Bleach: Brave Souls

Bleach: Brave Souls is an action game based on Bleach for Android and iOS devices. The game is published by KLab Global Pte. Ltd. and goes through the story of Bleach up to the Lost Agent arc, with several key characters from the Thousand Year Blood War arc being playable. Additionally, Story expansions and playable characters for post-manga Novel contents have been announced to be released for the game for the following year.

Playable characters
Playable characters are rated by a rarity range from one to six stars, one star being the most common, and five stars being the rarest and hardest to obtain. Once maxing out a five stars soul tree and level you can evolve it to six star. Six stars could also be obtained in a summon gacha once and haven't been in a summons since then but they might come back in a future gacha.

At the beginning of the Story mode, the player starts with a two-star Ichigo Kurosaki and gets one random five star character for free. If the player earns gift boxes during a quest, they can receive various characters from it (one to certain five stars, depending on the quest). Characters can also be unlocked by using Summon in the Shop/Summon mode. Summoning one character, which costs 25 Spirit Orbs, will grant the player a random character. The player can also choose to summon ten characters at once, for a cost of 250 Spirit Orbs. Doing this will guarantee at least one of the summoned characters being four star character. Some special events will also give the player Normal Summons Tickets and Premium Summons Tickets, which can be redeemed for a free summon. A Normal Ticket will grant the player a character from one to two stars, while a Premium Ticket will grant the player a character from three to five stars. Since April 2016, other variations of Summoning Tickets have arrived. The Brave Souls tickets grants a random character from three to five stars, in which summoning five stars has a slightly increased rate, while the 4/5* Tickets guarantees a four- or rarely a five-star characters.

All character progression are based on leveling, ascension, and Soul Tree progression. Leveling in the same way as traditional leveling of characters in MMO/RPGs. Ascension is a process where the player must use a series of fodder characters to increase a leveling limit point. The Soul Tree progression focuses on a complex RPG stat tree where players must increase each nodes of several stats (Attack, Defense, Stamina, Focus, Spiritual Pressure) using crystals (for one to five stars) or Jewels (for six star characters). Players can get Crystals and Jewels from the Story mode, Coop, or from the Urahara Training Grounds.

Since the first of July 2016, the Awakening System has been released to the game. Awakening involves taking a level 100 and 100% Soul Tree five star character and fusing it with a special Jewel called the Hōgyoku. The amount of Hōgyoku required for Awakening where gacha characters requires three Hōgyoku, while free five star characters require five Hōgyoku. After Awakening, the rarity of the selected five star becomes a six star. In addition to Awakening, the level is reset back to 1 and the Soul Tree is changed to include Skill Nodes, which used to physically enhance a character's certain skill. Skill Nodes requires raid characters (which can be dropped from the raids), skill keys (appears in special events), orbs (not recommended), or jewels (seasonal characters and frenzy characters are the only characters that only require jewels).

As of early June 2017, after a player reached 6* Lv150 and 100% Soul Tree on their character, they are granted the option to Release them. Release is a process of unlocking more levels on a maxed out 6* character to further enhance their stats. To Release a character, the player is required to use Hōgyoku's Will, which are found rarely in Character Raids, given guaranteed as Orders rewards, and through high-tier PVP rankings. After the character is Released, the Soul Tree is expanded to show unlockable Level nodes. The nodes are unlocked using Droplets, which are found only in Raids and sometimes rarely in the Inheritance Zone. A new zone ,that is moderately hard, called the Enriched Zone can give you droplets of each color in few amounts. This event comes out rarely. Gacha characters require 3 Hogyoku's Wills, while free characters require 5 Hōgyoku's Wills. Droplet for Releasing characters are varied, but all Released characters can increase their level up to 200.

As of September 2018, select characters who have been fully Released (6* Lv200) now have the option to Resurrect. It allows the character to gain a second Soul Trait and a random new Skill remake after re-Releasing to lv200. To Resurrect a character, the select character must enter a challenge where they fight a fully Resurrected version of themselves. A successful victory grants the character the Resurrect. However, during the challenge, the character won't be equipped with any accessories nor links. Furthermore, their Soul Bomb is disabled to prevent any exploitable abuse. Upon reaching lv150 after Resurrecting, players gain a 2nd Soul Trait node which is unlockable using Resurrection Rings, which are found in Kon Medal Exchange or Resurrection Ring trials. Resurrected characters also have one notable difference to their weaker counterparts: the color of the Rarity Stars on their portraits are changed from golden to red.

Some characters from the Bleach universe are available across multiple rarities and attributes, along with some also being available in certain "event" versions (New Years, Valentine's Day, and White Day, among others). Currently, the following characters are playable:

Certain playable characters have a "Transform" mechanic where they are deployed in base form by default, but after using their Special button, they can be played in their enhanced form, where the effect only last for a fixed amount of time. In their enhanced form, their appearance is altered drastically based on the "power-ups" they received in the manga; their damage magnification on their strong attacks are also boosted; and their gameplay also changes depending on the character.

The following characters have a transformation skill in the game:


 * Sajin Komamura (TYBW version): Partial transformation. Deployed in his Human Transformation technique as base form. After special activates, the last string of the Normal Attack summons Kokujo Tenken Myou's giant arm. Effect lasts until death.
 * Kenpachi Zaraki (TYBW version): Deployed in Shikai as base form. After Special activates, transforms into his oni-like Bankai form. Increased damage magnifications and strong attacks have a more 'fiery'-like visual. Effect last only 30 seconds.
 * Yhwach: Deployed in his First Invasion Wandenreich uniform. When in base mode, his normal and strong attacks are his Spirit Weapon abilities. After special activates, transforms into his Emperor form, where he uses many of the Almighty's abilities infused with the Soul King's powers. Gains a Blut Vene Anhaben shield which protects him and the deployed teammates from attacks for 1 hit (3 for Yhwach). Effect lasts for 30 seconds.
 * Yoruichi Shihoin (TYBW version): Deployed in her Shunshin Chōhengen form as base. After special activates, transforms into her Shunryū Kokubyō Senkei form (commonly referred as 'Thundercat'). When in this form, her Movement is greatly boosted with her Normal attacks, allowing her to lunge forward per every strike. Effect last for 30 seconds.
 * Ichigo Kurosaki (TYBW True Bankai): Deployed in True Bankai as base form. Second strong attack is a boost that also transforms him into his Merged Quincy-Hollow Form (also referred as the Horn of Salvation). In this form, the visuals stay the same, but the damage magnifications are boosted. After special activates, his sword is 'shattered' to reveal the True Zangetsu within. Depending on whether he has or hasn't used his Merged Hollow form, the True Zangetsu form can playabe in either. Effect last for 30 seconds.
 * Shinji Hirako (Karakura Battle version): Deployed in his Shikai as base. After activating Special, he is playable in his Vizard Mask form. The strong attack damage magnification is boosted, and their visual colors also changes from light blue to golden yellow. The 3rd strong attack also adds a vertical slash after the Shikai completes a 'clock spin', dealing extra damage towards enemies. Effect last for 30 seconds.

Character Affiliations
All playable characters have an affiliation ingame. The affiliations are based on which faction the character belong to according to the manga. Affiliations are also used to determine the Killer effect, which are found in every 6* character. Killers increase the damage of all of a character's attacks towards a specific group it matches to. For example, Mind attribute of Ulquiorra Cifer will deal +20% extra damage towards Shinigami.

In the PVE environments, several enemy mobs are divided into their respective Affiliation groups. They can be found in various maps regardless of their factions. Shinigami consists of the Gotei 13's juniors (foot soldiers), seniors (veterans), ninjas (rogues), Kido specialists (range magical casters), and the elite henchmen (Duelists and Champions). Hollows have the same army structure as Shinigami but in forms of various monsters, including the Menos Grande. Arrancar consist of the Exequias squadrons and Szayelaporro Granz's Fraccions/Arrancar experiments. No Affiliations mobs consists of various groups not belonging in any factions. These include Riruka's plush toys, Yukio's Invaders Must Die, and the assassins from the Kasumiōji Clan.

The following is a list of available affiliations for all playable characters:


 * Shinigami: characters belonging to the Gotei 13 faction. Zanpakuto Spirits are also considered this affiliation due to being a manifestation of the Shinigami's power
 * Captains: notable Gotei 13 characters that currently hold the captain position as of character model's time. i.e. Shunsui Kyoraku
 * Hollows: given to Shinigami characters that have Hollow powers. i.e. Shinji Hirako (Note:Hogyoku Aizen also appear to fall in this category despite being a transcendent being beyond SRs and Hollows)
 * Arrancar: for characters that roam in Hueco Mundo
 * Espada: Arrancar that resides in Las Noches with an Espada position.
 * Humans: characters that resides in the World of the Living. These include Fullbringers, Karakura High School characters, and certain Quincy.
 * No Affiliations: contains characters that do not fall in any allegiances of factions. These include Dark Rukia, Kon, Urahara Shop members (Jinta Hanakari & Ururu Tsumugiya), the Shiba Clan, and Movie characters like Kokutō. (note: despite being a Quincy, Yhwach is also classified as NA due to manga rights limitations)

Frenzy Characters
(not to be confused with the Frenzy skill in 6* characters)

Frenzy characters are special limited event characters that are available during their own respectable events, through completing Part 1 of the event. All Frenzy characters begin as a 5* character, and can be Awakened to 6*. However, they can only be powered up with their own event crystals. In example, Frenzy Ichigo can only be powered using Ichigo Power-Up Crystals. The Crystals can be used as power up materials again after the Frenzy character is Awakened to 6*. Frenzy Characters are mostly based off of models from their base character form, with exception to Frenzy Ulquiorra and Aizen. Due to their nature as freebie reward characters, they have a noticeable lower stats, limited skills, and mediocre gameplays compared to the normal characters from gacha banners. However, Frenzy characters can be useful as links, given they have double soul traits by default (unlike Resurrected characters, which can only unlock after they reach lv150 with 100% Soul Tree). In each Frenzy events, players may also receive a 4* of the respective character. They are meant to be maxed for orbs, then used as a quick bonus Ascension fodders for Frenzy characters. New Frenzy characters are released once every two months. Each event starts from the middle of the month and last until release of the next midmonth banner. For every new Frenzy character release cycle, in between is a re-release of an older Frenzy character. The following is a table of all available Frenzy characters, from the oldest to the latest version.

Accessories
Accessories are obtainable items used to give bonuses or other effects to characters. They can be obtained by playing story quest, event, co-op, as well as summon tickets and accessory gacha. Higher grade accessories can be obtained via summon tickets or accessory fusion, which is where two lower grade accessories must be leveled-up and then combined to make a new higher grade accessory. Certain high-grade accessory are unobtainable by fusion or quest farming means, things like Shihoin Shield, the Spirit Core, and the Gold Chappy Dispenser; they can only be gained by summoning. Certain limited accessories are only available during events such as the Anniversary Coin, which increases all stats to 10%.

The lowest grade starts at 1*, with the highest possible being 5*. Some Accessories can only go up to 3*. At 3*, in order to move to the next tier stage, the player must level up two 3* accessories and then combine using Fusion, which rolls into a random 4* accessory from a select pool. Leveling is done by feeding unwanted accessories and Power Hearts (obtained from events and Orders), and is do-able in all grade. To upgrade a 4* to a 5*, the player must participate in the Fusion Trial coop, which will have a chance to drop Evolution Powders and Book of Secrets. Both materials are required for 4* evolution to 5*, and Fusion Trials are limited to select Attribute cycle per day (Heart, Power, Speed, Tech, and Mind), with all Attributes available during the weekends. At 5*, Accessories will gain a Secondary effect, which adds a random bonus stat effect to the character. Secondary Effects are changeable, AKA "reroll", meaning that the player may choose to roll for another random stat to their content. Rerolling is done by mixing another 5* to the current 5* accessory. Alternatively, certain limited events will drop a 5* Reroll Brush, which can be used to reroll the accessory in the same fashion.

If the accessory equipped to the character matches their color attribute, the character gains a x2 bonus from the Accessory's effect. However, to prevent abuse, the characters cannot equip two or more of the same accessory at the same time.

The following is a list of obtainable Accessories, as well as their max given effects

1*-3* accessories
 * Gokon Tekko: increases ATK (attack for Normal ATK) (20%)
 * Cookie: increases STA (stamina for HP) (20%)
 * Memory Replacement: increases FCS (Focus for Crit ATK rate) (20%)
 * Cape: increases DEF (defense) (20%)
 * Shinten: increases SP (Spiritual Pressure for Strong ATK) (20%)

2*-5* accessories
 * Seireitei Bulletin: increases EXP (20%)
 * Hojiku-Zai: Boost Healing effect (only applies when a character is being healed) (100%)
 * Headband of Justice: Attribute Weakness reduction (protect the character from sustaining extra damage due to the enemy's Attribute Advantage) (20%)
 * Karakurizer Watch: Increases Coin drops (20%)

3*-5* accessories The followings are Accessories in which the effects require matching certain Affiliation to the character it's equipped on to take effect.


 * Captain Robe: Shinigami and captains' STA increases (40%)
 * Enraku (Teddy Bear): Humans' STA increases (40%)
 * Incomplete Hogyoku: Arrancar and Espadas' STA increase (40%)
 * Isshin's Charm: No Affiliation characters' STA increase (40%)

4*-5* accessories

NOTE: some 4* accessories cannot be obtained through normal Fusion means. They can only be found through summoning tickets and Accessory gacha.

Fusion-able accessories
 * Chappy Dispenser: All Stats increase, SP reduced to 0 (30%)
 * Yuki Dispenser: SP and STA increase, FCS reduced to 0 (20%)
 * Pupples Dispenser: ATK and STA increase, FCS reduced to 0 (20%)
 * Tenshintai: Special effect increases. (100%)
 * Hollow Bait: ATK and STA increase, STA reduced (30%)
 * Fortification Pill: SP and STA increase, STA reduced (30%)

Summon-only accessories
 * Shihoin Shield: Range attack dodge rate (30%)
 * Spirit Core: Status Ailment duration reduction (30%)
 * Seireitei Bulletin (Special Edition): Massively increases EXP (50%)

5* Accessories (summon only)

Because Fusion is limited up to 4*, the following are only obtainable through summoning.


 * Gold Chappy Dispenser: All Stats increase, SP reduced to 0 (36%)
 * Gold Yuki Dispenser: SP and STA increase, FCS reduced to 0 (30%)
 * Gold Pupples Dispenser: ATK and STA increase, FCS reduced to 0 (30%)

Game modes

 * Story: A playthrough of the entire story of Bleach up to the Fullbring arc. With each completed quest, the story progresses. Each quest will use one Soul Ticket, and if the player uses all their Soul Tickets, they must wait until a certain amount of time passes or buy more with Spirit Orbs. During Story mode, temporary quests will appear that task the player to complete a specific objective.
 * Brave Battles: The player pits their three-character team against another player's team. The player can choose what characters to use and attributes to strengthen their characters with in order to gain the advantage, but otherwise the battle is completely automated. Winning battles will increase the player's score and allow them to be promoted from the seated officer class to lieutenant, and then to captain.
 * Co-Op Quests: The player can team up with one to three other players to complete cooperative challenges. They can join an existing room or create a new one. During challenges, players can set pre-existing chat phrases to communicate with the others.
 * Shop/Summon: Where the player can summon new characters and new accessories. Players can also purchase Spirit Orbs, Coins, Packs, Soul Tickets, EXP Boosters, Character Slots, and Accessory Slots with real money.
 * Edit: Where the player can edit their character teams and view character statistics. They can also augment their characters' strength in several ways: by performing an Ascension, which fuses the character with selected unused characters to gain EXP, by equipping them with accessories, or by linking them with other characters. There is also the Soul Tree, which has various stat boosts that can be bought with coins.
 * Inventory: The player can view their accessories, characters, and crystals, and can equip their characters with accessories.
 * Friends: The player can befriend other users in the game and view their game statistics. The player can also befriend others through social networks.
 * Orders: Where the player can view various achievements and collect rewards for completing them.
 * Gift Box: Where the player can collect gifts, Characters, Soul Tickets, and Friend Points for completing various objectives in the game.
 * Options: Where the player can alter various game settings and look at the help menu.
 * Chat: The player can chat online with other game players. Whilst a user is in play, they can then choose to switch rooms by clicking the change room button.
 * Login Bonus When a player logs into the game daily they will receive the following items: Soul Tickets, Coins, Spirit Orbs, rare medals, Medium stamina crystals, and tickets. After retrieving these items they will be sent to the Gift Box  where they can be collected.
 * Events When a player accesses the game, they can take part in various events where they can earn characters and various other things. Events can have Normal, Hard, Very Hard, or Nightmare modes. Usually harder modes give out better rewards.
 * Guilds Here a player can join, form, recruit, and view a group of like-minded online players. If a player is in a Guild, they will receive benefits such as coin discounts, increased PVP damage, etc. The player who host coops can also have access to a "Guild Call" button where they can summon guild members to help them in coop rooms. In addition, there is a new Guild Quest feature where players can compete with other players and guilds over a timed mob dungeon raid. The difficulty of the mobs will increase on every room, many room will have poison/fire/slow pools, and there will be several random Kon statues that will either give buffs or debuffs. At random, some guildmates will be summoned to assist the player in clearly the stage. Some rooms have a 'shortcut' trail where players can skip the current stage to move on to a much harder stage. Also certain criterias must be met for bonus points. In order to receive the highest score, the players must: 1) have a certain character from a select list of character pools, 2) clear the stage under 3 minutes, 3) take no damage from mobs or any status-ailment pools, 4) build a high uninterruptable combo, and 5) kill all mobs without skipping the rooms. The scores calcuated from Guild Quest will stack over time, and to be used to determine whether the guild gets promoted to the next league, usually at the end of the week. Each week, there will be two rounds of Guild Quest, each rounds will have a specific type of mobs as well as Attributes. Also bonus damage buff will be applied if the player meets a certain guideline of attack type, such as Attribute/Killer effects, melee or range attack, and normal or strong attacks. At the end of each week when guilds are evaluated, any players who participated in the Guild Quest will receive a "Treasure Box" reward containing a pool of select items determined by the guild's ranking.
 * Senkaimon Quests In other words, the game's "Tower Mode" content. Players fight through waves of mobs on each floor to earn various rewards, one being Senkaimon Medals, which can be used to purchase items such as characters and summoning tickets. Every floor has a rule or restriction, so the player must have a variety of characters to be able to successfully complete the Senkaimon. Certain floors will seal the character to prevent them from further use, unless another character is sealed on the same floor. For the top 46-50th floors, if the player completes each stage in under a minute, they will unlock 'Bonus Stages' which contain many unique challenges for certain characters. As of January 2019, after the player completes Floor 50 in Tower of Forging (Senkaimon Normal Mode), they will unlock a new difficulty called 'Tower of Ordeals'. The floors in this difficulty are significantly harder than the Tower of Forging's most challenging stages, and also contains a new 'Trap' mechanic where a character's specific attack type will be disabled throughout the given floor.
 * Epic Raid: a new 6-player coop mode where players must take down a huge boss. The setting consist of an unknown giant Colosseum with a huge stationary boss in the center. The mode is time-limited, but will only consume one Soul Ticket per participants if the boss is defeated. The players must defeat the boss (while it is performing various map-sized one-shot mechanics) before the time runs out, or the team loses. Also the boss fight is divided into 3 phases, with each phases the boss's attacks become more complex, faster, and more destructive. The player's team is given a specified number of revival according to the difficulty of the mode. In the Epic Raid prep room, the player can configure their characters the same way as Senkaimon Quest. Epic Raid is divided into five attributes: Mind, Heart, Power, Speed, and Tech, with three difficulties per stage: Very Hard, Nightmare, and Ultimate. As of April 2019, clearing the Epic Raid will reward the player a "pet" based on the featured boss of the Raid.

Trivia

 * In English versions of the game, several characters are listed with alternate spellings of their names, like Suì-Fēng and Yylfordt Granz.
 * The game also does not include the macrons in characters' names that distinguish the long vowels in the spelling.
 * Bleach: Brave Souls is the first Bleach game to have official licensing for character animation and voice acting for the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, as well as the post-manga novel series Can't Fear Your Own World. To celebrate this collaboration, select characters from the manga have been made playable in-game. However, due to manga rights licensing terms, only a small selection characters are available, and they appear as exclusive characters. This means they cannot be summoned from the Premium pool unlike other characters (excluding seasonals).
 * Bleach: Brave Souls is also the first Bleach game to feature official alternate universe characters created by the author Tite Kubo. These characters are created as commemorative promotion for the game's each anniversaries. As of 2019, there are currently five unique characters available: Fully-Mastered Hollowfied Ichigo (2nd Anniversary), Hōgyoku-Resurreccion Ulquiorra (JP 3rd Anniversary), Quincy Ichigo (Global NY Anniversary 2019), and Hōgyoku-Resurreccion Grimmjow and Nelliel (The Alternate Rebirth).

Reception
The game received mixed reviews, earning an average of 3.8 out of 5, from about sixteen thousand users, on the Google Play Store after the first week of its English release. Customers praised its gameplay, but criticized how the game was unable to be downloaded on rooted devices. According to the games official website, as of January 2019, Bleach: Brave Souls has been downloaded thirty-eight million times worldwide.