Soul Calibur 6 Announced, First Gameplay Details Revealed

Bandai Namco has announced SoulCalibur VI, a new entry in its weapon-based fighting game series, coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in 2018. The game made its debut at The Game Awards, where a teaser was shown. The video featured a young-looking Mitsurugi battling Sophitia. During the battle the two weapons the characters wielded glowed different colors, indicating there will be some additional mechanic added to the traditional weapon-oriented battles.

According to Bandai Namco, SoulCalibur VI will have an "epic" story mode, revamped gameplay mechanics, and "dynamic fights enhanced by cinematic-styled combat." One of the key new gameplay changes is the introduction of "Reversal Edge," which allows players to "defend against the opponent's attack and directly counter with a powerful strike highlighted through a dynamic camera." SoulCalibur VI is being developed in Unreal Engine, just as Tekken 7 was, and it looks like the game has also inherited the dynamic camera angle.

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There was also a tease for what looks to be a new character, who held a long staff-like weapon with blades on each end. Bandai Namco has said SoulCalibur VI will have a roster of "returning characters and newcomers," so that mysterious figure may be someone entirely new to the series.

"Two decades after its first iteration, SoulCalibur VI returns to its roots while bringing brand-new gameplay features to the fight," Bandai Namco says in a press release. "Travel through the signature 16th century stages and experience the struggle for the two legendary swords using a complete roster of returning iconic SoulCalibur characters, along with some newcomers."

SoulCalibur V, the last mainline entry in the series, was released for PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2012. Before that, an HD version of SoulCalibur 2 was released for last-generation consoles. Since then, developer and publisher Bandai Namco has focused on its other major fighting game series, Tekken.

Tekken 7 was released in June 2017 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and features a full story campaign that incorporates Akuma, one of the main antagonists of the Street Fighter series, into its mythos. Since then, Tekken 7 has added another guest character in Geese Howard to its roster. Geese is a mainstay from SNK's Fatal Fury and King of Fighters series.

Guest characters are something that Bandai Namco featured heavily in previous entries in the SoulCalibur series, with the likes of Tekken's Heihachi Mishima, The Legend of Zelda's Link, Yoda and Darth Vader from Star Wars, and Image Comics' Spawn making appearances in the past. It will be interesting to see if Bandai Namco will continue the series' trend of including guest characters in SoulCalibur VI.