Fantasy Strike

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Fantasy Strike
Developer(s)Sirlin Games
Publisher(s)Sirlin Games
EngineUnity
Platform(s)Linux
macOS
Microsoft Windows
Nintendo Switch
PlayStation 4
ReleaseJuly 25, 2019
Genre(s)Fighting
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Fantasy Strike is a free-to-play fighting video game with an emphasis on accessibility developed and published by Sirlin Games. It revolves around one-on-one battles that require fast reflexes. It is designed to streamline the fighting game genre in terms of learning, player-decisions and user-interface. The game was released on July 25, 2019 for Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4.[1]

Gameplay[edit]

Fantasy Strike is designed to reduce unnecessary complexity while maintaining the depth of traditional fighting games by removing redundant moves and motion inputs. This allows players to engage in the strategy without worrying about missed moves or dropped combos. It can played with just a stick and 3 buttons on any controller, but can optionally have dedicated buttons for every action including jump, throw, attacks, and special and super moves.[2] Each player picks a character to play, which are then placed in an arena. By performing various attacks unique to the character, each player tries to bring down their opponents health pool down to zero to win a round. Whoever is the first to win four out of seven rounds is given the match win. Players can block to defend against attacks and break through blocks by using throws. A unique feature to Fantasy Strike is the "Yomi Counter", which can be performed when not attacking by pressing no buttons at all. If the character is hit by an opponent's throw when yomi countering, they won't get hit and instead perform a counter throw and gain a full super meter, turning the tables.[3]

The game features various modes. Single-player pits the player in matches against AI controlled opponents, with different modes putting a different spin on the formula. Arcade adds some story through artwork and dialog, as well as stronger version of the character Quince who serves as the final challenge, Survival provides a stream of progressively stronger opponents. Daily Challenge is similar to Survival, but can only be played once per day and compares the score between the players.[2] Single Match allows a selection of any opponent and difficulty for a standard match.[4] Boss Rush allows the player to choose a new power-up before each battle where they fight special opponents that also possess power-ups.[5]

Multiplayer allows player-against-player matches both locally and online.[6] The latter provides automatic match-making for a casual and a ranked queue, or directly challenging specific opponents through friend matches. Players may either choose to play Standard or Team Battle. Standard refers to the classic mode, where each player picks a character to play a best of seven. Team Battle instead makes each player pick three characters. The game will then randomly pick a character from each players pool of characters, upon which the players play a best of five. The winning player removes his character from his pool. This is repeated until a player has no more characters in his pool, meaning he won with all of his characters and is thus declared the winner.[7] Team Battle is used in ranked play and proposed as the go-to mode for tournaments, as it is designed to alleviate the issue of counter-picking.

In addition to single-player and multi-player modes, there is also a tutorial, a learn section and a training mode. The tutorial teaches new players how to play the game in general, while the learn section contains character spotlight videos that explain each character's playstyle, tools, and gameplan in-depth. Training mode lets the player experiment and practice with characters, including dummy recording, dynamic frame data for moves, and frame step mode.

Online playerbase[edit]

According to the online activity tracker SteamCharts, Fantasy Strike reached a peak amount of players in the summer of 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The game's playerbase has steadily declined since then, but is now acknowledged as one of many small-but-dedicated online fighting game communities.[citation needed]

Plot[edit]

The game is set in the world of the same name, "Fantasy Strike", a world featured in other games made by Sirlin Games. In the story, Rook hosts the Fantasy Strike tournament as an Olympic style event to rally the powerful fighters to talk about the injustices of their respective lands.

Characters[edit]

The game features twelve different playable characters, categorized into four different groups: zoner, rushdown, grappler and wildcard.[8]

Zoners: These characters specialize in using long-ranged attacks and projectiles to keep opponents away, force block damage, and punish bad approaches.

  • Grave (Ryu-style character)
  • Jaina (a traditional zoner who uses fire. Uses potentially risky moves (even self-damaging) to forcefully maintain control. Inspired by Sagat from the Street Fighter series)
  • Argagarg (Dhalsim and F.A.N.G-style character)
  • Geiger (a remix of a charge character. His best moves briefly become unavailable whenever the player uses a forward input. Based on Guile from the Street Fighter series)

Rushdown: These characters specialize in fast movement, tricky approaches, and mix-ups that lead to huge combos or wear down opponents even when blocked. However, they have low health.

  • Valerie (a medium range rushdown that is possibly inspired by Millia Rage)
  • Setsuki (a close range ninja with a myriad of attack options including differently angled attacks and command grabs. Inspired by Ibuki from the Street Fighter series).

Grapplers: These characters are slow and struggle to approach opponents, but in exchange they have more health and terrifying (possibly multi-layered) mix-ups when they get in.

  • Midori (a fundamental character with strong defense and a literal "dragon install." Has parry that gives him a special throw stance and helps him fill his super meter. Inspired by E. Honda and possibly Gen, both from the Street Fighter series)
  • Rook (a stone golem with tools to get in and eventually trap opponents in a vortex of unfavorable guessing games; similar to other games' grapplers like Zangief, from Street Fighter)

Wild Card: These characters have gimmicks and manage to stay balanced, using certain themes for their character design and their moves. For example, Quince is a politician, so he uses illusions and tricks the opponent for his own advantage.

  • Lum (a gambling panda who pressures the opponent by finding opportunities to throw random items that usually favor him or create chaos. Inspired by Faust from the Guilty Gear series)
  • Onimaru (a sword character who is slow but can pressure opponents with massive range and damage potential. Can armor through opponent's attacks to create favorable trades or set up guard crushes with sword strikes)
  • Quince (a politician who confuses the opponent with illusions and mix-ups and uses mirrors to slow down opponents and reflect projectiles. "Two Truths" mode makes all his illusions real, so his power level briefly skyrockets)
  • DeGrey (a lawyer who creates frame traps and tries to catches opponents mistakes. Successfully counter hitting opponents (striking them during the startup of their attacks) leads to dramatic, devastating combos. Inspired by Slayer from the Guilty Gear series).

Reception[edit]

Fantasy Strike received "generally favorable reviews", according to website Metacritic.[9]

Many reviewers praised the game's accessibility by virtue of the relative ease of execution, while retaining the depth that makes fighting games difficult to master and fun.[15][16][17][18][19][20][21] Farrell from PC Invasion stated that "the game is purely skill-based, as every good fighter game is."[15] There was some concern regarding its simplistic nature and limited movesets.[22][7][3][23] With ten characters, some noted that Fantasy Strike's roster was relatively small.[8][17][7][20] By contrast, others noted how those few characters were highly distinct and offered unique experiences.[16][7][20][21] The game's accessibility was also cited as a strength.[16][19][23][21]

Martinez from Gaming Illustrated wrote, "Utilizing both videos and tutorials helps you deepen your understanding of surface and high level play and the underlying mechanics."[21] Furthermore, reviewers commented on how the clean visuals and various UI Hints (such as color-coded moves and "Jumpable" text) increased clarity in its visuals.[8][18] Reviewers also agreed that its rollback based netcode made for a solid online experience.[15][8][16][18][3][23][20][21]

Reviewers were divided on the game's visual style. PC Invasion, among other outlets, claimed, "The visuals and aesthetics are mostly bland",[15] ascribing the game a typical style that is not distinct enough to set itself apart.[15][3] On the other hand, some highlighted the game as something that is pleasing to look at.[8][22][7]

Reviewers also expressed their dissatisfaction with some of the single-player modes.[15][8][16][18][3] Jones from Heavy said, "While there's a lot of modes on display here, not all of them are fully featured and worth returning to."[8] O'Reilly from Nintendo Life complained that the "arcade mode is a little barebones".[18] In contrast, the single player-mode boss rush was cited as a highlight.[19][3][18]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Romano, Sal (Jun 27, 2019). "Fantasy Strike launches July 25". Gematsu. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  2. ^ a b Wilson, Jeffrey L. (December 18, 2018). "Fantasy Strike (for PC)". PC Magazine. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Duron, Andrew (August 5, 2019). "Fantasy Strike Review". Culture of Gaming. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  4. ^ Sirlin, David (July 24, 2019). "Fighting game Fantasy Strike hits PS4 tomorrow – can you beat its single-player, deck-building Boss Rush mode". PlayStation Blog. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
  5. ^ Clayton, Natalie (July 25, 2019). "No-frills fighter Fantasy Strike leaves Early Access today". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
  6. ^ Wong, Alistair (September 23, 2017). "Fantasy Strike Special Moves Are Tied To One Button Inputs For Easier Fighting". Siliconera. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
  7. ^ a b c d e Finch, Bryan (July 26, 2019). "Impressions: Fantasy Strike on Switch". Nintendo Wire. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Jones, Elton (Jul 24, 2019). "Fantasy Strike Review". Heavy. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  9. ^ a b "Fantasy Strike for Switch Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  10. ^ "Fantasy Strike". Edge. No. 133. August 15, 2019. p. 100.
  11. ^ O'Reilly, PJ (July 24, 2019). "Fantasy Strike Review (Switch eShop)". Nintendo Life. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
  12. ^ Saltzman, Mitchell (July 28, 2020). "Fantasy Strike Review". IGN. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
  13. ^ Ronaghan, Neal (July 24, 2019). "Fantasy Strike (Switch) Review". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
  14. ^ Peterson, Cody (July 21, 2020). "Fantasy Strike Review: A Fighting Game for Pros and Beginners Alike". Screen Rant. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
  15. ^ a b c d e f Farrell, Andrew (July 24, 2019). "Fantasy Strike review – Fight for your right". PC Invasion. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  16. ^ a b c d e Ronaghan, Neal (July 24, 2019). "Fantasy Strike (Switch) Review". NintendoWorldReport. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  17. ^ a b Getley, Nick (July 25, 2019). "Fantasy Strike – The Simplicity of Depth". Player 2. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  18. ^ a b c d e f O'Reilly, PJ (24 Jul 2019). "Fantasy Strike Review (Switch eShop)". Nintendo Life. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  19. ^ a b c Bates, Ashley (July 24, 2019). "Fantasy Strike (Switch) REVIEW – And Fireballs For All". Cultured Vultures. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  20. ^ a b c d Theisen, Brian (September 21, 2019). "Fantasy Strike Review". Gamecritics. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  21. ^ a b c d e Martinez, Kalvin (Sep 19, 2019). "Fantasy Strike Review: Fighting 101". Gaming Illustrated. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  22. ^ a b Seagrave, Richard (24 July 2019). "Fantasy Strike Review". Gamespew. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  23. ^ a b c Hanchet, Nick (September 7, 2019). "Fantasy Strike Review". Switch Player. Retrieved 9 November 2019.

External links[edit]

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