Guilty Gear -Strive-: Everything We Know

While not quite as mainstream as incumbent fighting game stalwarts, such as the ‘Street Fighter’ series and ‘Mortal Kombat‘, the ‘Guilty Gear’ series of 2D fighting games, is celebrated by hardcore fans for a number of reasons. It ranges from the games’ striking visuals, fine-tuned fighting mechanics, thumping soundtrack and the sheer variety of interesting characters on the fight roster.

In an era where games like ‘Mortal Kombat’ lure in players with the promise of ultra-realistic visuals, glamor, and gory fatalities, ‘Guilty Gear’ keeps things simpler by focusing on its resplendent 2D anime aesthetic, seamless combat mechanics and signature metal music that perfectly complements the action on the screen.

While 2015’s ‘Guilty Gear Xrd’ and the subsequent ‘Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2’ update are both highly rated, it is now nearing half a decade since we got the last major game in the series. A new installment in the series titled ‘Guilty Gear -Strive-’ has been in the works for a while now and a full release draws closer by the day. Read on to find out everything we know about the upcoming ‘Guilty Gear -Strive-’.

Guilty Gear Strive Gameplay: What to Expect?

The ‘Guilty Gear’ games are a series of (mostly) one vs one fighting games where the goal of each character is to deplete the opponent’s Health gauge until it is zero within a certain time limit. If neither character is able to do so, the one with more health at the end of the stipulated time period is declared the winner.

Combat involves numerous offensive and defensive maneuvers, and each character in the fight roster has a unique move set, along with individual strengths and weaknesses.

Sounds simple enough, but ‘Guilty Gear’ spices it up with a number of different fight mechanics including a “Tension” gauge, which allows the use of special “Overdrive” techniques. The Tension gauge fills every time you perform offensive maneuvers.

It also allows “Instant Kill” techniques, which are high risk, high reward moves that are difficult to pull off but can guarantee an instant win if you manage to do so. A new “Burst” gauge was also introduced later on, unlocking a “Psyche Burst” move that can halt the opponent’s offense completely.

Despite getting closer and closer to a release, not much is known about the upcoming ‘Guilty Gear -Strive-’ for now. However, series creator Daisuke Ishiwatari has revealed that the new game will be a very different experience from past installments in the series. In his own words, ‘Guilty Gear -Strive-’ is “a completely new Guilty Gear”. This also means that plenty of the characters from the beloved ‘Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2’ will not be returning in the new game.

Some of the characters from previous games in the franchise, who have been confirmed to be returning, include bounty hunter and series leading character Sol Badguy, his eternal rival, and the series’ second-leading character Ky Kiske, member of the Jellyfish Pirates May, the British time traveler Axl Low, Ninjutsu expert Chipp Zanuff, the former slave Potemkin, and the insane doctor Faust. Many of the characters will have redesigned models and new move sets including Faust, who looks to have gotten markedly more sinister.

Along with returning characters, we can also expect new characters to join the roster, one of which is the unnamed samurai shown in one of the trailers.

Of course, the trademark 2D cel-shaded anime art style of the series is sure to return in ‘Guilty Gear -Strive-’, as is a head thumping metal soundtrack.

Guilty Gear Strive Developers: Who Are the People Behind the Game?

‘Guilty Gear -Strive- is being developed and published by Yokohama based Japanese video game developer and publisher Arc System Works. The studio was founded by Minoru Kidooka in 1988, and is best known for 2D fighting games including the ‘Guilty Gear’ series and its spiritual successor ‘BlazBlue’, as well as the Persona themed ‘Persona 4 Arena’.

The ‘Guilty Gear’ series was created by African-Japanese video game developer, illustrator, musician, composer and voice actor Daisuke Ishiwatari. Ishiwatari is also helming the upcoming ‘Guilty Gear -Strive-’.

Guilty Gear Strive Release Date: When and Where Can I Play It?

While we do not have a concrete release date for ‘Guilty Gear -Strive-‘ yet, the game is expected to arrive sometime in late 2020. Before the full release, the game is set to go into closed beta in the spring of 2020.

Currently, ‘Guilty Gear -Strive-’ is set to launch exclusively on the PlayStation 4. However, given the fact that the previous ‘Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2’ is also available on PC (Microsoft Windows via Steam), there is still hope that ‘Guilty Gear -Strive-’ could arrive on PC sometime after the PlayStation 4 release.

Guilty Gear Strive Trailer:

You can watch the trailer for ‘Guilty Gear -Strive-‘ right here.

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