Bleach fans were treated to a surprise today at Anime Expo in Los Angeles: Bandai Namco has announced a new title, Bleach Rebirth of Souls, is on its way for console and PC players and is “coming soon.”
The announcement was made as day two of Anime Expo wrapped at the Los Angeles Convention Center on July 5, with a late trailer for Bleach Rebirth of Souls revealing the new fighting game is now in development. The Bleach series has received a comparatively low amount of game releases when held up to the rest of the “big three” of 2000s anime.
The new title will be a 3D arena fighter produced by Bandai Namco and developed by Tamsoft Corporation and will support two players locally and online. Held up against the series’ catalog, Rebirth of Souls is to be the first full-fledged console release for the Bleach franchise in over a decade.
Fans have grown used to the variety in releases for Naruto and Dragon Ball games over the years. Regarding gameplay style as well as the system the release is on, it seems there is little that hasn’t been done for other popular franchises. For Bleach, however, the majority of game releases have arrived solely for the PSP—but now, Rebirth of Souls is expected to hit consoles and PCs at the same time.
The Bleach: Heat The Soul series has done much of the heavy lifting, but the last Bleach game to get a console release was Bleach: Brave Souls, which was initially released in 2015 in Japan and then worldwide in 2016. Brave Souls then saw a delayed port to other platforms; PC players got their hands on it in 2020, PS4 players in 2022, and Xbox players in June 2024. The last Bleach game intended for consoles during its initial release was Bleach: Soul Resurrección, which came out in 2011.
The new game appears to be covering a large stretch of the show’s storyline. The trailer shows segments from different parts of the story up to the Arrancar arc. Throughout Rebirth of Souls, players will partake in battles that feature Bleach icons Ichigo, Rukia, Uryu, and Sado, using and unlocking different abilities like Bankai.
Fans have been vocal about their excitement seeing an entirely new Bleach game for the first time in years. Some are curious about how the rest of the story will be covered in the game, since the Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War is not complete yet. Some speculate final storylines could be added as DLC. Despite that, others have noted they will be somewhat disappointed if the game is not able to cover the entirety of the series, considering the manga has been completed for some time.
Although the trailer states that the game is coming soon, the exact release date is unknown. Bleach Rebirth of Souls will be coming to PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.
