This past weekend, I had the chance to participate in the closed beta for Guilty Gear – Strive –. I’ve had a blast with Xrd Rev. 2 in the past year or so, and my hype for Strive has been through the roof since the original teaser trailer. While I think the UI could use some work, the gameplay, visuals, and music have me impatiently waiting to get my hands on the full game.
There was a surprising number of playable characters in the beta, including my man Faust. Sporting a new and extra creepy aesthetic that’s more in line with his pre-Faust alias of Dr. Baldhead than the kind weirdo we see in Xrd, I was immediately down to see what this nightmarish doctor had to offer.
Before I could jump into a match though, I was dropped in the online lobby. Presented as a literal lobby with very basic customizable sprites for avatars, the new lobby has some neat ideas but feels needlessly clunky overall. To challenge a player to a match, you have to draw your weapon and stand in front of them, with their own weapon drawn. Sometimes it works, sometimes it fails, and sometimes it registers other people who you couldn’t see temporarily. I think this invite system could use some streamlining to make it much easier, as quickly getting into matches from the lobby should be the priority. Otherwise, the lobby is visually charming and fun to mess around in.
“Online was also consistently excellent, as I never experienced any real lag or dropped frames in my online battles.“
The character select screen is a bit basic compared to that of Xrd, as it lacks the gnarly Guilty Gear style. However once you’re in a battle things really take off. I found myself facing a lot of Sol Badguys, but none of the matches ever felt repetitive. This is partially because of Faust’s insane moveset, but also because of how different each player’s style was. Some were into up-close and personal pressuring, while others were about defending themselves and slipping in combos when I whiffed (which happened fairly frequently, if we’re being honest.)
Stringing together combos felt smooth and consistent once you get the hang of a character, and the available characters all felt very diverse. I can’t play as Axl for the life of me, but fighting him compared to fighting a Ky or a Potemkin was always a blast. Smashing through stage transitions added some very “anime” action to each match, and provided a nice change in scenery now and then. Online was also consistently excellent, as I never experienced any real lag or dropped frames in my online battles.
Visually, Strive seems to be as stunning as one would hope a Guilty Gear to be. The updated character designs are fantastic all-around so far, and the animations for intros, outros, and attacks are all smooth as butter. Also, every song I heard got me pumped and ready for some over-the-top anime fighting.
I’m ridiculously excited for Guilty Gear – Strive – to release later this year, as the closed beta proved to me that outside of some minor non-battle related visuals, everything is as over-the-top as I had hoped. Truly, my heart is blazing for – Strive -.
