The combat consists of regular attacks, skill moves, finishing manoeuvres and the magical Sacred Arts spells. You’ll see a considerable amount of time lost as a result of meaningless chatter being bookended by stupidly long loading screens – get used to lengthy waits while things load because this is prevalent throughout. In truth, filler is the only considerable downside from a storytelling standpoint, with a few too many occasions where interactions and conversations drag on. The action-orientated cutscenes using the in-game models, as well as the still images featuring anime style artwork, are simply wonderful to look at. There are some really dark moments to contrast the uplifting triumphs too, which is what makes it fascinating to experience. It’s great to see Kirito’s personality shine through as he consistently tries to do the ‘right thing’ especially in a place that has rules that allow some awful acts to go unpunished because of hierarchy. Sure, certain plot points are skipped over, but on the plus side there’s an interesting sub-story involving a brand new character and when it goes off on a tangent, you’ll already be submerged enough that it won’t matter. There’s more to it than that though, with a narrative very similar to how proceedings play out in season three of the anime series.
