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By Phillip Martinez
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It's been more than six years since the last SoulCalibur game, but 2018 marks the 20th anniversary of the fighting game franchise, and Bandai Namco is celebrating with a new entry in the series.
SoulCalibur VI is set to release this October retells the stories of the first two games from new perspectives. The fighting game genre is in the midst of a golden age, and producer Motohiro Okubo felt it was critical that the next SoulCalibur game appealed to both new and legacy players.
Okubo sat down with Newsweek to discuss the new features of SoulCalibur VI, how the franchise has evolved and the prospects of coming to the Nintendo Switch.
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Editor's Note: The following has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Why is it the right time to bring back SoulCalibur?
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the franchise, so I really wanted to get this game out this year. And it was a little tricky to get the OK from the higher-ups for this project. A lot of the members of Project Soul pushed this one hard and really wanted to make it. It took longer than expected, but we're glad it's here.
What can SoulCalibur VI bring to the fighting game genre?
There are a lot of fighting games out now. I've been in the very fortunate position of producing Tekken 7's console release. And I think it's a very, in many ways, stable — I don't know if 'vanilla' is the right word, but in a good way — game that exists in the fighting game community. For SoulCalibur, the big appeal is to fight with weapons and what that means in the fighting game space. There's a lot of differentiation happening right there, as well as the world setting. We took a lot of time to develop these characters and this world that's really subversive. That's the appeal of SoulCalibur.
Was there a pressure to be in line with how other fighting games have evolved over the years, like adding a substantial story mode?
Being a producer on the console version of Tekken 7, I really tried to study the trends in the fighting game scene. But even with that information, since there's been such a large gap between SoulCaliburs, we had to look within ourselves, at the IP and what makes it unique and how it can shine amongst the other fighting games. We really wanted to identify what makes SoulCalibur unique and push those elements really hard.
Was is difficult to stay true to hardcore fans while trying to bring in new fans?
This challenge is not unique to SoulCalibur VI. It's something all fighting game sequels have to think about. We really tried to think about what makes SoulCalibur special and what gives it that "SoulCalibur-ness," so to speak. And, really, the moment a legacy player picks up the controller and plays the game, it needs to feel like they're at home, they know what's going on and it has that SoulCalibur feel. What we really value in SoulCalibur is that satisfaction of swinging a massive weapon and the freedom with the eight-way run. I do believe new fans will enjoy, but also existing fans will recognize and see.
As far as game mechanics go, there are new mechanics like the Reversal Edge that new players will be able to enjoy as well.
Can you talk about the new features and how they will appeal to both new and experienced players?
There are a number of features that will cater to a range of skill levels, like the Reversal Edge. While it's designed for more beginner players, I hope pros will be able to find a use for it and a home for it in their high-level play. Even for the experienced player, we have the Lethal Hit mechanic, which really is a way to prove how good you are. There are a wide range of mechanics.
Even with the effects and camera work that we're doing, we revisited that. It's going to feel refreshing to a lot of returning players.
What has the reception from the fans been like?
There's been a lot of playable aspects of the game at E3 and we spoke with a lot of people. The fans, generally, seem to be excited and enjoy the game. Almost so much so that it's a little scary [laughs].
Even as a developer, introducing the Reversal Edge and other new features, while we feel very confident in them it's important to hear from the community and we encourage you guys to check it out.
What are your feelings on the Switch and working with Nintendo to possibly bring these games to that platform?
We started developing SoulCalibur VI more than three years ago, and at the time we didn't even hear rumors about the Switch. So it wasn't in our roadmap, and I admit there isn't much in terms of what's being done to bring SoulCalibur VI to Switch. We didn't know what the performance was going to be at the time.
Having said that, personally, it's a very interesting piece of hardware. Our focus for the time being is to get it on console and PC, but we'll see.
SoulCalibur VI will release for PS4, Xbox One and PC on Oct. 19.
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