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| The irregular at xanadu highschool. |
Developer/publisher: Falcom.
Platform: PS5,Switch,PC.
Official Site: https://www.falcom.co.jp/kyoxana/
Platform: PS5,Switch,PC.
Official Site: https://www.falcom.co.jp/kyoxana/
Release date: 16-07-2026
Kyoto Xanadu is set in the same world as Tokyo Xanadu
but I found it rather entry level and its able to stand on its own.
The story is very self-contained, nothing this game covers requires prior knowledge.
Disclaimer: This is purely my own opinion and it could be different from yours
this is not meant to be some kind of all-truth, just an opinion that came from playing this.
If you don't like what you're reading then close the tab, move on and just idk play it yourself.
Pro's
- Proactive and Witty protagonist.
- Great cast of characters.
- Interesting mix of 2D/3D gameplay.
Grey Area
- Day to Day stuff can get a bit stale.
- Halfdubbed.
- The game ending feels like a teaser and it kinda just ends.
Con's
- Requests were bland&boring.
- Bond events have no final episode.
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Storywise it sure has some interesting hooks like, its decent for what it tried.
I was more interested in what Rei was even doing in the beginning which wasn't
cleared up till much later. Rei can be a bit of a smartass but more often than not
ends up being treated like some clown by his new schoolmates.
Not that he lets that get to him but he was very much a teenager.
I wish the localization a very good luck and I can't help but I worry Rei will be nerved
in english. The crap Rei says sometimes makes me go my dude, you for real.
Linon isn't really much of a focus early on but there's a time and place for her.
Not sure if I should be happy or sad I called some stuff but even if you
don't the story will click midway chapter 4 all the pieces fit.
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Story progress felt rather slow and a lot of it felt like build up while getting
to know new faces and gaining... better notoriety or worsen it. You know how Rei is...
The first chapter was slow and mostly a tutorial, the xanadu sections were
bite-sized so it took a while to get going, this is fair but tbh it never really got crazy.
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There are many side characters and it will vary who catches your eye, most didn't really
stand out to me except Leah. The VP guy who seemed supportive and nice... compared to the
president himself who was very get on my level ''hmph!'' I'd rather hang with Ren at the arcade.😔
I was kinda interested in Shu too... but I don't think we should worry about him
yea he's that guy you shouldn't worry about.
There's also this Crow look-a-like Kyouya but... he just comes and goes.
Much like Crow in CS1 I suppose.💀 He's chill but he can go hard.
There's also this Crow look-a-like Kyouya but... he just comes and goes.
Much like Crow in CS1 I suppose.💀 He's chill but he can go hard.
None of the story really wowed me till chapter 3 where things move into a more
interesting direction but other than that I just had no idea where any of it would go.
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the sidescrolling dungeon parts of the game. It was a smooth experience.😌
Bosses were in 3d but they were about as good as in the Ys games.
I didn't really understand why there was a need to switch? but okay I guess.
I'll admit that it was hard to lock onto the smaller enemies which was annoying.
The school stuff was okay, its just that the day to day stuff got stale quickly.
Like just going through the motions.
It was kinda annoying how the phantom flask could break since this would
more often than not force you out of the dungeon for that day but okay
rome wasn't build in a day! what was worse than that was trying to remember
which teleporter goes to which. This got especially bad in the 3rd layer.💀
Everything else was relatively smooth, i'll admit the gates and statues got repetitive.
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I liked the VN-style story-telling! and it wasn't bad at all.
its smart because the characters don't move a lot anyway
while conveying the story and emotions of the characters.
I can understand this game's presentation can feel kinda cheap due to this.
It can seem like a downgrade to Tokyo Xanadu which was like Coldsteel 3/4.
Its pretty clear to me that they were on a budget but none of this was done poorly.
Its also clear to me all the budget went into the sky remakes and this game is just what it is.
Graphics were fine and the music was pretty great, I have no complaints in those areas.
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like trails or persona there weren't really any deadlines nor are there
any sidequests instead there's 3 specific people that can give requests.
You get a trophy for doing it 10 times each... which is an achievment alright.💀
These requests are really simple; find this missing person, kill enemies or find those items.
I got tired of them by the 3rd time I had got those requests. They had no flavor and were bland.
There's not much to do when not exploring Xanadu so any progression comes natural.
There was more than enough time to explore xanadu or chat with friends.
You simply go to school do some card game for points to unlock stuff on the skill tree
and hang out with friends maybe but those events felt barebones.
I sometimes found myself locked from progressing Xanadu like for example in chapter 3
you get to explore the 3rd layer and while you can enter the 4th its impossible
to get anywhere due to missing something that made further progress impossible.
There's some parts in earlier layers that can't be accessed till later too like a part of
layer 1that can only be accessed via a yellow teleporter.
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I played on easy, which was second out of four difficulties sorry I don't remember the
difficulty names. Maybe I should've played on normal but for some reason I picked the 2nd.
If you want more balance or challenge I recommend the 3rd or 4th difficulties.
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Overall.
It took me 35 hours to finish Kyoto Xanadu.
I liked the sidescrolling dungeon parts more than the school stuff.
and the characters were far more interesting than the overall plot.💀
The day to day stuff felt very standard and I found it sad that its half dubbed but its
falcom so its pretty much a standard for them; to hear a full voiced line and then crickets.
(Or for the MC to be silent and the other guy to speak instead. Oh well you get used to it!)
That aside there were plenty of CG's, including a groupshot I found the selection
of CG images to be more varied than Utaware P&P rediscovered.
with darker skintones to being not as skinny or having a handicap.
Not all chara's were as story relevant but they made the town feel alive
like if you were free after school you could hang with them.😌
It didn't feel like I absolutely had to hang out with them so my focus was on
the party members as well as that shy glasses guy, Kyoya and Ren. There were times
where I had to pick some rando to use FP on since no one else was available.
By the time of ch4 I started to question the whole bond system since most
already naturally form during the story. So it felt like its just busywork.😓
There also aren't any final events, imagine you maxing out the final rank and it just ends
yea that was a little disappointing there wasn't even anything else.
I found it to be overall a slowpaced game. It picks itself up starting from chapter 3
but even then it was still the irregular at xanadu highschool till midway ch4
and it returns to being like that once more in chapter 5.
I did want to get to know the characters better so I kept playing.
Nothing was too deep it felt like I was scratching the surface of something.
This game was basically a trails game in disguise. 😅💀
I also kept wondering if there was going to be a Rion or Goro but no one else joined
outside of the initial crew. I'd love to have Leah,Kyoya or Shu join. As well as Ren...
however unless there is some sort of Ex+ version, that isn't happening in this game.
The sad part about Kyoto Xanadu is that it left me with an is that really it feeling?
Sure its able to tell the story of Rei and Otoha which was good but hmm...
I think this is what happens when you bake a cake but the other half isn't ready
so they cut it off. You get a cake alright, its just not the whole thing.
8/10
If I was harsh i'd probably rate it a little lower but the characters were great
which leads to me giving it an 8/10 instead of a 6.5 or 7/10.
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TL;DR I recommend it mostly for the sidescrolling style gameplay and the characters
but the narrative is a bit of a slowburn. I didn't find the story to be outstanding or
atleast not right away. It peaked for me in chapter 4 and thought some of it was well done
but the fact remains that Kyoto Xanadu ends when it feels like it only just began.
More rambles after the jump, I've decided to keep charactter rambles there
because my rambles include spoilers, not all but there's some.
So if you don't want any then just stop reading here.
