Following the pleasant surprise reveal for Soulcalibur VI, many fans wondered how the new entry would fall in the series’ convoluted timeline – and most importantly how it would play. Now, we’ve learned the game is actually a return to the series’ origins, and will mimic its older gameplay.

A new developer interview with producer Motohiro Okubo was posted alongside new gameplay, who confirmed the game is a return to the series origins, and its combat and speed is meant to be familiar to longtime fans of the series.

Okubo noted that the game’s speed and responsiveness is meant to recapture what fans saw in Soulcalibur II, as well as what they feel is a more well-rounded balance of character interactions and mechanics seen in Soulcalibur V.

The game is meant as a celebration of the series’ 20th anniversary, and despite being the sixth numbered entry, likened to a soft refresh of the entire series. As both the Soulcalibur and Tekken games are developed in-house, there’s a sort of rivalry between the teams and they always compete.

Soulcalibur VI is developed in Unreal Engine 4, and its codename was “Luxor,” a take on the word “lux” or light, as the studio really focused on recapturing the lighting seen in the original Soulcalibur. They want the game to be brighter overall, but not saturated and whited out.

The game’s new Reversal Edge mechanic is meant to capture the feeling of being a swordsman or a talented fighter. If you parry or dodge an attack, you go into a counterattack. It’s meant to be easy to execute and applicable to low, medium, or high attacks.

Okubo noted the Reversal Edge mechanic is a risk versus reward type deal, where the team is focused on providing a more classic Soulcalibur experience. He also teased there are other new mechanics, but wouldn’t detail them at this time.

Finally, Okubo said that his favorite character from the series is Mitsurugi – he joked saying all kids wanted to be a samurai at one point during their childhood. He also teased saying he could pick a lot of other characters, however if he were to pick right now he would reveal his cards.

Soulcalibur VI is launching across PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One sometime next year.