This review is written from the perspective of a newer age fighting game competitor. I've had my eye on this title for a while, and thought to give it a try if it ever got rollback. The deed has been done, and has since quickly joined the ranks of my favorite fighting games.

There is a lot to learn mechanically, though it usually feels like more avenues to solve problems than hurdles to jump through - I realize this is subjective. For the most part, it is surprisingly well balanced and you can succeed with almost anyone who compels you just fine (those you could argue otherwise would probably fit on one hand). A lot of these characters are very unique make for interesting, engaging matchups - it can be a lot to learn, but it's not like 80 characters or anything. A unique roster of that size means you have a good shot of finding someone you'll get a kick out of too. Just know what you're getting into - the strong characters in this game are STRONG and if you find yourself going beyond enjoying yourself in single player/playing with friends, you'll sometimes find uphill battles against Izanami Ribcage, Carl Unblockables, and Arakune. You have a lot of tools to solve problems though, don't worry.

The Overdrive mechanic, complimented well by the Active Flow mechanic, is a cool twist on anime fighting game Bursts that offers you a lot of interesting choices pertaining to opportunity cost, resource management, and new points of execution, while enabling you to do more cool flashy attacks and backflips.

The implementation of rollback is not on the level the likes of which Guilty Gear +R got, though that is less slighting BBCF's QoL and more applauding French CaliBurst's work on +R, and French Bread's fleshed out learning and practicing tools. Replays and Training Mode are not quite as feature rich as some contemporaries such as Under-Night or +R, Though they certainly get the job done.

The bottom line is I have been regularly playing opponents on the other side of the United States and usually seeing little to no issue. I've served my time playing Under-Night online during 2020 and 2021 (great game, by the way). I'm pretty over it at this point compared to this. If you are wired and want good quality connections, you will get them.

I personally can't speak to the strength of the single player options such as the abyss mode and other things of that nature, because it's not really what I'm in town for, so it doesn't worry me much. The combo guides and system mechanic tutorials leave something to be desired - again, I am saying this feeling like the bar was set high when looking at Under Night's resume in that department. Specifically, combo trials for characters reflect Central Fiction as it initially came out, and it was adjusted balance and tool wise significantly since (colloquially referred to as CF1, instead of the current day CF2). Anecdotally, a fairly important and valuable conversion in a lot of my main's combos that you really ought to learn are not in the combo trials...because he couldn't actually do them at all in CF1!

There will always be external resources of varying degrees of quality - usually solid at worst but typically better than that, which has been my experience. It's also the usual show in town for fighting games. Dustloop (thank you to all the editors and maintainers of Dustloop and Mizuumi!! 🙏) is a fantastic resource and there are plenty of places via Twitter, Discord, Twitch, and I imagine even Steam itself, though I've never gone that route personally.

In short it's a cool anime fighter with a cool flow to it via overdrive/AF, a strong diverse roster, and the recent addition of rollback means that playing online actually feels solid. I've tried a number of fighting games and I like a lot of them, though I'd only consider 3 to be big time favorites of mine. It is now 4, with the inclusion of BBCF.

This review is written from the perspective of a newer age fighting game competitor. I've had my eye on this title for a while, and thought to give it a try if it ever got rollback. The deed has been done, and has since quickly joined the ranks of my favorite fighting games. There is a lot to learn mechanically, though it usually feels like more avenues to solve problems than hurdles to jump through - I realize this is subjective. For the most part, it is surprisingly well balanced and you can succeed with almost anyone who compels you just fine (those you could argue otherwise would probably fit on one hand). A lot of these characters are very unique make for interesting, engaging matchups - it can be a lot to learn, but it's not like 80 characters or anything. A unique roster of that size means you have a good shot of finding someone you'll get a kick out of too. Just know what you're getting into - the strong characters in this game are STRONG and if you find yourself going beyond enjoying yourself in single player/playing with friends, you'll sometimes find uphill battles against Izanami Ribcage, Carl Unblockables, and Arakune. You have a lot of tools to solve problems though, don't worry. The Overdrive mechanic, complimented well by the Active Flow mechanic, is a cool twist on anime fighting game Bursts that offers you a lot of interesting choices pertaining to opportunity cost, resource management, and new points of execution, while enabling you to do more cool flashy attacks and backflips. The implementation of rollback is not on the level the likes of which Guilty Gear +R got, though that is less slighting BBCF's QoL and more applauding French CaliBurst's work on +R, and French Bread's fleshed out learning and practicing tools. Replays and Training Mode are not quite as feature rich as some contemporaries such as Under-Night or +R, Though they certainly get the job done. The bottom line is I have been regularly playing opponents on the other side of the United States and usually seeing little to no issue. I've served my time playing Under-Night online during 2020 and 2021 (great game, by the way). I'm pretty over it at this point compared to this. If you are wired and want good quality connections, you will get them. I personally can't speak to the strength of the single player options such as the abyss mode and other things of that nature, because it's not really what I'm in town for, so it doesn't worry me much. The combo guides and system mechanic tutorials leave something to be desired - again, I am saying this feeling like the bar was set high when looking at Under Night's resume in that department. Specifically, combo trials for characters reflect Central Fiction as it initially came out, and it was adjusted balance and tool wise significantly since (colloquially referred to as CF1, instead of the current day CF2). Anecdotally, a fairly important and valuable conversion in a lot of my main's combos that you really ought to learn are not in the combo trials...because he couldn't actually do them at all in CF1! There will always be external resources of varying degrees of quality - usually solid at worst but typically better than that, which has been my experience. It's also the usual show in town for fighting games. Dustloop (thank you to all the editors and maintainers of Dustloop and Mizuumi!! 🙏) is a fantastic resource and there are plenty of places via Twitter, Discord, Twitch, and I imagine even Steam itself, though I've never gone that route personally. In short it's a cool anime fighter with a cool flow to it via overdrive/AF, a strong diverse roster, and the recent addition of rollback means that playing online actually feels solid. I've tried a number of fighting games and I like a lot of them, though I'd only consider 3 to be big time favorites of mine. It is now 4, with the inclusion of BBCF.