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (999)
Developers: Spike Chunsoft
Platforms: PS4, PS5, PC
999 is another oddball sleeper hit with a unique gameplay flow structured around a surprisingly captivating story. Like all the best visual novels, the story here branches into different paths based on your choices, although in 999, reaching the "true ending" requires multiple playthroughs. Playing through the stressful, at-times violent story requires sitting through its captivating story, interrupted by puzzle-solving sequences to escape situations.
The plot is nothing short of a dreadful situation; you wake up on a cruise ship with eight other captives, and your goal is to find the door marked '9' before time runs out and the ship sinks. Worse yet, disobeying commands in "the Nonary Games" causes a bomb placed inside your stomach to detonate. Needless to say, the stakes are high in 999, and you feel the intensity from the opening sequence through to the end.
5. Catherine: Full Body
Developer: Atlus/ Studio Zero
Platforms: PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch
Catherine deserves more attention, but the game itself is to blame for its niche appeal - its subversive and sexually-charged moralizing is almost impossible to package neatly into its inventive puzzling RPG format for mass appeal. Catherine tells the story of a young commitment phobe trapped in the clutches of a succubus, struggling to survive nightly attacks and reconcile his faith in his relationship.
The only real gameplay here takes place while Vincent is asleep, and it's all about moving around blocks to climb a structure and escape the giant monster clawing its way up from the bottom. The under-pressure puzzling at Catherine's core is engaging enough, and the story told by day is equally gripping. Catherine isn't just weird; it's easily one of the best puzzle games you can still play today. And the new-and-improved Catherine: Full Body is the best way to experience this wild story.
4. Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Developer: Intelligent Systems
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
The latest release in the acclaimed Fire Emblem franchise lives up to, and even exceeds its name in plenty of ways. With a large, highly-explorable base hub, emotionally-gripping story, and dynamic characters and relationships, it's easy to forget you're playing a turn-based strategy game and a damn good one.
Indeed, Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a complex, class-based strategy game at its core. It'll take some time to learn complete mastery of its combat, but once you do, the result is as rewarding as it gets for the turn-based strategy genre. It's also still one of the best Nintendo Switch games out there, so if you have the console, be sure to give it a look!
3. Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom
Developer: Level-5
Platforms: PS4, PS5, PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S
Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom marks more than one departure from its excellent predecessor but stands on its own as an ambitious, rewarding JRPG with a massive heart at its center. Battling is no longer turn-based, and there's a whole new city management gameplay loop and skirmish battles. For my taste, the kinetic battling is an improvement over the first Ni No Kuni's traditional turn-based combat, but I've never been much for the latter.
It's true Ni No Kuni 2 wasn't graced with Studio Ghibli heading up the art direction, but you might not know it at first glance. Characters have that same Ghibli look, and environments look hand-brushed, but a closer look reveals some discrepancies. Namely, Ni No Kuni 2 benefits from some of the most diverse, enchanting towns I've explored in a video game, and that charm bleeds through the entire experience.
Read our Ni no Kuni 2 review for more information on this near-perfect anime game.
2. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
Developer: Level-5
Platforms: PS4, PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S
Whether you're an unabashed Ghibli aficionado or you've never heard the name Miyazaki, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch can't be missed for fans of anime, video games, or happiness. Ni No Kuni bleeds Ghibli, from the exceptionally beautiful art to the emotional storytelling. Its gameplay has all the markers seen in the best RPGs, with an overworld for you to grind through and traverse towns, cinematic cutscenes, and turn-based gameplay.
No matter your preferred anime genre, there's an anime-inspired game for you. The thing about Ni No Kuni that separates it from most JRPGs is how expertly crafted each element is. The story is profoundly moving; the exceptional Studio Ghibli-drawn art has aged wonderfully (especially with the PS4 remaster), and progressing through the story requires minimal grinding - even less if you take on sidequests.
1. Dragon Quest 11
Developer: Square Enix
Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Nintendo Switch
The latest adventure in the veteran Dragon Quest series is exactly that: an adventure. It's vast, colorful, ridiculously charming, occasionally quite touching, and ultimately satisfying. The anime-inspired 3D environments are lavish, evocative, and distinctly Akira Toriyama. And indeed, the famed Dragon Ball and Chrono Trigger character designer was responsible for Dragon Quest 11's art design.
There are a few genuinely heavy, even heartbreaking, chapters, but for most of the ride, you'll be so charmed by the world and its characters. The gameplay loop is also challenging enough to demand some grinding, but by no means excessively. Basically, Dragon Quest 11 is a traditional JRPG in almost every way, and the fact that it stands so tall among literally decades of genre classics says all you need to know about it.
If you want to know more about GameRadar+'s top pick for the best anime game, check out our Dragon Quest 11 S – Definitive Edition review.
If you're on the lookout for more adventures, check out our lists of all the upcoming anime heading our way and the new games on the horizon.
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