Kantai Collection (艦隊これくしょん Kantai Korekushon, lit. "Combined Fleet Collection"), abbreviated as KanColle (艦これ KanKore), is a Japanese free-to-play shipgirl-themed game developed by c2_kikan under Kadokawa Games and published by DMM. It is currently available exclusively in Japanese, though it has started to introduce some English-language graphical assets, and accessing the game for non-Japanese players requiring unconventional means.
Gameplay
Gameplay is centered upon building squadrons composed of individual characters represented as cards with different attributes, and then sending said squadrons out on missions. The player takes on the role of an Admiral (提督 teitoku) and organises their fleets in battle in order to win. Combat is largely automated, and manual actions by the player include micromanagement such as building and repairing.
Each of the characters are moe personifications of World War II naval warships, which are depicted as cute girls known as "ship girls" (艦娘, kanmusu). These personified warships are based on real life vessels which are explained in detail within the game; the physical characteristics, appearances and personalities of each of the girls correlate in some way to the real life vessel.
Originally, the roster of the shipgirls was designed to be limited to the IJN and major players of the Imperial Japanese Army, and its final mission being an attack on the base, akin to how World War 2 played out for Japan. Due to the game's popularity, it has since introduced shipgirls from other Axis nations and wartime rival factions, including ships from the U.S. Navy, the British Royal Navy and even the somewhat-neutral Swedish Navy.
As of early 2022, KanColle features ships from following navies: Imperial Japanese Navy, Imperial Japanese Army, Maritime Safety Agency/Japan Coast Guard, United States Navy, British Royal Navy, Royal Australian Navy, Dutch Koninklijke Marine, French Marine nationale, Italian Regia Marina, German Kriegsmarine, Военно-морской флот СССР, Swedish Svenska marinen, and Republic of China Navy. With the most numerous non-Japanese navies being United States Navy and Regia Marina.
Media
The game has developed into a much larger media franchise; various media including multiple manga series and light novels have been released, in addition to an officially licensed tabletop role-playing game. A PlayStation Vita game was released February 2016. A television anime adaptation aired Winter 2015, with a sequel season airing in 2022, and an anime movie was released in 2016. There is also a Japan only 3D arcade game Kancolle Arcade that was released in 2016.
History
The web browser game was launched on April 23, 2013, originally designed to run in Adobe Flash. An Android app version was released on August 1st, 2016. As of January 2015, the game had 2.5 million registered players. The game migrated to HTML5 prior to worldwide decommissioning of Adobe Flash in browsers.
