Studio Saizensen’s Blade Strangers, published by Nicalis, is a 2D, cross-over fighter which features characters and stages from various Nicalis games. You’ll see the likes of The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth +, Cave Story +, Code of Princess EX, and even Shovel Knight make an appearance within this title. And we’ll be able to experience this wonderful amalgamation of Nicalis properties August 28th, 2018, on PlayStation 4, PC, and Nintendo Switch. With this said launch, will be a quaint bundle of modes that one would come to expect of a fighting game.
Story mode will be a narrative experience elaborating on how separate universes were joined together by a group of sentient computers called Motes. These Motes are gathering up heroes such as Isaac and Shovel Knight in an attempt to defeat an evil entity known as Lina. This game mode holds a unique storyline and dialogue for each individual character. Even Blade Strangers‘ all-consuming antagonist, Lina, can play through this mode. Although, her ending will come to a much different conclusion.
A run-of-the-mill arcade mode will also be present. Choose your preferred character and battle through a string of CPU-controlled opponents. Timer, difficulty, and number of rounds are all adjustable settings that you can change to your liking.
Mission mode offers two distinct types of contests, Challenge and Survival. Challenge missions act as a combo trial that tasks the player with successfully landing a displayed combo. These missions may help you become more familiar with a character and their combo structure. Survival mode will square the player off against consecutive CPU-controlled battles which can be set to easy, normal, or hard difficulty.
Versus mode will allow for local multiplayer action against a buddy. Or a head-to-head bout with a CPU-controlled opponent of your choosing.
Online mode appears to be fairly fleshed out in regards to both casual and competitive play. With ranked play featuring League matches that have different leagues that’ll house players of varying skill levels. League rankings are reset monthly and performance of the following month will determine your placement. This placement will dictate the online opponents you’ll be matched with to ensure players will be battling against others of similar skill. If you’re not interested in the intensity that competitive play offers then you can opt for a more relaxed environment. Casual matches free of any ranking system are available to you, as well as Stealth matches (exclusive to the Switch and Steam versions). Stealth matches are unranked and will hide the personal information of both parties partaking in them. Leaderboards and room making(including private rooms) are present in online mode too.
Training mode is equipped with a slew of tools to make the most of your lab time. Health and meter gauge is adjustable, damage info and input history can be toggled on or off, even recording your ”dummy” opponent’s actions for replays are available.
Blade Strangers also contains several other features including an in-game Manual, option settings, player records, and a Profile Page. The Manual holds a list of tutorials to aid newcomers with Blade Strangers’ gameplay mechanics. Records keep track of an extensive amount of player information from most-played to least-played characters to clear time in Survival mode. Customization via dressing up yourself with special titles and character portraits is done within the Profile Page. There are also unlockables to look forward to like extra colors.
Blade Strangers is looking like a well-packaged fighting game from the look of things. And as a reminder, this title drops August 28th, 2018, and will available on PlayStation 4, PC, and Nintendo Switch. You can check out the official Nicalis website for more information on this upcoming title.
