Recent reviews by Pitheos

Just like its predecessor, Learn Japanese to Survive! Katakana War is a great stepping stone for learning Japanese. You will need to supplement the game with other resources (I recommend using this guide for the first game https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1573508156 but instead use the Learn Katakana page from the Tofugu website that it references here: https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/learn-katakana/) and you will need to go beyond the game once completing it, but it is a great start.

Unlike the first game, this game also provides a Challenge Castle that allows you to practice previously learned Katakana characters. It also has a few nice JRPG touches, like an Affection system that encourages grinding but is actually a guise to review old material. I recommend trying to get every achievement in this game if only because doing so will strengthen retention for the most part (some achievements are just for fun but are easy enough to get that you might as well as try). Superficially, the game also has a great soundtrack, just like the first game. And the story is about as enjoyable as a story that can be concocted for an educational game masquerading as a JRPG but I still enjoyed it.

There are a few nitpicks, though. For example, there is some minor slow down at parts, but never enough to destroy enjoyment of the game. I also encountered a few times where my game refused to save, but exiting and re-entering the menu remedied that. The game also promises that you can re-map keys but I was unable to get this to work.

That said, this game is a great start to learning Japanese. Playing the first game, Learn Japanese to Survive! Hiragana Battle, is recommended but not needed. You also do not need to necessarily memorize much of the vocabulary in this game because once you can read Katakana, most words become instantly recognizable. This is because Katakana is mostly used for foreign loan words and these words are often borrowed from Romance languages and English. Therefore, once you can read the Katakana, you can usually understand the word provided you can read or speak English or other Romance languages.

All in all, you could definitely do worse for a game that takes roughly 13 hours to beat, so I highly recommend it if you have any interest in learning Japanese.

I just finished this game and while there are probably more efficient ways to learn Hiragana, I think that Learn Japanese to Survive - Hiragana Battle at least makes the process engaging and meaningful. I'd recommend you play with bikke the pirate's guide in the Guides section of the game on Steam. I'd also recommend trying to memorize the vocabulary before finishing the game because it will help in the end. You have to do the side quests to acquire much of this vocabulary, so do them all before completing the game. I think daily practice using something similar to the Real Kana app and website will help. You won't learn to speak Japanese from this game, but it will set you on the path to be able to read Hiragana which will help you in that journey. Best of luck! I can't wait to try the other games in this series.