Fantasy Strike

Genre: Fighting Game

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local / Online)

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Review:

Fantasy Strike is a Fighting game that was originally released on multiple platforms including the Nintendo Switch in 2019 as a full-release paid Fighting game, and in 2020 the game transitioned to a Free-to-Play product, with character skins, some of the standard single-player game modes, and some of the multiplayer features locked behind a $20 “Core Pack”, essentially making the standard release of the game something of a glorified demo of sorts. Still, if you’re looking to encourage players to buy into the game and pump up online lobbies, making it free is a decent way to do it.

Visually, this is a very nice-looking game with an aesthetic that sets itself apart, with detailed 3D characters and environments (fighting on a 2D plane). What really makes this unique is all of its fairly chunky-looking characters with a good amount of heft too them. Yes, even the ladies are a bit more realistically-proportioned, and everyone is cel-shaded and has some very good, fluid animation. What’s more, the music that accompanies this game is actually pretty catchy. All told, this is an excellent presentation for a Fighting game.

However, what really sets this game apart from the pack is its extremely unique combat system, which in multiple ways takes the genre back to basics. Gone are complex command inputs, super-long combos, and huge move lists. Rather, virtually every character in this game now has a handful of moves, all of which are tied to one of three attack buttons and possibly a directional input, with a dedicated jump button, a dedicated throw throw button, and a dedicated special move button. That’s it. Yeah, most characters’ move lists in this game are somewhere around a dozen or so moves.

While you might think that this would make the game feel repetitive, there’s a lot of variety in the game’s characters, with many of them truly unique, while others are clearly inspired by other well-known characters in the genre. There’s a decent variety here, not too extensive, but enough so you’re likely to find a few favorites, and it all feels pretty well balanced, no doubt due to the game’s lead designer being veteran Street Fighter tournament player-turned game designer David Sirlin.

The other really unique thing this game does is that health bars are reduced to a limited number of hits, which means that matches can end very quickly. Again, this follows the overall “back to basics” feel of this game, and also helps to keep things flowing, with the short length of matches compensated by making a typical match a “best of seven” instead of “best of three”.

All of this takes some getting used to, but when you do, you’ll likely find it to be a refreshing and original take on the genre, one that is really friendly to newer players while still offering a lot of depth for Fighting game pros.

However, there is one major flaw here, and I’m sorry to say that it is this game’s online play. I actually delayed my review of this game for a month to give it a chance to improve after it went free-to-play, figuring that the issue was the game’s servers having trouble with the influx of new players. I was plagued with repeated disconnect issues, and thankfully these issues have apparently been addressed in a recent patch… but now I have to contend with horrible lag that seems to bring every other match I get into into a stuttering unplayable mess. It’s a shame too, because this game absolutely needs online play to welcome players and compensate for the lack of content in the free version of the game, and I suspect that many players will lose interest if this is the sort of experience they’re getting.

I could wait another month and see if these issues get addressed, but let’s be real – this game has been out for a year, and has even had plenty of time since it went free-to-play to get its act together. There’s no excuse for it still being this sloppy online.

As it stands, Fantasy Strike is still a solid, original, and unique Fighting game that’s fantastic to play with a friend sitting on your couch, but it’s a shame that the online play is still such a mess. I’d say that since it’s free, it’s still worth getting to play at home with friends, especially to experience the inspired way it approaches the genre, but unless you’re paying for the content of the Core Pack or they manage to fix the online play, don’t expect to spend too much time with this one without a friend sharing your couch.

tl;dr – Fantasy Strike is a free-to-play Fighting game that strips the genre down to its basics in a way that’s really refreshing and inspired take on how the genre works, with a solid presentation and some really inventive characters. Having said that, the online play here is a mess, and the lack of features in the free version of the game really limits how much you’ll want to play it unless you buy into the game’s expansion content. It’s still well worth giving a try, but keep your expectations in check.

Grade: B-

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