As controversy swamps Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6, Guilty Gear Strive just announced a massive new update

Arc System Works has announced a flashy major update for its long-running fighting game Guilty Gear Strive, overhauling the game and adding a new selection of characters. All the while, Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 seem to be struggling, courtesy of recent patches.

Guilty Gear Strive 2.0 – the name for this fresh start – was detailed as part of the Arc World Tour finals in South Korea over the weekend. It’ll come with comprehensive battle adjustments, the replacement of controversial mechanic Wild Assault with something called Counter Blitz, and new special moves for the entirety of the cast.

The game will also receive a battle pass system, new customisation options for their characters and accounts, and the first of its season five DLC characters on the 9th April. That character is Jam Kuradoberi – a fan favourite from prior entries in the series who can now parry blows with a bunny rabbit. Obviously!

Meanwhile, things aren’t looking so hot in other big budget fighting games. Tekken 8 recently received its season three “back to basics” update, which was meant to curb the overly-aggro playstyles of season two. It failed in doing so, introducing some new problems instead to certain characters which have stung portions of the community. It’s not a disastrous patch on its own, but with the context that it’s meant to help fix the season two state of the game it’s left folks thoroughly disappointed.

Then you have Street Fighter 6, which introduced some minor changes to the fighting game without tackling what many saw as major problems. All characters got adjustments to their moves as to promote lesser-used attacks, and the controversial drive rush got changed too which should hopefully mix things up a little.

This all sounds good, right? Then there’s Alex, the newest addition to the Street Fighter 6 roster. Not only is he a fan-favourite character from Street Fighter 3, he’s also just an iconic fighter within the series’ roster. In their story mode, it is revealed Alex has married his second cousin and step-sister Patricia. Here’s a picture of Alex holding Patricia as a baby.

So yeah. We live in interesting times. Still, Guilty Gear Strive looks great and with its 2.0 release maybe it’s a good opportunity to jump in and try it out on the 9th April.