Thank you Cygames for sending us this game to review!

A few years ago, Cygames and XSEED Games published Granblue Fantasy: Versus, the first fighting game spinoff of the popular mobile game 'Granblue Fantasy' from Japan. While I have not played the original mobile or website game much, I did enjoy Granblue Fantasy: Versus a fair amount, and it turned out to be a decent introduction to the Granblue universe, as long as you played through the RPG mode. Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is an expanded online multiplayer experience, with less of a focus on single-player content.

The first thing that really drew me to this series was the art and music, which I could instantly tell was something special. I also came to appreciate most of the characters, even if a few of them do fall into some tropes that many Christians would find objectionable. The fighting game action is also excellent as expected, given the fantastic developer, Arc System Works. All of this is pretty much the same between the original game and this sequel, though there is a difference in focus as previously mentioned.

The original Versus' RPG mode was an extensive 'gacha'-like experience, complete with a deep loot system that required using lots of token, in a way that likely highly resembled the original mobile game. ('Gacha' games keep the player's interest by offering random loot drops that hopefully helps them get more powerful; it resembles gambling.) While it could be fun to play, Versus: Rising strips that out entirely, and the new Story mode is a simplified game mode where you just go through the story visual-novel style, with occasional fights between your characters and chosen enemies to further the plot. It's a whole lot simpler, and a much quicker way to get through the story, but it doesn't feel as connected to the original Granblue Fantasy as it was before. With that said, the main draw of the game, the side-by-side fighting gameplay, is largely the same and just as good as it was before.

The base mechanics of the game are similar to other fighters, in that you face off against another single opponent, and punch, kick, and slash (with your weapon) until the other fighter's health bar is reduced to zero. It's a time-tested game system that is fun to play, and modern games like this one have breathtaking animations and deep fighting systems that are optimized for competitive play. The graphics and art is quite fantastic, and outside of Guilty Gear -Strive-, is one of the prettiest fighting games out there.

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is a fine place to start if you never played the previous game in the series, because all of the story content is brought forward, as well as all of the characters. The first game is almost entirely replaced by this one, so unless you really want to play that RPG mode, don't bother; just pick up Rising and play through the Story mode if you want to learn about each character's lore and backstories. And there is plenty of that to go around.

The Story mode includes the first two chapters that were a part of Granblue Fantasy: Versus, and a third chapter that is entirely new to this game, which introduces some new characters, as well as explains the current conflict. This game may well be an introduction to the setting for many players in the West. To make a long story short, Gran has a special bond with Lyria, that seems to be magical in nature; she saved him from death, and linked her life with his, so their souls are linked. Interestingly, another character Djeeta, is a female protagonist that can be swapped for Gran in the mobile game. She has the same story - Lyria also saves her life the same way. Only one of the two are supposed to exist at the same time. Chapter one focuses on Gran, while in chapters two and three Gran and Djeeta meet each other and coexist, which is supposed to be impossible, but the Story mode does explain how this happens.

The Story mode is where I spent most of my time, and it's a great way to be introduced to all of the characters, as well as acting as a form of tutorial for the special moves of each character. You learn about Gran and Lyria's relationship, as well as the Grandcypher and her crew. The Grandcypher is their airship, and most locations in the game are floating islands, and the ship is used to bring them from one place to another. Story mode of course features the expected one-on-one combat you might expect, sometimes it has beat 'em up segments, as most enemies that you fight are coming at you in groups and you beat them up to fight more shortly afterwards. It's a good way to teach the player how to do basic moves, and mixes up the combat a bit.

Both through the main menu as well as within Story mode, there is a glossary (that I highly recommend you read whenever you see something new) that fills out the backstory and characters quite a bit. You can tell while playing that there is a ton to the story and characters' histories that new players don't get to experience here, but if you want to explore the browser/mobile game, it's likely waiting for you there. I will say that once I went through the Story mode, and followed up in the Journal (where all of the unlocked Story mode setpieces, as well as glossary resides) I found that I had a pretty good handle on the story and characters, certainly enough to enjoy using them while playing.

One of the goals of the Granblue Fantasy Versus franchise was to create a top-tier fighting game that is new user friendly. One of the ways that they do this is through the use of the skill button. Most special attacks, like the fireball-like attack called Reginleiv, can either use the classic quarter circle forward+punch action, or you can also just press the skill button. This option to just press the skill button comes at a cost - your skills have a cooldown, and using the skill button increases the length of time before you can use that skill again. And some attacks do more damage if performed the old fashioned way. But still, this is a great means to not only prevent special attack spam, but to give newer players the confidence to try to time their moves just right - which is often more important than doing fancy special attacks repeatedly, anyway.

Despite being new user friendly, there is plenty of depth to the combat. While many of the actions are similar between characters (but not all), everyone has something specific to them via the unique action button; this can range from simply powering up to summoning drones or other special moves. The variety is actually quite significant, and no two characters feel exactly the same (well except Gran and Djeeta, but that's to be expected). Each character has something that makes them strong or unique; some characters excel at close quarters combat, while others are better at zoning or grappling. There are also parries, counters, clashes, and more that makes combat deep and interesting. That, and simply the character variety!

The base version of Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising has twenty-eight characters, two of which are new compared the Legendary Edition of the previous game. Six DLC characters have been announced, the first of which is Lucilius (another name for Lucifer) that is likely to be out by the time this review publishes. Currently, six DLC characters are planned; if you purchase the Deluxe edition, they are included, but if not, the Deluxe Character Pass 1 DLC is quite pricey at $49.99, the same cost as the base game. It's a decently-sized roster, and each character plays differently enough that most will enjoy what is offered.

As previously mentioned, the graphics, art, and music is simply top-notch. Hideo Minaba was involved in the character designs, and Nobuo Uematsu was involved in composing much of the music. For those who are not familiar with them, they both worked together on some of the earlier Final Fantasy games, a series long celebrated for their art and music. This game certainly is no slouch in that department. And Arc System Works makes some of the prettiest anime-based fighters around, with their 3D-rendered anime art style that's simply stunning.

From a technical perspective, the PC version is quite nice, though it's a bit odd that some of the conversation scenes before battle render at an oddly low frame rate. Despite that, it looks great and scales down reasonably well to lower-end PCs, though of course it doesn't look quite as good. If you use a PlayStation controller instead of an Xbox one, the controller icons automatically change, which is a nice touch. I tried running this game on Linux via Steam's Proton, and it works quite well - so Steam Deck owners will be able to enjoy this game. I happened to be in Linux at the time I sat down to review the game, and so I ended up playing most of it there, and it worked wonderfully.

Most of the major changes relate to online play. I rarely play games online, but I do enjoy some good couch verses play for fighting games like this. If you are a couch player, the upgrades from Versus to Rising are relatively minor, outside of some new characters. If you play online though, there's a ton of new stuff to enjoy.

First of all, they implemented rollback netcode, which is pretty much required for modern fighting games if they want to be taken seriously by the fighting game community. My limited understanding is that it's the only fair way to play against gamers from across the globe, since it handles differences in network connectivity better than most other forms of online fighting game algorithms. It's become quite a widespread feature; if a new online-focused fighting game is released these days without rollback, the communities will either ignore the game, make their displeasure well known, or perhaps both. Either way, it's a welcome improvement.

Outside of rollback, they also changed the lobby system. While you can just click 'join match' and wait for someone to become available, there is also a chibi character lobby system where you join a lobby, and walk around with your chibi-style avatar interacting with other peoples' chibi avatars. There are little arcade stations to wait for other players at, and you can interact with the environment, like play a crane game, or kick around a soccer ball. You can also join a series of mini-games called 'Grand Bruise', where you and a group of other chibi avatars compete to race to the finish line, collect items the fastest, or some other silly and simple task in a competitive manner while trying to avoid being eliminated. It's a cute and fun diversion from the main draw of the game.

There are some other minor features that don't mean as much to this pragmatic player, but you can unlock outfits, color schemes, and can even use their Digital Figure Studio to make neat-looking environments and take screenshots using Granblue Fantasy set pieces you can unlock while playing. Those kind of things aren't my style, but I know many players do enjoy them.

Another big change between Rising and Versus is how they are marketing and selling the game. To encourage new players to join and to keep the lobbies busy, they are offering a free version of the game. The Free Edition includes Gran and a rotating cast of three other playable characters, and your account can still unlock some things, but this is a great way to see if Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is for you without spending a lot of money.

Morally, there is a lot to talk about. Of course, you have animated violence, as all fighting happens one-on-one, with punches, kicks, and weapon slashes. Some attacks are magic based, and some enemies are demon-like, with some even being named after names for Satan, like Belial and Beelzebub. Lucifer is also mentioned, and plays a big part in the story in Chapter three. There are also angel-like creatures as well. Curse words are used, though it's not too frequent. I noticed words like 'd*mn', 'h*ll', and '*ss'.

On the sexual content front, many female characters wear revealing outfits, though thankfully not all. These can reveal cleavage, midriff, buttocks, and more. There is suggestive dialogue between a few of the characters, including some that are of the same sex. An old man fills the perverted old guy trope. and there is even a quest where he seeks out a hot spring so he can observe the participants. There are at least two male to female transgender characters; one looks and sounds female via shapeshifting magic, and the other doesn't - this one looks rather manly including a beard and deep voice, but plays off of girly tropes, like talking about love a lot.

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is unquestionably an excellent fighting game that's trying to build off of the foundation from the first game, hoping to make something that ends up being really popular. Fighting games have a tight-knot community, and they are trying their best to help launch this deep and storied property to the best launch that they can. The incredible art and music, not to mention the fighting game chops, may be enough to help the game succeed and make its mark. The moral issues are unfortunate; whether you can look past them I leave up to you; I know many these days find some of the more trendy moral issues distasteful. But if you are looking for a high-quality fighting game that's accessible for new players, this is no doubt an excellent choice. If you aren't sure you will like it, check out the Free Edition.