A lot of great fighting games released the last couple of years, including long-running franchises like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. SoulCalibur can easily be added to the list of classic fighting games, with its origin going way back to 1995, it gathered a lot of fans worldwide. The last big entry, SoulCalibur V, wasn’t as popular as before so it was about time the developers stepped up their game in SoulCalibur VI. Is this the game the fans deserve? Let’s find out!
The story continues
The biggest concern with the last SoulCalibur game was the way the developers tried to innovate it. Instead of tweaking the classic formula and creating a new interesting story, the team decided to focus on the online aspect and even removed some fan-favorite characters from the roster in the last entry. Needless to say, a lot of fans were disappointed and SoulCalibur V quickly moved to the background of the fighting game scene. Luckily for the fans, the team did learn from their mistakes and to make up for the lack of a story last time, they included two entirely new ones in SoulCalibur VI.
The story of SoulCalibur VI takes place after the events of SoulEdge (the unofficial first game in the franchise) and can be considered as a soft reboot of the Calibur era. The story takes us back to the 16th century of our world where everything was in chaos because of the two legendary swords called Soul Edge. Creatures from all over the world traveled far and wide to search for these powerful weapons and destroy them to restore peace. This quest is explained in two new story modes.
Soul Chronicles
The first story mode is called Soul Chronicle and can easily be considered as the more classic story mode. In Chronicle, you’ll follow the main events of the story from the start to the finish. There’s no time for a lot of details, it’s all about the general events in the story. Clearing the Soul Chronicle will take you between one hour and two hours for every character. That’s right, although it’s not a very lengthy mode, each character has its own story in Chronicle too, explaining a lot about the background information of that character. Chronicle is an amazing way to discover more about your beloved characters and I absolutely loved the fact that everything is worked out this well.
Instead of simply going from one fight to another, you’ll learn more of the story and your character thanks to the beautifully drawn stills that connect the story to the fight. Of course, you’ll need to defeat a lot of enemies too if you want to clear your character’s story but the team really managed to find the right balance between reading and fighting. It’s a great mode to play if you got a couple of hours to spare and you want more than just fighting others.
Libra of Soul
Where Soul Chronicle stays on the surface, the second story mode called Libra of Soul dives deep into the lore. Libra of Soul is the big main story mode and adds a lot of RPG elements to the fighting game. In this mode, you’ll have to create your own character in the character creator first. During your first minutes in the creator, you’ll notice that you can literally create the character of your dreams. It’s an extremely deep character creator filled with everything you need to create the fighter of your dreams, you can even alter the famous characters of the main roster to alter them to a new kind of fighter. Spending a lot of time in the character creator never feels like a punishment in SoulCalibur VI.
Once you created the character of your dreams, it’s time to go after the Soul Edge yourself. Now, this mode offers a lot more than just fighting and will easily cost you up to fifteen hours to complete. During your quests, you can clear main missions and side missions while the mode is constantly throwing new features at you. From hiring mercenaries to conquering villages and upgrading those to get more resources, Libra of Soul really goes the extra mile. Also, be warned that the actual fights aren’t as easy as in the Soul Chronicle mode, the AI is strong and certain fights will add extra conditions before you can call yourself the victor. I’m sure it’s a mode a lot of people will play and enjoy since it’s really amazing to see a mode like this in a fighting game. My only critique is the fact that it might try a bit too much since not everything is worked out the way it should and you need a bit too much grinding to my liking. That being said, it’s an amazing new feature for the franchise without a doubt.
Innovations that make sense
Having two new story modes is great and it’s something the fans were asking for since the release of SoulCalibur V but it still remains a fighting game genre, so how are the fights? Well, if you’ve played a SoulCalibur game before, this one follows the same formula. It’s a bit more casual than the other fighting games on the market but if you want, you can really play it hardcore too thanks to the combo and guard system.
Everything starts with the roster of playable characters and it’s good to see that the game welcomed back some fan-favorite characters. This roster makes a lot more sense than the last one since the most iconic Soul fighters are finally back. Add in some new guest characters like Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher) and you know you’ll have a lot of fun with the game for sure. Discovering the characters and finding out which one is your favorite certainly is a lot of fun.
The game also adds some new elements such as powerful new attacks or cinematic counters called Reversal Edge and although not everybody will agree to this, I think the new mechanics really add to the overall experience. They feel right at home in a fighter like this and they don’t really mess with the pacing too much. It’s the perfect balance between the old and the new, SoulCalibur VI dares to innovate but does this in a respectful way towards the fans of the old games. Fighting feels fresh and fun and thanks to the multiplayer you can spend a lot of time in fights once more. You can play it both offline and online without the slightest lag, truly impressive!
Conclusion:
SoulCalibur VI can easily be described as the best SoulCalibur game in the franchise. It takes everything that makes the franchise this good and throws in some amazing new features. The double story mode, the playable roster, the multiplayer, the fights… Everything feels right at place here and I’m sure you’ll enjoy spending a lot of time with this game. If you’re looking for a new fighting game, look no further, SoulCalibur VI is the one you need to have.
