Azur Lane: Crosswave is a console game based off the very popular mobile title. When the base game released back in February of this year, I had an absolute blast with it. I’m big fan of the mobile game. I have been playing it since it released in the west, so seeing my favorites in full 3D blasting away baddies was a real treat. Recently, Idea Factory International released five DLC characters: Taihou, Formidable, Roon, Le Malin, and Sirius. Each girl comes with a host of support ships, and individual stories. These five story bits make an epilogue to the game’s main story. Let’s dig in and see if these DLC Kansen are worth your gems!
The story begins as Taihou has just returned to the Sakura Empire. They have an important guest waiting on her, Saint Louis of Iris Libre, and she has requested some assistance in a matter from Akagi. She agrees to help and sends Taihou to carry out this important mission. Along with Souryu, Taihou sets out for Movie Island to begin this important mission!
Formidable’s day has begun to get boring, but will change very soon. She has joined Queen Elizabeth as they are checking out a cruise ship in the distance. Here, they are reunited with Zara of the Sardegna Empire. The group begins talking when suddenly, something very unusual happens. The ship begins to move on its own! They will have to stay sharp as the Sirens are most likely involved in this volatile situation.
Roon’s story is the one I found the most interesting out of the five. She is spending her days at the Iron Blood Academy with Z23 and her other friends. Roon is very talented, so much so that she can stop an out of control rigging with her bare hands. They soon offer her this rigging, since it had taken a liking to her. She realizes she is becoming bored of peacetime and when the Sirens attack, it may just awaken a side of her that had been dormant for a long time.
Le Malin, going with the flow of things as usual, finds herself entering a new Joint Military Exercise. The Royal Navy is hosting this time, and of course things do not go as planned. Being a representative of the Vichya Dominion, Le Malin wants to put on the best show possible. The purpose of this event was to see what could be created using cubs. Le Malin ends up creating something very unexpected, and the event comes to an end. The Sirens decide to break up this happy party, and Le Malin is thrust into yet another crazy situation. Will she ever make it back home to relax and watch all her backlogged anime?
Last, but not least, we have another of Royal Navy’s amazing maids, Sirius. She is tasked with returning some cubes to the Sakura Empire. Along with London, who has come along to help her, they are attacked by Sirens. They wanted to take the cubes from them, but the Sakura Empire stepped in. They were ordered to protect the cubes and meet up with even more allies from the Eagle Union. Can they come up with a plan to protect the cubes?
I did enjoy the overall story of the Azur Lane: Crosswave DLC characters. It was a great addition to the main story. The interactions between the girls is where these really shine. If you’ve played the mobile game and know how some of them react to each other, you will get a lot more out of this. One great example of this is when Albacore was on the radio and Taihou had a fit. I just started laughing out loud. Folks that haven’t played the mobile game will still find a lot to enjoy here as well.
Graphically, the additional Kansen have never looked better. Each girl has a nice amount of detail, and are a lot of fun to play as. The support characters give more options to buff your characters, and of course all of the girls have oath scenes for you to enjoy. Deutschland’s was by far my favorite, because it showed her greatest weakness.
Being a fan of Azur Lane, I found a lot to love here. The story was great, and anytime spent with some of your favorite Kansen is time well spent. Some will find this DLC a bit pricey at $7.99 each, but I feel it is worth it for the amount of story and support characters that come with each one. If you felt the base game was too story heavy with not enough action, then nothing here is going to change your mind. If you enjoyed the base game, you should pick up all the DLC. You will get another set of great stories and some new Kansen to spend quality time with.
DLC was reviewed using a code from the publisher.
