Soulcalibur VI is a new beginning of his eternally told story

the Soulcalibur the franchise needed either a hard reboot or a shot of adrenaline, and Soulcalibur VI is both. The last entry of the series of fighting games, available October 19, turns around for a reshuffle of the first Soulcalibur games, telling the stories of the main characters again and even putting everyone back in their original outfits.

Soulcalibur V was released six years ago and to this day, it has almost been forgotten. Between the controversial addition of a super meter and the reduced movement speed, SCV matches had a tendency to feel slow. The game's tournament scene began to run out of steam about a year after its release, as longtime pros like Kayane moved away due to disappointment with their design. Even for casual players, SCV had little to offer; her solo campaign lasted only a few hours and, strangely, she avoided stories about well-known characters in the series in favor of concentrating on two unpopular unknowns.

Soulcalibur VI reverse the course on most of that. No one had informed the multiplayer servers in the draft that I had received for review. So I can not tell you about the multiplayer mode, but I have good news for those who are disappointed with SCV. There is a ton of content for a single player, the speed of movement of the game is faster and new unusual mechanisms have been introduced into the game, which facilitates the response when you get hurt. Ironically, these new elements are meant to slow down the game and highlight its defensive options, but they serve to prevent the return to a slightly higher speed of travel and hopefully help new players to withdraw from the ring. as often.

There are two new types of important moves in SCVi: the edge of the backhand and the fatal blow. Once executed, both lead to a dramatic slowdown in animation. Each character can execute different lethal hits and the results are impressive and vivid, reminiscent of those Tekken 7The movements in slow motion. Obviously, Bandai Namco decided that idle fighting games looked cool, and that's not wrong.

It will take a bit of practice to know what movements a character can cause a successful slowdown of Lethal Hit, as well as the best time to do so. The inverted edge, on the other hand, is easy even for a total Soulcalibur novice. Just press a single button and it's a good defensive shot.

If you take a beating, you just have to press this button and, at the next shot, you and your opponent will enter the Reversal Edge sequence, a slow paper-stone-scissors battle. The vertical attack button will defeat your opponent when it hits the horizontal attack, the horizontal attack will defeat, and the shot will defeat its vertical attack. But it's more complicated than simple paper scissors, because there are more options than these three. Using the protection button or directional stick will further alter your potential results. So it's a more difficult situation like paper, scissors, dynamite. The Reversal Edge is a game of chance launched in the middle of a skill game. Built to be effective as a defense, it is a powerful potential tool in the Soulcalibur newcomer.

Another favorable change to the defense SCVi is that the Guard Impact movement, which is essentially a parade, does not cost any of your meter fees. You can still press the free lock button, but now there is no reason to no longer use Guard Impact blocks, which simply need to press the joystick and then lock. Your timing must be perfect, but since there is no cost to gauge and you should block anyway, it is your responsibility to practice the Impacts of the Guard. In its current form, Guard Impact may seem almost inexpensive. During the beta, I've seen some players complain that the seizure seemed less useful now that Guard Impacts does not cost anything to do. This may be spoiled later, but for now, it's worth it to practice and maintain a solid defense.

Overall, the execution of movements in Soulcalibur VI is simple, which is another check mark in the benefits column for newcomers. For example, Critical Edge, which represents the special stroke of each character, can now be performed by pressing a single button instead of a double quarter circle. Some movements, like Ivy's infamous Grab Summon Suffering, still have the same type of expensive inputs as they've always done, but overall, the game facilitates the performance of awesome moves and inflicts damage. Combinations also feel easier, built from simple modular building blocks that require a simple push of one or two buttons, or a double strike in one direction. Single entries encourage players to react according to the movements of their opponents and to stay fast. Dodging and defense is the name of the game.

Soulcalibur VI presents two new characters, Grøh and Azwel. The first is a swordsman wearing an eye patch who denies his evil side; The latter fights with a pair of enchanted gloves and cradles a dramatic villainous voice that would shame Skeletor's. There is also the guest character Geralt from The witcher; his fighting style and traditions seem to suit this magical medieval world. In other words, it makes a little more sense in a Soulcalibur game that Darth Vader did, but barely. Azwel is the wackiest of the new additions because fighting with enchanted gloves makes the whole disposition of his weapons different from all the other people previously introduced into the game. He could be the F.A.N.G. of this series, but I love the quirks, so I feel like it will be my new main.

Lizardman is not on the character selection screen. But do not worry, you can create your own lizard.

You want a story mode? Have two

Soulcalibur VI also comes back to all complaints about SCVDull single-player content by including two reporting campaigns. The first, titled Libra of Soul, uses Soulcalibur VICharacter customization options: you design your own fighter (man, lizardman, automaton, whatever) and select his weapons, his fighting style and his aesthetic. Libra of Soul is a role play that lasts several hours and contains an incredible number of dialogues. Most often, your artisanal protagonist explores medieval cities Soulcalibur pillars like Kilik, Maxi and the rest.

You make "moral choices", labeled in blue or red, depending on whether you want to do good or bad. So far, I've made the "right" choices, that is, the Balance of Souls icon at the bottom right of my screen has begun to swing in the blue direction. Between dialogue and occasional meetings with other celebrities Soulcalibur faces, the game brings me back to a map that will seem familiar to anyone who's played SCIIIChronic mode of the sword. The main difference is that Chronicles of the Sword took place in a different context with different characters, while the Soul Balance takes place in Soulcalibur gun.

Libra of Soul has many role-playing mechanisms to divide face-to-face combat. You collect food that can give you bonuses before battles, you can hire mercenaries to fight for you and your character also increases his power level over time. I do not know yet what the power level does, but I know that playing Libra of Soul has allowed me to upgrade my real brain by practicing different fighting styles. You can change the weapons, style and even body type of your character at any time. There is not much body diversity in this game beyond lean, skinny, and Lizardman, but I loved switching between Cervantes' double blade and Tira's wheel according to my whim.

I've been in Balance of Soul for several hours, but I'm still only in chapter 2. Until now, the story contains a lot of unnecessary jams, NPCs over-explaining their situation at each meeting, and tons of optional options. secondary quests. The sheer volume of the dialogue gives the impression of reacting to theSCV claim more content for a single player. I asked myself that myself when Soulcalibur V is out, so I'll accept my plate.

Two familiar faces will guide you in both the Balance of Soul and the other story mode: the old Edge Master that will teach you (and almost everyone in the game) how to beat you, and the reincarnated Zincalamel that has been presented late in Soulcalibur but was put retroactively at the beginning of this game. (It has always been there, you just have not noticed it or something.) Whenever you are confused, and even when you do not have it. are not, any one or the other of them will expose you on both swords – there is a good, a bad, and a lot of broken fragments of each – the event Evil Seed, and the so-called "astral cracks," which are opening up all over the world.

Although Libra of Soul is the first choice on the menu screen, the Soul Chronicle story mode would be a better starting point for a Soulcalibur newcomer. The Soul Chronicle's main quest series follows Kilik, telling his story of how the enchanted mirror he wears around his chest keeps him from giving in to his evil side, as well as to the childhood girlfriend that he really feels very bad about killing. Of course, she did the wrong thing, so he had no choice – and the same goes for all the unfortunate ones in the temple on that fatal night.

Kilik meets the clever pirate Maxi and the beautiful Xianghua, who happens to be the long-lost sister of this girl that he had to kill. You have already heard of it before, unless you have never done it. In this case, you are lucky. In addition to the main quest series, the 20 characters in the game (including Geralt, but not the first Tira downloadable character) each receive their own individual scenario of several chapters.

Playing through all Soul Chronicle will require you to play through multiple fights as each individual Soulcalibur character, which means that you will learn to play as everyone and against everyone. It will also deliver all the previous games exposure in a rational and rational format. There are too many proper names and dueling terms for the various swords in this franchise, but Soul Chronicle moved slowly enough that I finally know what treasures of the Ling Sheng-Su Temple do what, where and with whom.

There is virtually no animated 3D cinematics in this mode, but only 2D character expression paintings with text and dubbing. Having beaten all the chapters of Soul Chronicle, I think once again that I feel too much poked; a large number of possessed and interchangeable peasants are presented chapter by chapter, then die by the hands of the character. The interlocking fights are like scaffolding for the story that the voice actors are trying to tell, almost as if I were savoring a Ken Burns documentary about Soulcalibur but I continue to be interrupted by having to take my controller to fight another skeletal pirate.