The Initial

The Initial on PC is a third-person anime hack-and-slash action game built around arena battles, psychic abilities, sword attacks, and skill-based enemy encounters. The current Steam storefront still uses the original name, with no verified rebrand or replacement PC edition. Restory Studio handles both development and publishing.

Fast arena combat in the SPE zone

The game takes place in SPE, a special school environment for students with ESP powers. Ruri and Erika become involved in a conflict with an organization collecting combat data to create an artificial girl with overwhelming power.

Story scenes provide the setting, but the main attraction is high-speed arena combat. Each battle zone places the player in a contained encounter where positioning, defensive timing, and attack selection matter more than exploration.

Ruri fights with a sword and can combine close-range strikes with electricity-based powers. The combat loop revolves around attacking, blocking, evading, identifying openings, and keeping enough space to react to enemy attacks.

Enemies are not simply passive targets. The official game description emphasizes opponents that can block and evade, so careless button pressing is less reliable than learning attack patterns and choosing the right moment to counter.

When an enemy enters a weak state, the player can perform a direct execution. This gives encounters a clear tactical rhythm: pressure the target, exploit its vulnerability, then finish the fight before another enemy interrupts.

Skills, difficulty, and combat mastery

Combat performance feeds into a skill-point progression system. Points can be spent on new skills and abilities, giving the player additional options as the battle zones become more demanding.

The upgrade structure is focused rather than role-playing heavy. This is not an open-ended character-builder with equipment slots and sprawling statistics; progression mainly expands the moves and powers available during fights.

Four difficulty levels give the game a straightforward mastery curve. Lower settings provide an accessible introduction to the combat, while higher settings demand better reactions, stronger knowledge of enemy behavior, and more disciplined use of defensive actions.

Steam achievements reinforce that loop with goals tied to buying skills, defeating named enemies, reaching an S evaluation, performing executions, collecting coins, and clearing the hardest challenges.

Players looking for a more elaborate combo-focused character-action system should treat The Initial as a compact alternative rather than a direct rival to larger productions. Its strength is the immediate sword-and-power combat, not a huge library of weapons or advanced combo notation.

Enemy encounters and level structure

The Initial is organized around levels and battle zones rather than a seamless world. Progress means moving through successive combat spaces, dealing with enemy groups, navigating traps, and facing bosses with distinct encounter patterns.

Enemy variety is important because the basic attack tools remain familiar throughout the game. Different abilities, ranged threats, traps, and boss behaviors encourage the player to change distance and timing instead of repeating one attack string.

The design is best understood as a linear action game with occasional challenge spikes. Exploration is secondary, and there is no verified open-world structure, cooperative campaign, or large hub ecosystem to distract from the fights.

That focused structure makes the game easy to understand for PC players searching for an anime beat-'em-up with a direct campaign. It also means replay value depends heavily on experimenting with skills, improving evaluations, and taking on higher difficulties.

Content model and current storefront status

The current Steam listing presents The Initial as a paid single-player game. It is not advertised as free-to-play, and no verified season pass, expansion campaign, or renamed definitive edition appears on the current PC storefront.

The store also lists a separate free original soundtrack item. This is supplementary audio content, not a gameplay expansion, and the core purchase remains the standalone action game.

The storefront description mentions Initial 2: New Stage, but that is a separate sequel-related product rather than a rebrand of The Initial. Players searching for the original game should therefore use the exact title The Initial.

Steam lists 20 achievements, trading cards, stats, Family Sharing, and Steam Cloud support. These features give completion-focused players additional goals without changing the game's fundamentally linear, combat-first structure.

PC controls, languages, and platform features

The PC version is distributed through Steam and is designed for solo play. The storefront confirms single-player support, but it does not list online multiplayer, local co-op, split-screen, or dedicated server tools.

Controller use requires some caution. Community reports identify incomplete controller behavior, including problems with trigger inputs and button configuration. A community configuration guide exists for players who want to remap the controls through Steam, while keyboard input remains the safer fallback when a gamepad layout behaves incorrectly.

The verified storefront feature set includes Steam Cloud, achievements, trading cards, stats, and Family Sharing. It does not advertise mod tools, native ultrawide support, a cabinet mode, a separate launcher, or a dedicated anti-cheat system.

Language coverage is more useful than the game's small scope might suggest. Interface and subtitle support is listed for English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese, while Japanese is available for full audio.

Players who prefer original-language voice tracks can use the Japanese audio option. English localization is available for the interface and subtitles, making the game accessible to English-speaking PC players without requiring Japanese reading ability.

Who should play The Initial?

The best audience is made up of players who want short-form anime action, female protagonists, sword combat, psychic powers, and boss encounters without a large inventory or open-world commitment.

It is also a reasonable fit for players who enjoy compact indie character-action games and do not need extensive customization. The main satisfaction comes from learning enemy behavior, unlocking skills, surviving tougher settings, and improving combat execution.

Players expecting a long role-playing campaign, deep equipment management, substantial exploration, or reliable plug-and-play controller support should approach it with lower expectations.

For a more polished and technically demanding version of third-person stylish action, compare its combat ideas with combo-driven character-action games such as Devil May Cry 5. The Initial is much smaller in scope, but the shared emphasis on timing, evasive movement, and expressive attacks makes the comparison useful.

Anime action fans interested in another mature, combat-focused PC game can also look at third-person hack-and-slash games like Onechanbara Z2: Chaos. That game offers a broader character roster and weapon-switching system, while The Initial keeps its attention on a tighter single-character combat loop.

The Initial FAQ

Has The Initial been renamed on PC?

No verified rebrand was found. The current Steam storefront continues to use The Initial. Initial 2: New Stage is presented as a separate product, not a new name for the original game.

Is The Initial single-player or multiplayer?

The Initial is a single-player action game. The verified PC feature listing does not identify online co-op, local multiplayer, split-screen, or competitive modes.

Does The Initial support controllers?

Controllers can be used, but community reports describe incomplete support and configuration problems, particularly with trigger inputs. Players affected by this issue should try a Steam controller remap or switch to keyboard controls.

What languages and voice options are available?

English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese are listed for interface or subtitle support. Japanese is listed for full audio, so English-speaking players can use English text with the original Japanese voices.

What is the real gameplay structure?

The game uses a linear sequence of levels and battle zones featuring enemy groups, traps, named bosses, skill purchases, executions, and four difficulty settings. Its replay loop is based on higher difficulties, achievement completion, combat improvement, and better evaluations rather than open-ended exploration.