Melty Blood: Type Lumina Gameplay Trailer Debuts

Last week, news on a new Melty Blood game surfaced, catching many TYPE-MOON and fighting game fans off-guard. TYPE-MOON, best known in the United States for the mobile game Fate / Stay Night spinoff, Fate / Grand Order, first developed the visual novel, Tsukihime, over two decades ago. Fighting game developer French Bread created a fighting game spin-off based on Tsukihime's story, using its characters and original characters, titled Melty Blood in 2002.

After several arcade releases and follow-up games within the series, Melty Blood Actress Again was the first time the series was officially released in the west. During this time, French Bread had already begun development for its next fighting game, Under Night In-Birth. Using a similar engine to Melty Blood, Under Night In-Birth was more polished than its predecessor, becoming a hit among anime fighters.

First announced in TYPE-MOON's game magazine, Melty Blood: Type Lumina received a gameplay trailer, showing snippets of what fans can expect as the game releases later this year. The game promises intimate interactions between the fighters, with every fight having personal intros varied from each of the fighters. Of the fighters revealed, the protagonist Shiki Tohno, and the heroines, Arcueid Brunestud, Akiha Tohno, and Ciel are featured in the gameplay trailer.

What's most impressive about the trailer is the hand-drawn characters, a stark contrast to the classic sprites of the original Melty Blood. Each character shows their emotion behind every attack and animations, showcasing the growth of French Bread as a developer over the past two decades with their longest-running series.

It is also confirmed that Type Lumina will be a companion title to the Tsukihime remake that will release around the same time. Though there is no word on a PC version, it would be surprising if it were excluded, as the series debuted on the PC.

There's nothing more hype than getting that perfect read on an opponent in a fighting game. The display of character knowledge and ability to predict an opponent's moves make for an extremely satisfying rush that most characters can't replicate.

Over the years, reversal characters have changed their tactics and abilities based on the games they're in, but they all follow a similar overall game plan. The plan is to create situations where opponents can attack in theory, but they might be at risk of being countered if they don't keep things tight. Reversal characters can be very risky to play, but also take advantage of players who don't have a lot of practice against them.

Baiken from the Guilty Gear series is all about having strong reversals and altering the normal flow of battle for her opponent. Guilty Gear is full of intricacies and character-specific mechanics, and Baiken's azami system is a great example of this. With azami active, she enters a counter state and has certain follow-ups for certain levels of attacks depending on if they're high, mid, or low.

The counter state is balanced by the fact that if she guesses wrong, she's put in a counter state and will receive extra damage, meaning she has to guess carefully. This "Queen of Counters" is not recommended for newcomers to the series, but she's definitely one of the most fun to play if fans are willing to invest the time.