Going Hands-On With Attack on Titan 3 —Experiencing the Horror, Beginning to End
If you’re like me, when Attack on Titan had its initial anime run, you were waiting with bated breath, glued to what would happen week after week. Hajime Isayama’s idea — born from a drunken encounter at an internet café— took the entire globe by storm, becoming a horrific sensation since the first chapter was published. More recently, the last episode of the epic animated series has drawn to a close.
Following in the shadow of the first two titles from KOEI TECMO and Omega Force, Attack on Titan 3 has the entire narrative to contend with, and it delivers all the main events from the first episode, to when the scouts underwent training with ODM gear, down to the Rumbling epilogue. The first two titles, including the extended Attack on Titan 2: The Final Battle, only got past the events of season two.
So, when given the chance to establish myself as part of the Scout Regiment in Attack on Titan 3, I immediately signed up for exploration behind the walls. From my small two-hour playtime with Attack on Titan 3, it has become apparent that the new entry is becoming the definitive way to play through the entire storyline, and you get to do so as a member of the main cast.
Your created character can be shaped in many ways, down to feature sliders that give each dimension on your character’s head a unique look. I have never been good at the imposed playdough face creation in games (especially The Elder Scrolls or Elden Ring), so I usually select from the presets that are available. I chose the most out-of-place, mog-heavy, jaw-defined look there was, and it genuinely makes breathing during each scene a little easier. The main narrative of Attack on Titan 3 is hard to swallow (pun intended), so a character that reminds me of Zapp Brannigan from Futurama lightens the load.
After character creation, you realize your main protagonist is suffering from severe PTSD from how their previous mission failed, and due to this, you have war flashbacks every now and then that remind you of what’s at stake. This inserts your character behind the curtain further, allowing them to have a real backstory in the grand scheme of things. It also sucks the air out of the room and leaves the atmosphere as dense as the anime does.
Your character is a captain when the main cast is learning how to use ODM gear, so as a member of the Scout Regiment from Levi and Hange’s generation, you have more experience than Armin Arlert, Mikasa Ackerman and Eren Yaeger. You take the position of captain mentor and show them the ropes as an example. This also doubles as a tutorial in the opening chapters, and it sets the stage for what’s to come.
Just learning how to move through the atmosphere in Attack on Titan 3 feels incredible, and you can fly through the confines of the Walls with expert precision. By using functions, you can slide along the floor and create satisfying sparks showing your speed, and you can also do an airborne boost just like in the manga/anime.
“It makes you feel powerful and, more importantly, effective in the face of despair. Every movement in Attack on Titan 3 is upgraded and made more streamlined than the first two titles…”
While these functions were present in the second installment, Attack on Titan 3 advances movement to allow you to embrace your role as “chosen one” protagonist. Swinging through the atmosphere feels as good as swinging through New York City in Spider-Man 2; if nothing else clicks on release, traversal in Attack on Titan 3 is a blast.
This means you’re able to take pages out of the god-like character’s playbook, Captain Levi. While combatting titans in the opening segment, I was able to combo into them with many of his signature movements he deploys to absolutely butcher titans. It makes you feel powerful and, more importantly, effective in the face of despair. Every movement in Attack on Titan 3 is upgraded and made more streamlined than the first two titles, down to being able to target and combo Titans to drop them to their knees like the protagonists in the show.
After learning the ropes, I tested my mettle (and metal) against the real horror, the Abnormal Titans. These multi-stage enemies can really put you through the wringer, and they will glow a certain colour, letting the player know whether they can parry their attacks, dodge them, or if you should counter with your own strike. While that sounds like a mouthful, it amounts to similar reaction-based gameplay of boss fights in any action title. You read your opponent, react, then cut them down. Still, Attack on Titan 3 is a little more nuanced than that.
While swinging around a Titan (in this case, an Abnormal with a large health bar and longer arms), you can deploy tactics to open them up for attack. If you strike the same limb multiple times, the Titan can stagger and fall, opening the back of their neck for a nasty finish. Players are able to use Captain Levi’s iconic strike—the one where he takes down the Beast Titan—and dive bomb onto the back of their neck. While it’s a little complicated to pull off, once you get the hang of it, you’re as deadly as the captain himself. You can even deploy the Beyblade-like spinning move Mikasa and Levi do, so chances are if you’ve seen it in the anime, you can do it.
Unlike its predecessors, you can venture beyond the walls of Paradis Island in Attack on Titan 3, and while doing so, you can call a horse for help traversing the atmosphere. This is a godsend addition for when there is nothing to use ODM on, and walking across the continent wouldn’t be conducive to a good time. Attack on Titan 3 also adds a system similar to Fire Emblem: Three Houses. You can travel around the hub world of any chapter (it changes on location) to talk and strengthen relationships with cast members. While this system only showed its face during my playtime, you could end up getting some nifty new items and gear from allies, and if you strengthen bonds enough, the allies themselves can become playable.
After learning the ropes and seeing the new systems present in Attack on Titan 3, the demo skipped me forward to chapter nine, far beyond the narrative of Attack on Titan 2: The Final Battle, and into the Marleyan territory. This is where everything you learned comes together, and it feels better than ever.The mission required (for the first time in the series) my character to take out groups of standing humans.
This is genuinely difficult compared to Titan slaying, as they are smaller and harder to pin down than the massive flesh beasts trying to eat you. They can also shoot guns, which hurts badly. The Beyblade-like slicer move works brilliantly on the new enemy type, and mowing down a gaggle of them is as satisfying as mowing the lawn on a balmy Sunday afternoon. Where all learned skills come together is a boss fight on the streets of Marley, against the Warhammer Titan.
“Attack on Titan 3 is shaping up to be the definitive Attack on Titan gaming experience.”
This Attack on Titan 3 fight is a Herculean task, and rightfully so. Doing battle against the shifted Titan is a league of its own, and it has near-perfect defence for everything you throw at it. Against this boss fight, you need to deploy everything you’ve learned: ODM movement, parries, dodges, and even skill attacks to bring it down. After filling in the skill gauge, I was able to use a powerful tag-team skill with Mikasa (who was deployed on my team for the mission) to deal serious damage to the Warhammer’s health bar.
After focusing on its right leg as my main target (and failing to target its hands, which do too much damage), repeatedly combo-slashing the leg gave the same effect as a low kick in an MMA fight once it was compromised. After hacking at the compromised leg, it gave me numerous openings for damage, and hitting it showed true-pained animations. After staggering the Warhammer Titan, I unleashed a cascade of skills, evasions, parries, and dodges to deal more damage, and ultimately bring the entire thing down to a cutscene that occurs in the main narrative. What Attack on Titan 3 gets more than its predecessors is that it knows how to deploy one hell of a boss fight.
Attack on Titan 3 is shaping up to be the definitive Attack on Titan gaming experience. From what I’ve played (which is a small sample size) it also does a good job at authentically inserting your main character into the fabric of the Attack on Titan storyline, and it feels seamless in practice. As far as gameplay goes, moving around in ODM gear by itself is an absolute blast, and it’s some of the best-feeling movement in games. When everything is working in tandem, Attack on Titan 3 makes you feel part of the story, for newcomers and veterans alike, and it plays great too.
Attack on Titan 3 arrives on December 10, 2026, and when it does, this fan will relive the epic once more as a captain and not just a member of the audience.