About Fantasy Strike
- Developer: Sirlin Games
- Publisher: Sirlin Games
- Platforms: PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC
- Release Date: July 25th, 2019
- Price: $19.99
- Review Code Provided: Yes, by Sirlin Games
- Reviewed On: PC
Fantasy Strike is the new fighting game from David Sirlin, the lead designer on Street Fighter HD Remix and Puzzle Fighter HD Remix. The game has been in development for the last four years, and in Steam Early Access for the last two. The game is described as a strategic fighting game for everyone and after sitting down with it I understand why.
This is one of the most accessible fighting game I’ve ever played. Anyone can play this game with any controller they want. When you start the game it throws you into the tutorial and shows that the game is more about strategy than anything. The game lets you move forward, back, jump, do three different types of attacks, throw, and use a super move. That’s all, there’s no crouch so you don’t have to think about low and high attacks. The three attacks include one standard attack and two special moves that vary based on fighter but can be projectiles, special grabs, a parry, and more. A lot of these moves also have variations based on if you’re standing still, moving, or in the air. Each fighter also has a super meter that fills up slowly over while playing. Each fighter (with the exception of one) has a different super move based on if you’re on the ground or in the air. You can play this game with only five buttons and you can remap the buttons on any controller. Just to test it I decided to remap all on the buttons on my dual shock 4 to a completely unplayable state, and the game actually let me. I regret even attempting to play with that layout, but it does show how customizable you can get with the controls. So while it may seems pretty basic on the surface, all of that changes the moment you start playing.
Fantasy Strike can be defined as a game of decisions. Strategy is key when playing and the game tells you this in every way. The lifebar is different from most fighting games because instead of being a continuous bar that depletes with each hit, it’s segmented into chunks so you know how many hits you need to land to win. The game also makes it easy to tell when a character is invulnerable(they flash white), armored (they flash blue), and ready to parry(they flash green). Combos are very short and fast and prioritize strategy over just rushing in with them. Combining all of this together you get a game where both fighters will eye each other down and then strategize the best course of action. Every move is a calculated decision you make and it makes every hit have so much more weight. When you pull off a combo and you’re able to do more than three bars of damage it feels great, even if you’re still on your toes. Every match is a game of cat and mouse and that’s what makes it so fun to play.
The character rooster shows four different play types for the player to choose. Zoners, Rushdown, Grapplers, and Wild Card. Zoners are more about using projectiles for combos. The zoners are Grave who utilizes lightning and wind to make him faster, Jaina who uses fire arrows to land big combos, Geiger who uses time for his moves, and Argagarg who shoot water and poison. Rushdown characters are all about getting in fast and landing every move you can. It consists of Setsuki who’s big on fast combos that get you behind your opponent, and Valerie who prioritizes big combos and cross-ups. Grapplers are slow but all about defense and grabbing. It has Rook who has a lot of set ups for deadly combos, and Midori how has quick combos involving parries and grabs. The last group is Wild Card who play differently. It has DeGrey who has a ghost companion who can hold enemies for you, and Lum who throws random projectiles that may help you or your opponent. All these characters play fairly differently but no matter what the match up is, if you can read the opponent there is no unfair match up. On the surface it does seem like some characters are better than others. The grapplers both have more health than average. On average the characters have six bars of health, while Rook has eight and Midori has seven. Both the rushdown characters have less than average health with five bars. Now while it may seem like some are at an advantage and some at a disadvantage, the characters have decent trade offs making them viable but not overpowered. It’s not about picking the best character it’s about picking the right character. My personal favorites where DeGrey, Lum, and Rook.
One last thing Fantasy Strike has that really set’s it apart from other fighting games is the Yomi Counter. The Yomi Counter is a way to counter normal grabs that rewards reading your opponent. If you don’t move or press any buttons while your opponent grabs you then you will counter the grab. The Yomi Counter is something I have yet to see in any other fighting game and it’s one of the most satisfying moves to pull off. Not only that but it also fill your super meter if you pull it off. Yomi Counter’s add a whole new layer to the strategy in this game, because it makes not moving a viable decision. Did your opponent land a combo and you see the beginning of grab animation? Don’t move and put the match in your favor, you know have a full super and a set up for a combo. The Yomi Counter is one of the best things I’ve seen added to a fighting game I hope to see other games put their own spin on it.
Now while the game play is solid it’s time to talk about how much content is in the game. Fantasy Strike offers the standard single player fighting game options. It has an arcade mode which give each character a bit of story and six opponents to fight. It has a survival mode which is just a nonstop barrage of fighters that get slowly stronger every five fighters. The survival options are 20 opponents, 35, 50, and 10 “cruel” opponents which are the strongest the computer can get. It also has a daily challenge you can do which is just endless survival. You can have matches against the computer as well but that’s about it for single player content. The trailer shows a boss rush mode, but looks like that will come out day one. Of course there’s practice mode which let’s you customize the computer but also play frame by frame so you can see how precise your combos are. It has a tutorial but it only let’s you play it as one character. It has in depth videos on all the characters as well which are really helpful and teach everything you would want to know about each fighter. The videos are helpful, but I would’ve also liked in depth tutorials for all the fighters. That’s about it for single player content, the rest is online and local multiplayer. There are two types of matches, 1v1 and team. To win a 1v1 you have to win four rounds. In a team match you pick three characters and you will randomly get one to go against your opponent. To win a team game you have to win with each character but instead of winning four rounds like a 1v1, you have to win three. When it comes to online you have casual and ranked games. Casual games are the same as 1v1’s and ranked are tournaments consisting of team battles. Since I was playing the early access version on PC I didn’t have too much trouble finding a match. Sometimes it would take really long but I’m not judging that too harshly cause the game isn’t even fully out yet. I also didn’t run into too many issues while playing online outside the occasional player with slow internet. Overall the content relies primarily on playing this with others and while I would like more single player content, I can’t fault it too much especially at the price point.
Fantasy Strike is a game I didn’t expect to have enjoy as much as I did. It’s such a refreshing fighting game to play and has it’s fair share of depth to it. This is definitely one of the more fun games I’ve played this year and I can’t wait to watch it grow. Whether you’re new to the fighting game genre or a hardened veteran Fantasy Strike has something for everyone and a great time for anyone who loves the genre.