Wikipedia

Guilty Gear Strive

Guilty Gear Strive[a] 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.

Guilty Gear Strive
Cover art featuring Sol Badguy and Ky Kiske
Developer(s)Arc System Works
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Akira Katano
Designer(s)Daisuke Ishiwatari
Artist(s)Hidehiko Sakamura
Composer(s)Daisuke Ishiwatari
SeriesGuilty Gear
EngineUnreal Engine 4
Platform(s)
ReleasePS4, PS5, Windows
  • WW: June 11, 2021
Arcade
  • JP: July 29, 2021
Xbox One, Series X/S
  • WW: March 7, 2023
Genre(s)Fighting
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer
Arcade systemALL.Net P-ras MULTI Ver.3

Guilty Gear Strive received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its visuals, gameplay and netcode, and has sold over 2.5 million units as of August 2023.

Gameplay edit

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]

Synopsis edit

Main story edit

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 the Universal Will incident, the story begins when I-No breaks into former St. Maximus Ariels's prison at Illyria Castle to extract the mysterious Happy Chaos from her. Meanwhile, having surrendered to the United States government, That Man—or rather, Asuka R. Kreutz—requests to participate in the upcoming G4 Summit from within a safe room, intending to erase from the world the Tome of Origin and Sol Badguy. President Vernon and his staff agree to his involvement, while asking the other nations to help with security. As it turns out during Anji Mito's brief inspection on Asuka in person, with no hostility towards each other, there is another That Man besides Asuka, and is currently on the run at Illyria.

After a successful bounty run alongside Jack-O' Valentine, Sol heeds Ky Kiske's summons. Ky tells Sol about the I-No incident, the US request that he participate as a knight, and Asuka's part in G4; however, Sol decides to go on a vacation with Jack-O' to Iseo. But as they reach L'oro Di Illyria, Axl Low warns them that something bad will happen. Soon enough, Chaos releases Nagoriyuki (who reluctantly obeys Chaos) by destroying the building above. Axl saves the people inside, attracting I-No's attention; privately, she dares Axl to erase her, but Axl simply asks I-No to stop working with Chaos before leaving. I-No then lets herself be captured by Illyrian soldiers.

Suspicious of her, Sol notices Chaos' convertible and decides to pursue him. With Chipp Zanuff and Anji joining in the chase when they realize who Chaos is, Chaos uses Nagoriyuki to escape from them all, but not before introducing himself to Sol. Rattled by the encounter, Sol barges in Ky's interrogation of I-No, but she reveals nothing. Privately, Jack-O' tells Sol and Ky of I-No's origins, and her being incomplete. Sol immediately departs for G4 to keep Asuka's Tome safe, while Ky and Jack-O' remain behind to further interrogate I-No. After the summit starts, I-No opens up about her memories of "Will", and wonders if Jack-O' has a place for herself in the world. Ky then correctly surmises that there will trouble at G4 and, with Jack-O', departs aboard his airship.

The summit quickly turns for the worse when Chaos brainwashes all the guards inside the White House and takes the dignitaries hostage. Sol, though, rescues Vernon—the only one who can access Asuka's room. Evading guards as much as possible, Sol and Vernon make contact with Zepp, the Pentagon and Illyria Castle. Before they can escape, Chaos activates the White House's Tír na nÓg aircraft mode. Asuka thus determines that Chaos is, in fact, his former teacher (as well as I-No's missing half) and helps Sol from inside his room. Daryl, for his part, manages to convince Chaos to release them. Shortly, Chipp and Anji reveal that Chaos wreaked havoc in the Crusades under the title of "That Man", and warn everyone that they're on a time limit, for the White House is likely to be shot down when it reaches Old Mexico—just as Chaos wants.

While Potemkin halts the White House's advance, Asuka uses Sol and Vernon's arrival (made possible by Giovanna and Nagoriyuki, who lets himself be defeated) to trap Chaos in his PEOC safe room escape pod, allowing Sol to eject him. The allied forces thus gain control of the White House, ending the crisis. After Ky and Jack-O' arrive, Asuka announces that he will use Tír na nÓg to travel to the moon's colony to safeguard the Tome, but not before fighting Sol. In the end, Sol lets Asuka remove the divine seed within him. Unfortunately during a brief chat between Giovanna and Leo, Chaos' subterfuge is revealed: He disguised himself as a guard and used a body double. Revealing the real Tome to be fused with Asuka, Chaos uses it to restore I-No's godhood at his own expense.

I-No easily defeats everyone and uses the Tome to start a process that will grant humanity the same powers she has, and force evolution, likely killing their current world. Ky and Axl try to stop I-No, but Jack-O' intervenes, intending to sacrifice herself to turn I-No human; Sol, however, convinces her not to do it. Instead, while Ky and Axl distract I-No, Sol uses the Outrage to hit her weak point, which he learns thanks to Nagoriyuki coming to help. In her last moments, I-No finally understands who Axl is to her. In the aftermath, a state funeral is arranged for "Sol Badguy" the hero, creating something of an urban legend. Axl reunites with Megumi, who is I-No's last-second legacy. Sol, back to his birth name Frederick Bulsara, is now living with Jack-O' in Iseo and working on a rocket, presumably to travel to the moon, where Asuka now lives as a radio broadcaster. Elsewhere, Chaos is revealed to still be around, sitting on a bench in an unknown beach.

Another Story edit

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 twin 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 Ramlethal, 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 enlist 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 Kiske main family members (Ky, Dizzy and Sin) greet the people of Illyria during an official peaceful ceremony.

Characters edit

See also: List of Guilty Gear characters

Note: Bold denotes newcomers to the series

Base Roster Season Pass 1 Season Pass 2 Season Pass 3
* The symbol ♯ is pronounced as "kreuz", in German language.[17] There is an option to switch between Asuka R♯ and Asuka R. Kreutz in the game, which only change the characters' names and titles without changing any of the gameplay.

The game features fifteen playable characters in its base roster consists thirteen returning characters from previous installments, and two new characters: these are Nagoriyuki, a Nightless vampire samurai who can drain opponents of their blood to increase his attack power, and his sword can temporarily negate his opponent's immortality; and Giovanna, a special operations unit officer who is accompanied by her wolf spirit, Rei.

The game only has four confirmed DLC season passes, with the fourth season is currently in-development. Some of these characters first appeared in the story mode prior to becoming DLC characters. Currenty, the DLC roster consists nine returning characters from previous installments, and three new characters: these are Goldlewis Dickinson, an American secretary who fights with an alien-like partner who is inside a coffin dubbed "U.M.A"; the late Bedman's now sentient weaponized bed frame (dubbed "Bedman?"), who is accompanied by his surviving sister, Delilah; and the series' overreaching supporting protagonist Asuka R. Kreutz becomes a playable character for the first time ever.

Development edit

After a new installment in the Guilty Gear series was confirmed to be in development at EVO 2018 by Arc System Works,[18] 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.[19] Two days later, the game's main theme song, "Smell of the Game", was fully revealed as a promotional single.[20] The title Guilty Gear Strive was revealed in a trailer in November 2019.[21]

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.[22] 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 [...]".[23] 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.[24]

The game was delayed in May 2020 to an unspecified 2021 release date due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.[25] 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.[26] A second public beta was held during May 2021 to gather additional feedback.[27][28] During the public beta phase, the game's netcode was highly praised by players.[29]

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.[30][31]

Release edit

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.[32] "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.[33] 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.[34] 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.[35]

Post-launch support edit

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 Season Pass was announced as well, but no further details were given.[36][37][38]

  • The first Season Pass 1 fighter, released on July 27, 2021, is Goldlewis Dickinson, the right-hand man of U.S. President Colin Vernon E. Groubitz, who fights alongside an alien spirit-filled coffin codenamed "Area 51 U.M.A.". The second fighter, released on August 27, 2021, is Jack-O', who debuted in Xrd. The third fighter, released on November 30, 2021, is the overarching antagonist of the series who was formally introduced in Strive, Happy Chaos. The fourth fighter, released on January 28, 2022, is Baiken, who debuted in the original Guilty Gear and last appeared in Rev 2 as DLC fighter. The last fighter for Season Pass 1 was revealed to be Testament, whose last appearance was in X2, released on March 31, 2022.
  • The first Season Pass 2 fighter, announced on August 7, 2022, is Bridget, whose last appearance was in X2; the character was then released the day after on August 8, 2022. The second fighter, released on November 24, 2022, is Sin Kiske, who debuted in the fourth game Overture and last appeared in Xrd as DLC fighter. The third fighter, referred to as "Bedman?", is in fact Bedman’s sentient weaponized bed robot accompanied by his sister Delilah, and was released on April 6, 2023. The fourth and final fighter, Asuka R. Kreutz, the former series antagonist, was released on May 25, 2023, with his decoy clone, Asuka R♯, appearing as his default color palette.[39]
  • In the 2023 Arc World Tour Finals, the developers also confirmed that the third Season Pass has been in development.[38] Later, at EVO 2023 on August 7, 2023, the first Season Pass 3 fighter, Johnny was announced; the character was released on August 24, 2023. The second fighter, Elphelt Valentine was announced at The Game Awards 2023 on December 7, 2023; she was released a day later on December 8, 2023. The third character, A.B.A, is set for release on March 26, 2024.[15] The fourth and final Season Pass 3 character was announced at the 2024 Arc World Tour finals,[40] and was later confirmed to be Slayer, set to be released on May 30th, 2024.[41]
  • During the 2024 Arc World Tour Finals, it was also announced that a fourth Season Pass was in development.[40]

Reception edit

Guilty Gear Strive received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[42][43][44] 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[51] and Fighting Game of the Year at the 25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards.[52]

Sales edit

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.[53]

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.[54]

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.[55][56]

Notes edit

  1. ^ Japanese: ギルティギア ストライヴ, Hepburn: Giruti Gia Sutoraivu, stylized as GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE-

References edit

  1. ^ McWhertor, Michael (August 9, 2019). "Guilty Gear director calls 2020 sequel 'a complete reconstruction of the franchise'". Polygon. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  2. ^ O'Connor, Alice (March 4, 2021). "Guilty Gear Strive delayed by two months following beta feedback". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  3. ^ Ramsey, Robert (February 26, 2021). "Hands On: Guilty Gear Strive Is Shaping Up to Be the Next Great Fighting Game". Push Square. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  4. ^ Guilty Gear -Strive- Release Date Announcement Trailer [English], retrieved 2021-05-31
  5. ^ Guilty Gear -Strive- Season Pass 1 Playable Character #2 Trailer [English], retrieved 2021-08-15
  6. ^ Guilty Gear -Strive- Season Pass 1 Playable Character #3 Trailer [English], retrieved 2021-11-14
  7. ^ "Guilty Gear: Strive DLC character Baiken announced". 6 December 2021.
  8. ^ Guilty Gear -Strive- Season Pass 1 Playable Character #5 Trailer [English], retrieved 2022-03-20
  9. ^ Guilty Gear -Strive- Season Pass 2 Playable Character #1 Trailer, retrieved 2022-08-08
  10. ^ "Guilty Gear -Strive- Season Pass 2 Playable Character #2 Trailer". YouTube. Nov 21, 2022. Retrieved Mar 27, 2024.
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  12. ^ "Guilty Gear -Strive- Season Pass 2 Playable Character #4 [Asuka R♯] Trailer". YouTube. August 22, 2022. Retrieved Mar 27, 2024.
  13. ^ "Guilty Gear -Strive- Season Pass 3 Playable Character #1 [Johnny] Trailer". YouTube. Aug 6, 2023. Retrieved Mar 27, 2024.
  14. ^ "Guilty Gear -Strive- Season Pass 3 Playable Character #2 [Elphelt] Trailer". YouTube. Dec 7, 2023. Retrieved Mar 27, 2024.
  15. ^ a b "Guilty Gear -Strive- Season Pass 3 Playable Character #3 [A.B.A] Trailer". YouTube. Mar 20, 2024. Retrieved Mar 27, 2024.
  16. ^ Guilty Gear -Strive- Season Pass 3 Playable Character #4 [Slayer] Trailer. Retrieved 2024-04-29 – via www.youtube.com.
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  26. ^ Prescott, Shaun (March 4, 2021). "Gorgeous anime fighter Guilty Gear Strive delayed due to reviled lobby system". PC Gamer. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
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  29. ^ Oloman, Jordan (February 17, 2021). "The Fighting Game Community Is Very Impressed With Guilty Gear Strive's Netcode". IGN. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  30. ^ "アーケード版稼働時期変更のお知らせ". Guilty Gear Strive (in Japanese). Retrieved 4 June 2021.
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  32. ^ 杉浦 諒 (July 29, 2021). "アーケード版「Guilty Gear -Strive-」が本日より，APM3設置店舗で稼働開始". 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). Retrieved March 23, 2022.
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  34. ^ Phillips, Tom (March 21, 2022). "Guilty Gear Strive getting second character pass and crossplay". Eurogamer. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
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  38. ^ a b arcsystemworks (March 12, 2023). [ARC WORLD TOUR FINALS 2022] Kōshiki Nihongo Haishin 【ARC WORLD TOUR FINALS 2022】公式日本語配信 [[ARC WORLD TOUR FINALS 2022] Official Japanese Distribution] (Live stream record). Arc System Works. Event occurs at 8:34:05. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
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  40. ^ a b @tvfgc (March 24, 2024). "Announced Guilty Gear Strive Season 4 in development and a possible Slayer tease!!" (Tweet). Retrieved 2024-03-24 – via Twitter.
  41. ^ @ArcSystemWorksU (April 29, 2024). "The Laid-back and Dignified Vampire, Slayer Is Your Next Daredevil! He will make his return in Guilty Gear -Strive- on May 30th as the last character of Season 3! #GGST #Slayer" (Tweet). Retrieved 2024-04-29 – via Twitter.
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  52. ^ "2022 Awards Category Details Fighting Game of the Year". Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  53. ^ Romano, Sal (June 17, 2021). "Famitsu Sales: 6/7/21 – 6/13/21 [Update]". Gematsu. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  54. ^ "As Guilty Gear Strive punches through 300k sold, dataminer unearths potential DLC characters list". Eurogamer. 15 June 2021.
  55. ^ "Guilty Gear Strive Smashes Through 500,000 Sales, First DLC Character Revealed Next Week". 16 July 2021.
  56. ^ "Bridget Comes Back To Guilty Gear As Strive Hits 1 Million Copies Sold". DualShockers. 2022-08-08. Retrieved 2022-08-08.

External links edit

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