UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II Sys:Celes

best modern pixel fighting game out there in a sea of 3D slop, it has SOVL

Everyone loves UNI2. It's weird, right? The FGC has made a competitive sport out of complaining, sometimes reasonably, sometimes for no reason, but it's hard to find anyone who wants to bad mouth UNI. The game hits so many perfect balances. It's got the widely beloved anime style, but isn't restricted to VN character designs like Melty Blood where French Bread's artists have to make the craziests keyposes known to man to make the game look interesting. Instead, UNI has a rich, gonzo character roster full of different body types, weapons, aesthetics, giant monster men, and a Japanese guy from another game who keeps landing 70% combos on me. Every single character combines aesthetics with strong gameplay identities. Byakuya looks almost normal and unassuming, but radiates danger with his arrogant smile and floating "spider legs" that feed into his terrifying neutral and spider web-based okizeme. Yuzuriha's giant sword yet casual attire and behaviour feeds into zoning and crazy fullscreen combos that are overwhelming yet looks effortless in the hands of an experienced player. Everything about UNI's characters really just works aside from an annoying trope or two. The gameplay, as well, is a perfect balance of accessible and deep. It's initially insane to a new player: the GRD system is the type of thing that could evaporate a medieval peasant if you tried to explain it to them. The secret is realizing you don't have to care about these things early on, and all of the basic mechanics do a good job of escaping unintuitive and obnoxious trappings of the genre. Combos have limits that make sense but abolish stupid things that don't - you can easily OTG with almost any attack that hits the ground in this game as opposed to how specific other games are, you can jump cancel basically anything, and the game features a Gatling or as it's called Passing Link system which allows you to cancel normals into any other normal so long as you don't use the same one twice, which is simultaneously more free form *and* intuitive than some simplified version like Guilty Gear Strive's. The sprint system and assault make approaches and offense very accessible, and the game has a fairly robust if not perfect set of defensive options that form a good mechanical basis for the game no matter what character you decide to play. There's plenty to learn from hundreds of situational and unique combo routes on everyone to matchup knowledge to fine-tuning your playstyle to accommodate elements like GRD, but none of it is overwhelming if you don't let it be. It does all of this with relatively short combos and a heavy focus on thoughtful neutral that often times is lost in super chaotic anime-esque tag fighters or the game within a game mechanics of some ArcSys games. If you want an honest to goodness place to pick up and start playing fighting games, I think this is probably it. The only issue is you need to find people to play with. This game's online is not as doomed as other, thousand year old FGCs, but while I think you can learn something from getting your ass kicked I think people are delusional when they say new players can simply just lose a thousand times and substantially improve. You can't adapt or implement if you're getting blasted, and that's just kind of a reality with a semi-niche community. There is, however, a fairly large discord and a lot of regular activity amongst the various gatherings of people who play this game, so finding an opportunity to learn and jump in probably isn't as hard as you think. Other than that? It's fun, rewarding, and all the DLC characters are free additions, which is wicked and means there's even more opportunity for people to find characters and playstyles they really click with. I hope UNI2 has a bright future ahead even past the final character, because it really deserves it.

this game sucks but unfortunately one of the coolest characters ever devised is in it. i think defense used to actually exist in this game but they patched it out over time, so maybe if they ever fix that it won't suck

Your last chance at a more difficult yet quality modern anime fighting game if you are tired of GGAC+R or BBCF.

game is dead, so you are only fighting against top players all the time. combos are fun but unintuitive sometimes, i play on hitbox. wouldnt buy this game if you are new only if you are familiar with french bread games like melty blood.

great game that no one ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ plays

This is the best fighting game available right now. It single-handedly delivers everything everyone complaining about other fighting games says they want. Usually my reviews are longer. Literally the only complaint I have is I wish Ogre kept his cigarette. (I know why he doesn't have it anymore. Still wish he did.)

One of the most fun competitive fighters I've played. The GRD gimmick makes for fun matchups, except for Waldstein. ♥♥♥♥ Waldstein. Also the lineup of femboys in the game is much less impressive than in Otoko Cross: Pretty Boys Klondike Solitaire, but you can't have everything I suppose.

I have mixed feelings about recommending UNI. On one hand, it's not a bad game. On the other hand, fighting games are niche and this is a niche game within fighting games, so be prepared to go looking for the community. I'd say wait for a pretty significant sale and pick it up as a side game if you're interested. It's got some great characters, mechanics, and vibes, and if you like combo trials this is one that will really test you.