Fantasy Strike is a 2D brawler with a diverse cast and deceptively simple controls that provide an intuitive experience while maintaining the precision and timing-based gameplay that create the rich depth and quality veterans of the genre have come to expect.Fantasy Strike is designed to be so "radically accessible" (without sacrificing depth of strategy) that even non-fighting-gamers can enjoy the genre. It's also a way to unite fighting gamers; when two friends each play a different traditional fighting game, it's tough for them to have a good match in either game, but they can both get up to speed in Fantasy Strike in minutes.
The secret to how Fantasy Strike works as both a deep tournament game for hardcore genre fans as well as an introduction to the genre for newcomers is that both ends of the spectrum benefit from the game’s extreme emphasis on strategy over difficult controls. Both types of players can enjoy its innovations in making fighting games more readable and understandable than ever before, which help everyone make the most informed strategy decisions they can.
These innovations include a unique feature never seen in any fighting game before: a visual display of “frame advantage.” These graphical effects communicate which player will recover first after every hit and in how much time. Fantasy Strike also goes the extra mile to get everyone thinking strategically by including, inside the game itself, in-depth tutorial videos for all ten characters narrated by game director David Sirlin.
Fantasy Strike offers: an Arcade Mode with illustrated narrative bookends, a Boss Rush Mode that allows players draft their own deck of powerups against progressively powerful opponents, and Ranked Mode with built-on-the-fly tournaments and 3-on-3 team battles designed to offer a variety of matchups while removing the concepts of counter-picks. It also includes four Survival modes, a once-per-day Daily Challenge Mode, and, of course, local and online Versus featuring best-in-class GGPO networking technology for a fast and responsive online experience.
“Online play is so important to fighting games that we’re trying to push the genre forward here,” said David Sirlin, game director, Fantasy Strike. “Part of that is on our technical implementation of networking which somehow allows me, in California, to play my friend in Tokyo and have it feel totally responsive and smooth. The other part is modernizing the genre conventions for user interface so it’s just a single click to challenge a friend online and a single click to watch any friend’s match. Come try it out with us on July 25.”
Currently available through Steam Early Access, Fantasy Strike will release for Nintendo Switch, PS4, PC, Mac, and Linux on July 25, 2019 for $29.99 USD / €32.99 / £28.99 / $46.99 AUD with support for English, French, Spanish, Norwegian, and Japanese language options at launch.
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