Hardcore fighting game series Guilty Gear returns with new entry Guilty Gear -Strive-. Often considered by fans of the genre as the premier fighting game Guilty Gear aims at making itself more accessible to new players. And it does so in such a rare way that it doesn’t insult it’s dedicated fanbase by dumbing down the game.

Guilty Gear -Strive- is a 2021 fighting game, it is developed and published by Arc System Works. It is currently available on PC & Playstation consoles. The game is available now via Ultimate Edition with a public global release of June 11, 2021.

Editor’s Note: A Playstation review code for Guilty Gear -Strive- was provided by Arc System Works in support of this review. Spoilers for Guilty Gear -Strive-‘s story as well as a majority of the Guilty Gear mythos may be present within this review.

Join the stage in Guilty Gear -Strive- rookies welcome.

I’m not sure if I mentioned this or not in my preview or not, but I’ve never played any game in the Guilty Gear franchise before. Even with my above average love for fighting games I always seemed to avoid it despite always holding interest. My friends who play & the internet didn’t help by going into minimal & major details about how difficult it can be to get the hang of. That being said the charming art and presentation of the series never stopped my eyes from wondering at the product. Now Arc System Works intends on making entering the arena even easier than most fighters who have tried.

Guilty Gear Strive’s offers noob friendly gameplay without insulting it’s hardcore audience.

THE GOOD: So first let me just say that yes, getting into the Guilty Gear franchise is intimidating as hell. However, this can be said about virtually any fighting game that’s looking to have a professional playstyle over an arcade one. These same fighters have also had entries where they’ve claimed to be “for the ease of newcomers” and I’ve sat there playing more stuck than glue on paper. There’s also the issue of dumbing down the gameplay so much that it’s not challenging at all. I never really feel lost playing Guilty Gear -Strive- it’s very welcoming with the flash and control of flow with the combat. Not to say that it just completely escapes any sort of learning curve, but it definitely feels more chill with the learning than other fighters.

I’m gonna try hard not to spoil the story for ‘Strive’ as the franchise spans across twenty-four games and Strive itself only has about five hours of a story mode. This felt like it was done intentionally as a number of threads get closed during this story mode. I doubt Strive is the last game in the series. However, it does feel like the last of this arc that they’ve been building over the last several years. Going back to gameplay each fighter has different levels for different player experiences. I think this is one of the smarter ideas to help keep players feeling more comfortable with their individual paces. The arenas themselves look fine you call also do what’s called a “wall break” which when you slam your opponent into the wall enough times it breaks sending the two of you to the other side of the arena.

Strive replaces FighterZ as the definitive 2D fighting game.

THE BAD: If you want to have fun with any sort of online competitive play you’re going to have to practice. That’s probably the worst part of getting into any fighting game. Some are naturally more difficult to get the hang of than others, and yes Guilty Gear is apart of the “more difficult” bunch. However, I find learning and getting the hang of the controls and gameplay to be fairly rewarding in Strive like FighterZ before it. The lesser story mode could be a bit of a turn off for newcomers. Also this in no way effects my enjoyment of the game, but it would have been cool if the backgrounds for the arenas were a bit more animated with life. Like some kind of activity going on in the back would have been neat.

Even twenty-four games later Guilty Gear makes strides at genre defining gameplay.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Guilty Gear Strive is an absolutely fantastic fighting game. Whether you’re a veteran player or just popping your head in for a visit it welcomes players of all kind to battle. Arcsys was very careful in how they portrayed the final product and it pays off in a beautiful way. Even if you never play another Guilty Gear again I can’t recommend Strive enough as your first or last forray into the franchise.