Tokyo Game Show demo adds Gamagoori and Sanageyama
Developer Arc System Works’ has proven itself the masters of adapting 2D anime-style visuals for 3D video games, as shown by its work on Guilty Gear Xrd and Dragon Ball FighterZ. Its next game, Kill la Kill: IF, the video game adaptation of Studio Trigger’s Kill la Kill anime series, further illustrates just how good Arc is at making its fighting games extremely anime.
Kill la Kill: IF, which Arc is co-developing with APLUS, is a 3D arena fighting game with a simple control scheme. Players can attack each other with close range and long range attacks, which can be altered with directional inputs or more dramatically altered after building up a special meter that fills as players deal damage. There’s fast-paced jumping and dodging, but much of what you’ll do in Kill la Kill: IF consists of flashy slashes and smashes, all of which match how those same battles play out visually in Trigger’s anime.
In the Tokyo Game Show demo of Kill la Kill: IF, Arc and APLUS featured four playable characters: Ryuko and Satsuki, revealed during the game’s original announcement, alongside Ira Gamagoori and Uzu Sanageyama.
While the lithe, absurdly underdressed Ryuko and Satsuki play at a blistering pace, Gamagoori and Sanageyama fight in their Scourge/Shackle Regalia and Blade Regalia Mk. II forms, respectively. The two male fighters in the demo are hulking, slower-moving brutes that hit hard. The action is still brisk, and battles are occasionally interrupted by quick cutscenes in which characters shout at each other while thick, bright red kanji fills the screen. This is called Ketsui Testament, and is initiated by pressing both shoulder buttons on a gamepad to deploy a Ketsui Burst. It’s really just a chance to power up your character in a game of rock paper scissors that can power up your character’s standard attack, health or special attack, but the mechanics adds some enjoyable depth to Arc’s easy-to-pick-up, fun-to-play 3D arena fighter.
Kill la Kill: IF is coming to PlayStation 4 and Windows PC via Steam in 2019.
