Game away with ‘Guilty Gear Strive’

“Guilty Gear Strive” is the newest entry in the longstanding fighting game franchise. Arc System Works has released its most polished product yet. Taking what they learned from “Dragon Ball Fighter Z” and “Guilty Gear Xrd,” Arc has honed the skill of 3d animation past any other developer. Strive effortlessly imitates the look and feel of the limited animation of anime while still using 3d models. The character models and backgrounds are gorgeous and a genuine leap forward for how video game characters can be designed.

The developers at Arc System Works are seasoned creators of fighting games. The “Guilty Gear” series has existed since 1998 and they’ve made a number of other unrelated fighting games like the “BlazBlue” series with their own sets of unique characters.

As developers focused on almost entirely the mechanics of fighting games, you can expect their most polished product yet with “Guilty Gear Strive.” The series is difficult for most people to pick up with its reputation for overly complex gameplay that’s not worth the effort it would take to play. 

But no more. Having a low-skill floor and high-skill ceiling allows for both casual and competitive play. The game has many deep and complex mechanics that make high-level play so amazing. At the same time, the easy-to-pick-up characters with unique fighting styles make this one of the most promising games of 2021, and with more content being added the value of this product can only go up.

The completely over-the-top nature of this game is one of its biggest selling points. Boasting likable characters with some of the most imaginative designs I’ve seen in a video game, such as a sci-fi katana wielding vampire, or a teenage pirate captain who fights alongside ocean creatures. The story can be hard to comprehend going in as this is the seventh game in the series but the charismatic characters are able to carry you all the way through the narrative.

Of all the fighting games I’ve played, “Guilty Gear Strive” has easily the best and most painless netcode. It’s very easy to find a match against someone on your level. Fighting games are notorious for poor connection online but Arc has put in the work to make it much more accessible than any other fighting game. If you want to support a game and studio that makes games with passion, then “Guilty Gear Strive” and Arc System Works is worth the support.