Believe it or not, this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Soul Calibur franchise. That’s noteworthy because it’s one of the things that spurred Bandai Namco to begin work on Soul Calibur VI. The game, in its infancy, was revealed earlier this month with a trailer featuring series staples Mitsurugi and Sophitia locked in a vicious battle. New footage has hit the net, showing more gameplay and a talk with Motohiro Okubo, the producer.
Before you get too excited about the gameplay footage, it’s simply more of Mitsurugi and Sophitia duking it out. No other character reveals. On the other hand, it shows once and for all that Soul Calibur VI takes the series back to its classic style of one-on-one, in the ring fighting, as opposed to the style of SCV that had fans less than enthused.
As the interview goes on, Okubo mentions that the Soul Calibur team and Tekken team have a friendly rivalry, pushing themselves to try and outdo the other during production. One of the most visually impressive parts of the footage happens during the Reversal Edge technique, where the camera zooms in for a moment, goes into slow motion, and the fighter parries and counters the enemy’s attack. According to Okubo, there will also be a kind of “move triangle” system in Soul Calibur VI where one maneuver outclasses another. Finally, his favorite character is Mitsurugi – unless he’s saying that to avoid revealing any of the other characters.
Reactions to the gameplay have been undeniably positive thus far, and seeing the franchise finally make a return after half a decade has us all clamoring to get our hands on it. No definite release date was given for Soul Calibur VI just yet, but the team is working hard to get it out this coming year on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
