Product Info

Platform

Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PC

Publisher

Sega

Developer

CyberConnect2

Series

Demon Slayer

Genre

Action, Board Games, Party

Players

1-4

File Size (Minimum)

3.2 GB

Release Date (NA)

Apr 25, 2024

Purchase From

eShop

PSN Store

Microsoft Store

Steam

Demon Slayer: Sweep the Board! is an interactive board game that’s like a Mario Party game but with an anime skin. It’s a positive experience for fans of the anime series, but it needs more polishing before it becomes one of the best board games on consoles.

Throwing the Die

Demon Slayer, a popular anime and manga series, involves characters fighting and slaying demons using swords. In Sweep the Board!, the approach changes into rolling dice and playing mini games like jumping rope.

You’ll choose a variety of human characters from the series as the popular demons are unplayable, and like the anime, the demons are enemies you have to track and fight against. However, the fan-favorite demon character, Nezuko, will aid the player who is in last place.

There are five boards to play, each one familiar to those who’ve watched the anime up to season three. Additionally, more could come based on the newest season that’s currently airing, but for now, this is what the game offers. Each board is laid out in various ways. Some require more attention than others, such as the Mugen Train board where you need to call forth a train to move around. Each board has a set of demons that represents those seen in the anime. For example, Board Three with the Mugen Train has both Enmu and Akaza.

Like Mario Party, or any other similar board game such as The Game of Life, you’ll move in spaces around the board by tossing one or more dice. Each spot can impact the game for you and others. This can involve losing “Slayer” coins, traveling to different areas on the board, or battling demons. There are also “destination” spots where the board game changes from daylight to nighttime. Changing to nighttime brings out the demons to battle. The goal isn’t necessarily defeating all the demons. Instead, it’s having the most “Rank” points. These are earned by reaching destination spots.

Battle on the Board

During the course of a game, you’ll play a mini game that lets you gain Slayer coins. These coins can help your ranking, let you purchase items, or allow you to travel around the board. There are thirty-five mini games, including the cinematic “greater demon” battles. Many of the mini games are straightforward such as tracing images, jump roping, memory matching, or snow sledding. The game has a tendency to become repetitive with some of the mini games, which makes it not as fun. When compared to Mario Party, Sweep the Board! feels underwhelming.

Many of them are locked until you play them, except for the greater demon battles. Those can be unlocked just by playing the board without having to play against the greater demon. To do so, reduce the amount of turns to five. (On the flip side, if you are gung-ho on playing a long match, the most you can select is thirty, so go for it.) The greater demon battles are entertaining. From their interactive commands that resemble Simon Says to the animation that represents the anime occurring in between, they’re worth replaying many times. Demon Slayer fans will surely enjoy this.

When done playing the board game, you can play these mini games by themselves and earn “Kimetsu Tablets” to unlock stamps, avatar graphics, and more. These are all cosmetic rewards; it doesn’t add anything to the gameplay, instead giving players options for their player card for others to see online. Similarly, you can unlock additional costumes that can be used when choosing a player.

Dead on Arrival

Sweep the Board! offers online matches, which is great. However, after trying multiple times to play with others, it’s quiet at the time of writing. You may get lucky, though. With the news of the game coming out for other consoles and PC, many others will get to play. Unfortunately, there’s no crossplay between different consoles and PCs. Instead, Switch players can only play with other Switch players. Xbox players can play with Xbox One and Xbox Series players. This limitation won’t help the online community to enjoy the game. Additionally, to play against other players requires online subscriptions, such as the Nintendo Switch Online Membership.

Familiar Vibes

The music in Sweep the Board! consists of familiar tracks one would have heard from the anime series, using instruments such as the koto and shinobue. In terms of visuals, the colors are vibrant, even at nighttime. The attack animations are also colorful and resemble the style seen in the anime.

There are some areas that need more polish, however. The background characters on the board look odd. It’s as if they were blown up from smaller versions and look fuzzy as a result. Also, due to the Nintendo Switch’s capabilities, some of the character designs aren’t as crisp as they could be. This shows more during mini games than when the characters are on the board. In addition, there are no touchscreen capabilities if you decide to play this on the Nintendo Switch undocked or on the Steam Deck. Finally, while the Joy-Con controls are quite fun and accurate when swinging during the “Simon Says” actions, the other mini games are just generic button pushing exercises.

The Final Roll

Demon Slayer: Sweep the Board! is a fun interactive board game that fans of the series can enjoy. However, an underwhelming amount of mini games and restrictive issues online prevent it from competing at the top of the genre. Even so, this game is worth a roll.

A Nintendo Switch code provided for this review and gameplay footage.