SINoALICE has finally released globally. The gacha game community has been hyped up about this one for well over a year. After almost a week of playing, what works and what doesn’t? Is this the gacha game for you?

The Good

The art of SINoALICE is absolutely gorgeous. In a gacha game about acquiring characters and weapons that aren’t from a popular IP, this is a huge sell. The character designs are creative, with some great waifus to aim for. Not only are the illustrations easy to look at, but the sprites look pretty nice too. This is easily the best element that SINoALICE has going for it.

SINoALICE also has some nice tunes. From soothing menu melodies to haunting battle anthems, SINoALICE has just the right song for each occasion. To complement the great music is some strong voice acting.

SINoALICE is a great gacha game to enjoy if you have a community to play with. The game is somewhat social, with guilds being a major part of the experience. Joining a great guild full of people that you actually communicate with significantly improves the experience. Without that communication, the guild experience can feel a bit hollow though.

Another nice aspect of SINoALICE is the gacha itself. Players pull for weapons rather than characters, making it easier to obtain their waifus (which can be obtained via story mode). The gacha rate itself is also somewhat generous, with a 3% SR pull rate.

Rerolling is so easy. Players don’t need to delete their data or go through tons of tutorials. Players start the game, instantly do a multi-pull, then decide if they want to keep their loot. If not, one button press allows them to pull again.

SINoALICE isn’t a time-consuming game, making it a fine side gacha game for those who just want to burn 20 minutes or so a day. The systems aren’t complicated at all, making it ideal for quick bursts. It’s beginner-friendly, so just about anyone can play it regardless of their experience in the genre.

Tons of collaborations on the way. Players can look forward to crossovers with Nier: Automata, Nier Replicant, Re: Zero, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, and more.

A supportive community ensures that all questions will be answered. If players are confused about weapon upgrading, building their grid, or anything else, finding answers won’t take long at all.

The Bad (Or, What Can Be Improved)

The battle-system is overly simplistic at times, with very little interaction from the players. Auto battle can pretty much carry players through, and after a couple of hours, the hollow fights really begin to show their ugly side.

Speaking of battles, the audio during fights is absolutely boring. The music plays and the characters have their voice lines. That’s it. No slashing effects. No magical sounds. Nothing. It’s hollow, which is especially strange considering that the game encourages you to play the game with headphones. The music is nice, but otherwise what’s the point?

PvP is a major part of the game, and it isn’t too kind to those who don’t want to pay. You will want to spend your hard-earned money in order to keep up with whales.

There is a premium pass that gives a significant edge to those willing to pay money.

The gacha pool is incredibly small as of now. This will change over time of course, but it’s all so underwhelming at the moment. Players will almost certainly want to hang on to their premium currency until new weapons show up.

The story itself is fine, but it’s told in a disjointed way. Players are only treated to a few lines of the story before suddenly fighting waves of enemies. Even worse, the battles feel unrelated to the story, making everything feel even messier.

Should You Play?

It’s hard to say. It’s a free game to play after all, so it might be worth trying out to see if it is your cup of tea. The game is harder to recommend to those who won’t be playing with others and for free-to-players. Still, it has some great things going for it and it might improve over time.