We’ve spoken at length here at Cultured Vultures about how excited we are for Soulcalibur VI. If you hadn’t guessed, we’re pretty gosh darned excited, and every time we get hands on with it, that excitement builds and builds. In fact, is it October 19th yet? We’ve got plans to play this game until the end of time.
The gameplay is second to none, providing that fast-paced yet strategic weapon-based fighting we’ve always loved for the 20+ years that the series has been around, but with our latest session, it looks clear that some of Soulcalibur VI’s biggest highlights and attractions will be its single-player modes and content.
The Soulcalibur games of old always brought out the big guns when it came to additional content, with SC 1 and 2 bringing the legendary Weapon Master Mode, while Soulcalibur 3 introduced the world to the frankly underrated Chronicles of the Sword mode. Soulcalibur VI feels like a return to those days, and we couldn’t be more thrilled.
First up is the Soul Chronicles mode, which feels like an improved version of Tekken 7’s Story Mode. Here, you have the game’s main storyline, which focuses on the fight to destroy Soul Edge from multiple perspectives. Meanwhile, the character stories focus on each fighter’s individual motivations.
Each conversation and cutscene between fights is represented by artwork that’s absolutely lovely, though it would have been nice to see more 3D animated cutscenes than we did in our brief time with the game. Perhaps that’s where Tekken 7 has the edge, because you can’t beat the sight of two men kicking the snot out of each other in the middle of a volcano.
That being said, it seems that each character’s story is more involved and in depth than Tekken 7’s “here’s a single fight and then an ending”, so at least that means there’s more good quality content here. We certainly won’t say no to playing more Soulcalibur VI.
At the other end of the spectrum, you have the Libra of Soul Mode, which looks like it could have the potential to keep players coming back for a long time. You use the character creation tools to make your own fighter, which we’ll get into in a little bit, before starting your own adventure in the world.
Libra of Soul feels like a natural extension of Weapon Master mode, with a sprawling world map featuring missions and locations dotted around the landscape. Libra of Soul builds on this though by introducing RPG elements, food items that’ll offer boosts before each bout and mercenaries that can jump in on the fight.
There’s also a morality system in play that the game promises will dictate what missions you unlock and eventually what ending you get. During our limited demo, it only gave us the question of whether we like virtuous blue swords or clearly evil red swords, but it promises bigger choices later down the line. It should give the mode some decent replay value, though we’re not quite expecting it to replace Telltale Games.
Still, the Libra of Soul mode can be a bit daft in certain respects. Because the power of the Edgelord runs through me, my character was a massive horned demon lad, yet fellow adventurers would encounter me and remark on how trustworthy I looked. Maxi, I love you, but your choice in trustees is somewhat lacking.
Speaking of making otherworldly abominations, the creation mode used here builds on the tools introduced in Soulcalibur V. I mean, it literally builds on those foundations. Most of the items and tools used in this mode have been brought in from Soulcalibur V, including faces, armour and sticker sets, but it’s still a really in-depth character creator.
The introduction of different races, including Skeletons, Lizardmen, Shapeshifters, Automatons, Elves, about five separate flavours of Demon and more, help make it easier to create certain types of characters. We’re totally going to be remaking Spinal from Killer Instinct using the tools provided, and you can’t stop us.
That said, certain items aren’t available with certain character races, which limits the scope of creation somewhat. Let me put an edgy trench coat on my lizards, you cowards! Certain items that are available also clip through each other, which can be really annoying when you’re trying to create the perfect outfit only to find the belt sticks out of the armour.
Even with its flaws, the creation system still has the potential to keep the Soulcalibur VI community engaged with producing original content and showcasing them online for all to see. We certainly can’t wait to see our collection of original characters do battle with one of the ninja turtles. It’s going to be incredible.
It’s clear that Project Soul have invested so much time into Soulcalibur VI in an attempt to make it both great fun to play but also great value for money, and so far, it looks like they’re going to deliver on that goal. There’s still a few kinks to iron out in the few short weeks until launch, but we’re more excited than ever.
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