Guilty Gear Strive | |
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Developer(s) | Arc System Works |
Publisher(s) | |
Director(s) | Akira Katano |
Designer(s) | Daisuke Ishiwatari |
Artist(s) | Hidehiko Sakamura |
Composer(s) | Daisuke Ishiwatari |
Series | Guilty Gear |
Engine | Unreal Engine 4 |
Platform(s) | |
Release | PS4, PS5, Windows
|
Genre(s) | Fighting |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Arcade system | ALL.Net P-ras MULTI Ver.3 |
Guilty Gear Strive [lower-alpha 1] (stylized as GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE-) is a fighting video game developed and published by Arc System Works. It is the seventh mainline installment of the Guilty Gear series, and the 25th overall. The game was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Windows in June 2021, for Japanese arcades in July 2021, and for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in March 2023, with a Nintendo Switch port scheduled for a January 2025 release.
Guilty Gear Strive received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its visuals, gameplay and netcode, and has sold over 3 million copies as of July 2024.
Intended as a "complete reconstruction of the franchise", Guilty Gear Strive retains the core essence of the series but revamps many features and mechanics, except for the removal of the series’ signature mechanic, the Instant Kill. [1] It introduces the "Wall Break" feature, which allows for stage transitions when a combo is initiated in the corner of the arena. [2]
The story continues after the events of Guilty Gear Xrd . [3] It is the conclusion of Sol Badguy's story (A.K.A. The Gear Hunters Saga), set in Washington, D.C., featuring his final confrontation with That Man, Asuka R. Kreutz.
Three weeks after former Sanctus Populi Ariels is defeated, I-No frees the powerful magic-user Happy Chaos from her body. Asuka turns himself in to U.S. president Colin Vernon E. Groubitz, intending to join the White House's G4 peace summit from a holding cell and ask the other nations for assistance in ridding the world of the Tome of Origin and Sol Badguy. The world's leaders fear an attack from I-No and hire knights from each country, including Sol Badguy, now the world's renowned Gear hero who remains a bounty hunter. Sol and his lover, Jack-O', plan to refuse, but accept after noting Ariels' warning about I-No and Chaos' plot. After releasing and brainwashing the samurai Nagoriyuki, I-No surrenders herself to the Illyria police, convincing the world that it is safe to hold the summit. However, Sol and Jack-O notice something wrong and attempt to capture Chaos, but realize that Chaos created weapons using materials from Nagoriyuki's blade, which can kill Gears and other immortal beings. During an interrogation, I-No claims to remember a kind blonde man from her past. In private, Jack-O' reveals to Sol and Ky Kiske that I-No is "incomplete" and must join with her other half to achieve godhood. She suggests sacrificing herself to turn I-No into a regular human, but Sol refuses.
Realizing something will happen at G4, Sol leaves for the U.S. with the third Illyrian King Daryl, while Milla Rage and Zato-1 are enlisted by Daryl to aid the second Illyrian King Leo Whitefang's investigation. During the summit, Chaos brainwashes the White House guards and holds the dignitaries hostage, though Sol and Vernon, the only ones who can open Asuka's cell, manage to escape and request reinforcements from Zepp and Illyria. After Chaos activates the White House's aircraft mode, "Tír na nÓg", Asuka realizes Chaos is "the original," the man responsible for bringing magic to the world and Asuka's former teacher. After learning what Chaos will do with the Tome, Daryl manages to convince the fallen sorcerer to release him and the rest of the dignitaries barring Vernon, Sol, and Asuka, including surviving agent Giovanna. Chipp Zanuff and Anji Mito sneak into the Department of Defense to confirm their allies of Chaos' other identity as another That Man, and the true culprit who had orchestrated the ongoing Crusades. They theorize Chaos intends to fly the White House into Mexico, where it will be shot down, so Chaos can dig the Tome out of the ashes. Sol confronts Nagoriyuki in an attempt to learn Chaos' weakness, but Nagoriyuki lets himself be defeated to free himself from Chaos' control. Asuka tricks Chaos into locking himself in an escape pod and ejecting onto the Earth below.
Ky and Jack-O' arrive at the White House, where Asuka explains he intends to take the Tome and spend the rest of his life on the moon. Asuka reveals he planned to remove the Flame of Corruption from Sol's body, allowing Sol to live a normal life as "Frederick Bulsara", and reconcile their friendship. Soldiers on the ground find that the "Chaos" in the escape pod is a brainwashed guard, and the real Chaos is still on the ship. Chaos steals the real Tome from Asuka's body and uses it to fuse with I-No, granting her godhood. I-No defeats the heroes and announces her intent to share her powers with the world, likely destroying it. Jack-O' attempts to sacrifice herself to stop I-No, butAria's spirit convinces her to live for herself. Ky and Axl Low distract I-No while Vernon and Sol use the pack of Spiritas 48 from White House's president room to strengthen his Outrage sword into a laser cannon. Nagoriyuki reveals Chaos' true weakness is on his right palm and helps Sol land the shot, mortally wounding I-No. In her last moments, I-No realizes Axl was the blonde man from her past and dies happy.
In the aftermath, "Sol" is given a funeral, having retired as a scientist under his original name, Frederick. He lives with Jack-O' and works on a rocket to visit Asuka, who now hosts a radio show. Axl reunites with Megumi, his lover from the past and I-No's alternate past-self, implied to have received time travel abilities from her fallen future counterpart. In a post-credits scene, Chaos appears alone on an unknown beach.
While the incident in America triggered by Asuka R. Kreutz’s surrender unfolds, Ramlethal Valentine, now a Special Brigade Commander of Illyria heads to the outskirts of the country after receiving a report of an emergency. There she finds a girl who closely resembles the late Bedman, who once worked with the possessed Universal Will/Ariels against mankind. That girl is Delilah, Bedman's sister who woke up after the death of her brother, now seeking to avenge her late brother by killing Happy Chaos. As a one-eyed and one-armed samurai woman named Baiken learned from Anji and Chipp about who Happy Chaos was, including his involvement on murdering her family, she was entrusted to look over Delilah by Anji, much to her dismay. However, the young girl ran away from Baiken, when Chaos activated "Tír na nÓg" during his invasion there.
While Baiken got an unexpected reinforcement from Sin Kiske, the son of Ky Kiske and Dizzy, is now a knight of Illyria who accompanies Ramlethal on her mission while still retaining his royal status because of his parents’ current reputations. Baiken, Sin and Ramlethal enlists Faust, May and April to assist them stopping Delilah from endangering herself, because her power is unstable and would turn her into a suicide bomber. With the help of Bedman, whose soul now lives in his weaponized bed, Faust is able to administer a cure to permanently negate Delilah’s self destruct power at the cost of finally sacrificing Bedman and weakening Faust.
Sometime after the White House incident ended, the G4 World Peace summit succeeds and Delilah is cured. The main Kiske family members (Ky, Dizzy and Sin) greets the people of Illyria during an official peaceful ceremony.
Characters listed in bold are new to the series, while guest characters are marked in italics.
Base Roster | Season Pass 1 | Season Pass 2 | Season Pass 3 | Season Pass 4 |
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The game features fifteen playable characters in its base roster, consisting of 13 returning characters from previous installments, and two new characters: Nagoriyuki, a Nightless vampire samurai who can drain opponents of their blood to increase his attack power; and Giovanna, a special operations unit officer who is accompanied by her wolf spirit, Rei.
New characters have been released as downloadable content via multiple season passes; three seasons of content are currently available, with a fourth season in development. Some of these characters first appeared in the story mode prior to becoming DLC characters. Currently, the DLC roster consists of 11 returning characters from previous installments, and five new characters: Goldlewis Dickinson, an American secretary who fights with an alien-like partner who is inside a coffin dubbed "U.M.A"; Happy Chaos, the overarching series antagonist; the late Bedman's now sentient weaponized bed frame (dubbed "Bedman?"), who is accompanied by his surviving sister, Delilah; Asuka R. Kreutz, a recurring non-player character from previous games; and Unika, a character from the forthcoming Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers anime series. Strive's DLC also adds the series' first guest character, Lucy Kushinada from the anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners . [18]
After a new installment in the Guilty Gear series was confirmed to be in development at EVO 2018 by Arc System Works, [19] the game had its worldwide reveal and announcement trailer under the working title New Guilty Gear, showcasing the new Unreal Engine 4 graphics and Wall Break mechanic in EVO 2019. [20] Two days later, the game's main theme song, "Smell of the Game", was fully revealed as a promotional single. [21] The title Guilty Gear Strive was revealed in a trailer in November 2019. [22]
According to director Akira Katano, the team aimed to appeal to more players by making the gameplay of Strive easier to comprehend compared to previous Guilty Gear games, instead of making it easier. He reasoned that with many fighting games, spectators and casual players would have a hard time understanding higher level play and lose interest in watching or improving. [23] Unlike other entries, detailed explanations of the game's mechanics are absent from the game's tutorial as to "[...] show new players that it is possible to enjoy fighting games without knowing about the battle mechanics [...]". [24] The game's network play also does not include a Ranked Mode, a gameplay mode in videogames that match players based on their skill level, measured by matches won, as to not force players to constantly improve against more skilled opponents and to play at their own pace. [25]
The game was delayed in May 2020 to an unspecified 2021 release date due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. [26] After its first public beta went live during February 2021, the game was delayed from April 9, 2021, to June 11, with the development team citing adjustments to certain aspects of the game based on fan feedback for the reason behind its second delay. [27] A second public beta was held during May 2021 to gather additional feedback. [28] [29] During the public beta phase, the game's netcode was highly praised by players. [30]
The game was initially planned to be available at Japanese arcades on the same day as the home versions. In June 2021, Arc System Works has announced that the arcade release would be delayed, as testing the game on store locations proved difficult during the COVID-19 pandemic. [31] [32]
Guilty Gear Strive released for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Microsoft Windows on June 11, 2021. It was also distributed via Sega to Japanese arcades on July 29, 2021. [33] "Limited Edition" and "Ultimate Edition" editions were made available for pre-order; console players who get the latter received early access to the full game on June 8, 2021. [34] Cross-platform play was only supported between the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions at launch. Cross-play with the Windows version is set to be added as an update alongside the Season Pass 2. [35] Ver. 1.05 added Korean voices, marking the 3rd game in the franchise to have a Korean dub, alongside Guilty Gear X Plus and Guilty Gear X2 #Reload. Versions for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S were announced at Tokyo Game Show 2022, and were released on March 7, 2023. [36] A port for Nintendo Switch was announced in August 2024 at PAX West, and is scheduled for release on January 23, 2025. [37]
More characters are planned for release as downloadable content, with five announced for Season Pass 1 on June 6, 2021, and four announced for Season Pass 2 on August 7, 2022. A third and fourth season pass were also announced. [38] [39] [40]
Aggregator | Score |
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Metacritic | PC: 84/100 [44] PS4: 84/100 [45] PS5: 87/100 [46] |
Publication | Score |
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Destructoid | 8.5/10 [47] |
Eurogamer | Recommended [48] |
Famitsu | 34/40 [49] |
GameSpot | 8/10 [50] |
IGN | 9/10 [51] |
Jeuxvideo.com | 16/20 |
Push Square | [52] |
Guilty Gear Strive received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. [44] [45] [46] IGN said "Guilty Gear Strive is a milestone 2D fighting game that raises the bar for anime-like fighters in terms of its visuals, online netcode, and sheer creativity found in all aspects of its design." GameSpot said "If you're up for a challenge, or just want a cool, sharp-looking fighting game to mess around with, Strive knows all the right moves."
Guilty Gear Strive won awards for Best Fighting Game at The Game Awards 2021 [53] and Fighting Game of the Year at the 25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. [54]
The PlayStation 4 version of Guilty Gear: Strive sold 11,722 physical copies during its first week of release in Japan, making it the eighth bestselling retail game of the week in the country. During the same week, the PlayStation 5 version was the twenty-second bestselling retail game in Japan, with 3,547 physical copies being sold. [55]
The game entered the UK physical charts at number 26. On Steam, the number of concurrent players reached a peak of 30,939, surpassing both Street Fighter V and Tekken 7 . [56]
The game sold 500,000 copies as of July 2021 and has sold one million copies as of August 2022, becoming the best-selling title of the franchise. As of July 2024, it has sold more than 3 million copies. [57] [58] [59]
Guilty Gear Strive:Dual Rulers | |
Created by | Arc System Works |
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Anime television series | |
Directed by | Shigeru Morikawa |
Produced by | Seiji Mizushima (associate producer) |
Written by | Norimitsu Kaihō |
Studio | Sanzigen |
Licensed by | |
Original network | ANN (TV Asahi) |
Original run | 2025 – scheduled |
A sequel-based anime television series adaptation titled Guilty Gear Strive:Dual Rulers was announced on June 14,2024. The series is produced by Sanzigen and directed by Shigeru Morikawa,with Seiji Mizushima serving as associate producer and Norimitsu Kaihō overseeing and writing series scripts. It takes place after the game's two storylines. [60] It is set to premiere in 2025. [61]
The main titles of the Street Fighter fighting game series have introduced a varied cast of 87 characters from the main series, and 34 from several spin-offs, for a total of 121 playable characters who originate from 24 countries, each with his or her unique fighting style. This is a list of playable characters and non-playable opponents from the whole franchise. They are categorized based on the game in which they first became playable, including the original Street Fighter game, the Street Fighter II series, the Street Fighter Alpha series, the Street Fighter III series, the Street Fighter IV series, Street Fighter V, Street Fighter 6 and other related games.
This is a list of characters from the Guilty Gear fighting game series.
Dizzy is a character in Arc System Works' Guilty Gear fighting game series. Created by Daisuke Ishiwatari and first appearing in the 2000 video game Guilty Gear X, she acts as the game's final boss. Designed to resemble an angel, Ishiwatari wanted to illustrate the contrast of a character feared for her abilities despite her appearance. Her wings Necro and Undine have distinct personalities, attacking on her behalf due to her nature of hating conflict. Since her initial appearance she has returned as a playable character in most subsequent Guilty Gear series titles, as well as several mobile games and the ecchi game Queen's Gate: Spiral Chaos. In all appearances, she is voiced by Kazue Fujita, with Kira Buckland providing her English voice for Guilty Gear Strive.
Bridget is a fictional character in Arc System Works's Guilty Gear video game series. Bridget first appeared in the 2002 video game Guilty Gear X2. In the series, Bridget was born male with a twin brother in a village where the birth of same-sex twins is considered bad luck; therefore, Bridget's parents named and raised Bridget as a girl to hide her identity, despite how much it pained them. In her youth, Bridget recognized their pain and set out to be a man and gain great wealth in order to disprove the superstition and to make her parents happy. After disproving the superstition, Bridget found that being a man did not make her happy, and realized that her true self was her desire to live as a woman in accordance with her gender identity.
I-No is a character in Arc System Works' Guilty Gear fighting game series. Created by Daisuke Ishiwatari and first appearing in the 2002 video game Guilty Gear X2, she was originally conceived as a replacement for previous character Justice in the title, and a combination of a wizard and a musician. Ishiwatari designed her to be "the ultimate erotic character", making her cruel and sexually aggressive, while basing her physical appearance on musician Ringo Sheena. In the game's setting, she is a minion of series villain Asuka R. Kreutz, though works towards her own goals, and often manipulates the other fighters against each other. Since her initial appearance, she has since gone on to appear as a playable character in most Guilty Gear series titles, as well as several mobile games. She is voiced in Japanese by Kikuko Inoue, and by Amber Lee Connors in the English localization of Guilty Gear Strive.
Baiken is a character in Arc System Works' Guilty Gear fighting game series. Created by Daisuke Ishiwatari and first appearing in the 1998 video game Guilty Gear, Baiken was originally depicted as being male, before being changed to female tomboy to give her more impact as a character. While she was an optional boss in the first game, she has since appeared as a fully playable character in every entry since. The survivor of an attack upon Japan that cost her her family, an eye, and her right arm, Baiken seeks revenge against the man responsible. Dressed in a kimono and wielding a katana, she has a grappling hook concealed in her right sleeve, and fights by parrying her opponent's attacks. Over the course of the series she has been voiced by Satomi Koorogi, Miho Sudou, Yonemoto Chizu, Mayumi Asano, and Patty Mattson.
Guilty Gear is a 2D fighting video game developed by Team Neo Blood, an Arc System Works production group led by Daisuke Ishiwatari, and published by Arc System Works. First released on May 14, 1998, for the PlayStation, it is the first installment in the series of the same name. Set in a world destroyed by a war between humans and bio-organic weapons called Gears, it follows ten fighters as they enter a tournament held to prevent resurrection of the Gears' leader. Its gameplay consists of one-on-one fights, a four-button attack configuration featuring special moves and instant kill techniques, as well as three different playable modes.
Them's Fightin' Herds is an indie fighting game developed by Mane6 and published by Modus Games. It features a cast of ungulate characters fighting each other to find a champion worthy of gaining a magical key that will protect their world from predators. First released into early access in February 2018, the full release was on April 30, 2020 for Microsoft Windows, followed by Linux on March 25, 2021 and a beta macOS version was added on October 27, 2021. The game was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on October 18, 2022.
Final Fight is a series of beat 'em up video games by Japanese publisher Capcom, which began with the arcade release of Final Fight in 1989. Set in the fictional Metro City, within the Street Fighter universe, the games focus on a group of heroic vigilantes who fight against the control and various threats of criminal gangs, primarily the Mad Gear Gang. The series has sold 3.2 million units worldwide as of June 30, 2023.
Guilty Gear is a series of fighting games by Arc System Works, created and designed by artist Daisuke Ishiwatari. The first game was published in 1998, and has spawned several sequels. It has also adapted to other media such as manga and drama CD. Guilty Gear has generally received praise from video game reviewers for its highly technical gameplay, graphics, soundtrack, and for its characters. Another fighting game franchise by Arc System Works, BlazBlue, is considered a spiritual successor of the series.
Guilty Gear Xrd is a fighting video game sub-series by Arc System Works and part of the Guilty Gear series. Guilty Gear Xrd was developed using Unreal Engine 3, with cel-shaded graphics in place of the series traditional hand drawn sprites. Following the storyline of the last game in the series, Guilty Gear 2: Overture, it introduced seven new characters.
Dragon Ball FighterZ is a 2.5D fighting game co-developed by Arc System Works and Ecole Software and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Based on the Dragon Ball franchise, it was released for the PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, in most regions in January 2018, and in Japan the following month, and was released worldwide for the Nintendo Switch in September 2018. Versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S were released in February 2024 alongside an update adding rollback netcode for these versions and Windows.
BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle is a 2D crossover fighting game developed and published by Arc System Works, first released for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Windows in 2018. Cross Tag Battle features characters from different series, including BlazBlue, Persona 4 Arena, Under Night In-Birth, and RWBY. After the game was released, characters from Arcana Heart, Senran Kagura, and Akatsuki Blitzkampf were added as downloadable content. An arcade port was released in 2019 in Japan, a version for Amazon Luna was made available in 2021, and the Special Edition with all post-launch content was released for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in 2023. The game received mostly positive reviews, with praise for the visuals, music, online functionality and mechanics. However, it was criticised for lack of overall content at launch and DLC practices.
The 2018 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on August 3 to 5 as part of the long-running Evolution Championship Series. The event offered tournaments for various video games, including Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Dragon Ball FighterZ. Over 10,000 people registered for the event with Dragon Ball FighterZ receiving the most entrants.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is an action role-playing game developed by CyberConnect2 and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, based on the Dragon Ball franchise. It was released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows in January 2020, Nintendo Switch in September 2021, Stadia in October 2021, PlayStation 5 in January 2023, and Xbox Series X/S in February 2023. The game follows the main protagonist Goku and the Z-Fighters throughout the events of the Dragon Ball Z anime, including anime-original storylines and moments.
Melty Blood: Type Lumina is a 2021 2D fighting video game released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows and Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth installment in the Melty Blood series and the first main game since Melty Blood Actress Again (2008). It was developed by French-Bread with assistance from Tamsoft and GameLoop, and was published by Lasengle, Aniplex’s video game division originally belonged to Delightworks.
MultiVersus (MVS) is a free-to-play crossover fighting game developed by Player First Games and published by Warner Bros. Games for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. A platform fighter, the game features content from Warner Bros. franchises, including Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo, Game of Thrones, the DC Universe, and Cartoon Network franchises. Officially announced in November 2021 following online rumors and leaks, early access and open beta versions of the game ran from July 2022 to June 2023. The game was fully released on May 28, 2024.
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Testament (テスタメント) is a fictional character in the Guilty Gear franchise. They first appeared in the first game in the series, Guilty Gear, as a non-playable boss character, before later appearing in Guilty Gear X and Guilty Gear XX as a playable character. They did not appear in any other Guilty Gear games until Guilty Gear Strive. They originally appeared as an androgynous male character, before being identified as agender in Guilty Gear Strive, though an earlier interview with series creator Daisuke Ishiwatari noted that they "transcended human existence" and becoming non-binary when becoming a Gear. They were originally voiced by Takami Akkun in the first Guilty Gear, before being voiced by Katsuaki Kobayashi in Guilty Gear X and XX. For Guilty Gear Strive, they were voiced by Yū Kobayashi and Kayleigh McKee in Japanese and English respectively, the latter receiving positive reception due to being a transgender actress voicing Testament.