Fantasy Strike Is Simplistic Yet Hardcore – Review (PC)

By Phil Neyman Last updated Jul 24, 2019

Fighting games can be ton of fun, providing you practice your butt off learning all of the complicated combos for your character. Sirlin Games’ new fighting game, Fantasy Strike, is looking to revolutionize the genre that was once made for only the most hardcore gamers. They set out to make a fighting game that is as accessible as it is deep. A game that experts and beginners can both play and enjoy. The result is pretty remarkable.

Fantasy strike offers ten playable characters at launch, broken down into four different classes: Zoners, Rushdown, Grapplers and Wild Cards. Each class has a shared set of life bars and attacks that will fit and fighting gamer’s fighting style. The object is simple. Like all fighting games depleting your enemy’s health is the ultimate goal. Unlike a lot of games in the genre, you must defeat your opponent four times in order to advance. At the end of each round both players will regain their health as the next round begins.

Simple right? Sure, it really is. However, there is a lot of detail mixed in with the simplicity that makes the game shine.

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As mentioned before, there are no crazy combos to learn here. Every move can be accomplished by pushing one button. You have Attack, Special 1 and 2, Jump, Super, and Throw. That’s it. Knowing when to hit the buttons, well that’s where you separate yourself from beginner to expert. Due to the simplistic nature of the controls you can use them with literally any controller. For this review we used both the keyboard on the PC and the PS4 Dual Shock 4 controller. While both felt great, the keyboard was even more simple than using the controller. You can find the right controller for you no matter what your fighting style is.

Each move has a specific amount of damage assigned to it. Whether you use the move by itself or in a combo it will always take off that much health. When you deliver a blow your opponent’s health bar will glow red showing you the amount of damage that was received. Use a move that takes one damage and one red bar will appear. String that together with an attack that takes off two and three bars will show red. There is no scaling here so the amount of damage a move makes will always deal that amount.

Fantasy Strike also has Block Damage. If a special attack lands on a character and they block it, their bar will flash for four seconds. If they block another attack in that time frame the flashing will become more intense and another block will ultimately cost a bar of health. This adds into the strategy of the game, making it more offensive driven since blocking can ultimately deal enough damage to the character for them to lose. Blocking is simply accomplished by holding back away the attacker.

Reversals are a huge part of Fantasy Strike and perfecting these will give you an edge. There is an incredible 8 frame input buffer which gives you a much larger window to perform a reversal. This gives everyone a more even playing field and makes the game even more accessible.

In addition to the health bar there is a super meter that when full allows you to perform your characters super move. Each character has one Super move specific to them and when accomplished it will cause a good bit of damage to your opponent – providing they don’t counter with their Super and turn the tables on you.

Fantasy Strike comes with Online, Solo and Local play. This allows you to play online or at home with friends as well as by yourself. Matchmaking is incredibly simplistic, and you have the option to find friends, match up with someone close to your ranking or anyone regardless of rank.

Solo offers a variety of modes including Arcade, Daily Challenge, Survival and Single match.

Arcade is basically the campaign attached to Fantasy Strike. This is where the game falters a little bit. Though the matches are fun and the gameplay here is the same, the storylines and voice acting leave a bit to be desired. None of the voice acting is really all that great and breaks the experience a little bit. Some of the storylines are ridiculous and one that tries to be serious comes off as potentially just being awkward at best. Don’t let this discourage you from playing through with each of the characters. That’s the best way to get a feel for which one you like the most.

Daily Challenge has you pick a character and fight through as many of the other characters as you can until you die. You may do this once a day and, after your defeat, you’ll find out what percentile you ranked in that day.

Survival is very similar only it’s not ranked, and you can do it as often as you want.

Single match is just that… you can play a single match picking the characters for you and your challenger.

Recommendation: Fantasy Strike is a fighting game that anyone can enjoy. Already making waves on the pro circuit, Fantasy Strike is all about strategy and not button mashing or pulling over split second combos. Good decision making will win the day here. This is a fighting game for all people. If you love fighting games this game is for you. If you’ve always wanted to get into the genre but felt intimated, this game is also for you. Anyone can play and enjoy it.

Fantasy Strike is available on PC, PS4, and Switch on July 25, 2019.