New Guilty Gear -STRIVE- hopes to be the best way to get into the series

Guilty Gear -STRIVE- is the upcoming installment to the Guilty Gear franchise, a fighting game based around crazy characters, complexity, and rock music.

This newest installment is looking to shake the game up in a significant way, hoping to make Guilty Gear -STRIVE- the best entrypoint the series has ever had. This latest trailer showed off Anji Mito, a fan wielding fighter who prefers to fight through a type of evasive dance.

Packed up my PS4 and stored it in my closet. I’ll bring it back out once Ys 9 and Guilty Gear Strive come out.

— Victor (@RionVic) December 29, 2020

Guilty Gear -STRIVE- will be the best entry to the series

Guilty Gear has a bit of a reputation in the fighting game community as being the kind of game that veteran fighting game players occasionally sink into, putting weeks of training into the game just to be able to play at a reasonable level.

The previous entry, Guilty Gear Xrd -REVALATOR- 2 (they all have crazy names like that) was considered a “toned down” version of the game and it still had more mechanics than some games have characters.

For Guilty Gear -STRIVE- a lot of the redundancy has reportedly been removed, leaving the game in a much simpler state that prevents players from being overwhelmed.

Another key feature to the series, its iconic pressure game (okizeme), has been significantly altered. This makes -STRIVE- much more based on each player’s neutral mechanics rather than a high-pressure mix-up game.

That’s a lot of information to basically say that even someone who has never played a fighting game, or only played a little, won’t have to worry about Guilty Gear -STRIVE- being inaccessible due to its incredible depth or overwhelming pace.

Still the same Guilty Gear

🥳 Somebody's looking forward to the New Year. 🎉#HappyNewYear! #2021#GuiltyGear #Sol pic.twitter.com/0qNSXL03cu

— ArcSystemWorks ➡️ #GuiltyGearStrive 04.09.21 (@ArcSystemWorksU) January 1, 2021

Despite the significant changes featured in Guilty Gear -STRIVE- the game still maintains a lot of core features iconic to the franchise. The sense of style and intensity, heavily inspired by some of the most famous rock bands the world over, is still present in both its aesthetic and mechanics.

Additionally, the amount of self expression available to players looks like it has been retained, with players each able to use the game’s mechanics to create their own unique playstyles.

Guilty Gear -STRIVE- is expected to release on April 6th of this year, barring any delays.