Guilty Gear Strive delayed by two months following beta feedback
Extra time to polish the fighting game's multiplayer
Of all the fighting game series which have made the jump from 2D sprites to 3D, I still think Guilty Gear looks the best. We'll need to wait a while longer to admire the latest, as developers Arc System Works last night announced they've delayed the launch of Guilty Gear Strive by two months. Previously due April 9th, it's now expected June 11th. They say they want to act on feedback from the recent console-only open beta test.
"Since we have received valuable feedback after the recent Open Beta Test, we would like to make the most of this opportunity to provide the best game possible," Arc said in the announcement. "We need extra time to polish some aspects of the game, such as the online lobbies and the server's stability."
From what I watched of the beta on Twitch, yep, those were problems alright.
"We believe it best to use the extra time to improve the game's quality and provide a better experience to all our players," Arc noted. That is indeed sensible if they have the option.
Guilty Gear Strive (officially "-Strive-" but lol) is the first new main game in the gorgeous series since 2016. As well as fiddling with fighting in ways I'll not pretend to fully understand, it introduces new wall-break moves that can punch people into new sections of the stage. Fancy new 3D camera movements for big moves too. Look, I'm trash at fighting games, but I admire the hell out of Guilty Gear's look.
Guilty Gear Strive is coming to Steam on June 11th, priced at £55/€60/$60. It'll also be on PS4 and PS5.
If you too dig how Guilty Gear went 3D while keeping a 2D look, I recommend watching the excellent talk by Guilty Gear Xrd technical artist Junya C Motomura at the 2015 Game Developers Conference. Animating with distinct individual frames rather than animations smoothed out between keyframes is such a striking look.
