Publisher Athlon Games and developer SNK have announced the western release date for Samurai Shodown on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
The latest in their ongoing weapons-fighting game franchise is launching on June 25th in the Americas and Europe, for both consoles. The Japanese release is set for June 27th. The Windows PC and Nintendo Switch versions are planned for a release in Q4 of this year.
If you pre-order the game or purchase it via digital storefronts of retailers before June 30th, you can pick up the Season Pass entirely free.
“We’re extremely excited to finally confirm that June 25 will see the much anticipated return of Samurai Shodown—one of the founding figures of the fighting genre,” said SNK president Koichi Toyama in a press release. “As a thank you to the fans who have stuck with us during the long wait between the franchise installments, we’re pleased to offer the first six months of DLC completely free of charge to anyone who buys the game and redeems the game’s season pass within the first week of release, which will include four new fighters.”
Featured above, you can view a new trailer for the game. Here’s a brief rundown on some new details for the game:
Officially a prequel to the original 1993 Samurai Shodown, the latest title’s Story Mode allows players to choose any character and experience their journey—from franchise favorites like Haohmaru and Charlotte to newcomers like Wu-Ruixiang and Darli Dagger. Several other modes will be present as well, including a Training Mode, Online Play and the all-new Dojo Mode.
As fighters continue to play and level up their skills, the game is watching, learning, calculating and mapping its user’s playstyle in the offline battle modes in order to create an online “ghost” that replicates that style in Dojo Mode. Players can take on their own AI-derived avatar for better insight into their own weaknesses, or download the ghost of a favorite player from the cloud for a fresh challenge. These intelligent AI ghosts promise to change the way fighting game aficionados train and compete forever.
“Dojo Mode has been a franchise aspiration for the team for some time now and an evolution to the fighting genre that we’re very proud of,” said SNK lead producer Yasuyuki Oda. “Not only will it give players the opportunity to play against the ghosts of some of the best Samurai Shodown players in the world, but playing against your own ghost will prove an amazing tool to learn more about your own playstyle.”
