BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend

About

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend is a single player and multiplayer arcade fighting game with a anime theme. It was developed by Arc System Works and was released on December 11, 2014. It received very positive reviews from players.

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend is a 2D fighting game and the enhanced version of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II. The game features an updated version of Calamity Trigger's Story Mode called Blazblue Calamity Trigger Reconstruction; the inclusion of Relius Clover as a playable character; four new stories for Platinum, Makoto, Valkenhayn, and Relius; a new Unlimited Mars game mode; hidden Distor…

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend screenshot

+13

Skip User Reviews

91%

Audience ScoreBased on 708 reviews

story110 positive mentions

stability5 negative mentions

Deep and rewarding fighting gameplay with a good balance between accessibility and complexity
Extensive single-player content including story mode, various modes like Abyss and Challenge, fully voiced dialogue, and visual novel elements
Vibrant character roster with unique, well-designed characters and high-quality anime-style visuals and soundtrack

PC port suffers from technical issues such as occasional frame drops, input lag, and some crashing on certain systems
Online multiplayer is nearly dead on PC, making it difficult to find matches or enjoy online features
Story mode can be very long and text-heavy, with complicated and confusing plot elements that may be hard to follow for newcomers

story
377 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
69%
2%
The story mode in this fighting game is extensive, featuring a complex, multilayered narrative with individual character arcs, multiple endings, and a blend of serious and comedic tones presented in a visual novel style with full voice acting. While it includes a playable recap of the first game’s events to help newcomers, the plot can be confusing due to time travel elements and dense lore, making it especially rewarding for fans interested in deep storytelling rather than just fighting gameplay. Overall, the story is praised for its richness and character development but may feel lengthy and dialogue-heavy for those less invested in the series' intricate narrative.
- “Continuum Shift Extend contains a condensed version of Calamity Trigger's story complete with most of the memorable fights as well as minor beneficial tweaks, the entirety of Continuum Shift, and a few extra story routes not found elsewhere.”
- “The story mode is presented in a visual novel fashion with the occasional battle, this mode offers the player the option to view both the rework of the first installment Calamity Trigger or Continuum Shift's story, allowing the player to move at their own pace through the story to achieve three endings for a character; true and bad which both tie in with the story's plot device, as well as a gag ending, which a few continue into the next installment.”
- “The plot is expansive with unique storylines for each character that get tied together in the finale, as well as a condensed retelling of the first game's story so as not to alienate newcomers.”
- “The actual story is a mess with retcons, inconsistencies, and a plot twist at the end that makes no sense.”
- “Instead of clearly explaining who characters are, what motivations they have, and what certain terms (e.g., azure, cauldron, kiln) mean, the calamity trigger story was unnecessarily convoluted when the audience who would benefit most are newcomers.”
- “After 20-30 hours of going through all the story (100% true ending completion): it's 95% ad-libbed technobabble garbage or unfortunately awkward sexist trash.”
gameplay
129 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
65%
2%
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend offers deep, dynamic, and polished 2D fighting gameplay with a diverse roster, unique character mechanics, and a solid combo system that appeals to both newcomers and veterans. While its complexity and steep learning curve may challenge some players, the game's thorough tutorial, smooth controls, and balanced mechanics create an engaging and rewarding fighting experience. Despite some technical quirks and limited online features, its fast-paced, flashy combat and extensive modes make it a standout title in the genre.
- “Released on Steam in late 2014, this version builds upon the mechanics and content of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, offering players a more complete and polished experience.”
- “The combo system, special attacks, and defensive mechanics all contribute to a dynamic and engaging fighting experience.”
- “The tutorial is really thorough and goes into detail about a lot of general fighting game mechanics as well as BlazBlue-specific mechanics; I cannot recommend this game enough.”
- “The tutorial is really thorough and goes into detail about a lot of general fighting game mechanics as well as BlazBlue-specific mechanics. I cannot recommend this game enough.”
- “Game is well made, but the mechanics are too difficult. Unless you want to spend half of your life practicing, then don't bother; online has no existence.”
- “When compared to other fighters such as Street Fighter, BlazBlue’s mechanics are more complex and deeper, so it's not as great of a pick-up for players looking to learn how to play fighting games. But if you’re dedicated enough to practice, you’ll be able to play the game, though it may take some time compared to people with experience in other fighters.”
music
89 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
41%
3%
The music in this game is widely praised for its energetic, anime-style soundtrack that complements the characters and fast-paced gameplay, often described as memorable and epic. While some note a lack of variety, the soundtrack is considered a major highlight, with many reviewers appreciating the included soundtrack as a valuable bonus. Overall, fans of fighting games and anime music find the soundtrack outstanding and a strong reason to play or purchase the game.
- “The soundtrack is absolutely mind-blowing; each character theme is a blood-heating tune that never wears off.”
- “BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend is a 2D fighter that brings fast-paced gameplay fit for beginners and veterans, along with an amazing original soundtrack composed by Guilty Gear's Daisuke Ishiwatari.”
- “Along with beautiful and awesome soundtrack, this game kicks ass.”
- “I thought the game’s soundtrack was really solid but lacked variety, as pretty much every track in the game was a variation of fast-paced, anime theme song, so people who don’t enjoy that style of music probably won’t enjoy this game’s soundtrack either.”
- “No variety in the soundtrack.”
- “If it goes on sale for really cheap, I recommend buying it just for the soundtrack and maybe the story mode (if you're patient enough to play through the lag), but skip it otherwise.”
graphics
62 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
45%
5%
The game's graphics are widely praised for their vibrant, detailed anime-style character designs and smooth animations that capture fast-paced combat effectively, comparable to top 2D fighters like King of Fighters XIII and Guilty Gear. However, the PC port suffers from minor technical issues such as frame drops, occasional graphical glitches, and limited graphical enhancements over console versions, resulting in jagged and blurry visuals at higher resolutions. Overall, the visuals strongly support the game's aesthetic appeal and storytelling, making it a standout title within its genre despite some performance drawbacks.
- “Character designs remain highly stylized, vibrant, and true to the anime aesthetic, with fluid animations that convey impact and personality during every move.”
- “Graphically, this is the epitome of 2D brawlers; it's up there with King of Fighters 13 and a bunch of Guilty Gear games.”
- “An amazing fighter with a cast of likeable characters, a harsh learning curve that's satisfying to triumph, gorgeous visuals, fun combat, ridiculously awesome jaw-dropping finishers, and one of the best story modes I've seen in any fighting game which probably makes my top 10 for games in general.”
- “The port is broken and buggy, with cut-off speech, random frame drops and a ton of graphical glitches.”
- “No real graphics upgrades from the console version so everything looks jagged and blurry.”
- “Fps stutters even when offline and with graphics settings at the lowest.”
humor
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is widely praised for its hilarious gag reels, comedic story elements, and funny character interactions, ranging from clever skits to playful, absurd dialogue. The story mode balances serious and lighthearted moments effectively, with many players finding themselves laughing out loud throughout, especially during non-canon endings and humorous tutorials. Overall, the humor adds charm and depth, enhancing both the narrative and player engagement.
- “Gag story took me by surprise and made me laugh my ass off.”
- “It’s interesting, funny, and really makes you start to love the characters.”
- “There is a hilarious gag ending for every character scenario except one.”
character development
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
55%
18%
27%
The character development is praised for its vibrant, highly stylized anime-inspired designs and fluid animations that effectively convey personality. Dialogue and writing quality vary but often enhance player engagement with the characters. However, some players mention not feeling a strong personal connection to any particular character despite the diverse and interesting cast.
- “I came for the interesting character designs and graphics and stayed for the great dialogue.”
- “Character designs remain highly stylized, vibrant, and true to the anime aesthetic, with fluid animations that convey impact and personality during every move.”
- “I'm hardly representative of the average buyer, but when I see a game full of really neat character designs like this one is, I greatly enjoy finding out what their deals are.”
- “The character designs are neat, the fighting is flashy, the writing ranges from barely passable to amazing, and the English voice actors generally do a good job with their roles.”
- “The character design is reminiscent of Waku Waku from Neo Geo in a sense; you get literal teddy bears fighting and stuffed animals, you get the idea.”
- “* character design.”
optimization
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
34%
33%
Optimization for Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend is mixed, with some users reporting poor performance and unoptimized PC port issues, while others experience smooth 60fps gameplay with proper settings and stable performance over extended playtime. Comparatively, it runs less efficiently than other games like Skyrim or Bioshock Infinite on similar hardware, requiring lowered settings to maintain stable framerates. Overall, the game's optimization can vary significantly depending on the system and configuration.
- “As a result, performance is much smoother, and most halfway-decent setups can expect an uninterrupted 60fps at all times.”
- “Extend is the cs that already includes all the DLC characters and introduces an additional one with bonus modes like Abyss mode. The port is pretty good with great optimization and has online with better netcode compared to Ultra on PC.”
- “Running on Windows 8.1, performance is good (60fps cap, 1080p available) and Continuum Shift performance is still hitting 60fps.”
- “Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend is literally an unoptimized garbage port to PC.”
- “The fighting itself will just make you move back to either CP or CF, except for those whose computers can compensate for the game's performance faults, if that's possible.”
- “However, there are some issues with the optimization.”
replayability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
33%
17%
The game offers strong replayability through its narrative depth and multiple character perspectives, enhancing the story experience. However, the repeated identical endings for many characters and the grind required for some modes may diminish arcade mode's replay value. Overall, new game modes and engaging story content contribute positively to its replay value.
- “The narrative depth, rare for a fighting game, adds substantial replay value as players may wish to experience each character’s perspective to uncover the full plot.”
- “A lot of new game modes which improve length and replay value.”
- “I have yet to finish the story mode but there are a lot of replayable story modes to complete going through BlazBlue.”
- “Yes, I said endings because almost every character in the game has the exact same ending, killing the arcade mode's replay value and ruining the new abyss mode since you have to grind the arcade mode just to stand a chance at it.”
stability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game’s stability is notably poor, plagued by frequent bugs such as cut-off speech, frame drops, graphical glitches, memory leaks, and alt-tab issues. Despite these significant problems, some fixes have been implemented, though multiplayer remains somewhat buggy. Overall, the port feels unfinished and poorly maintained, with limited official support for troubleshooting.
- “The port is broken and buggy, with cut-off speech, random frame drops, and a ton of graphical glitches.”
- “I think it's pretty inexcusable that ArcSys hasn't attempted to fix this issue after it being on the store for months. The only help you can find is from users, and a majority of them are found in the Steam community hub. I apparently have about an hour of playtime as of writing this review, entirely from booting the game just to see if it launches during troubleshooting.”
- “What is even better, if you have some friends owning this game, or you're one of those competitive kinds, this installment of BlazBlue on Steam has multiplayer (somewhat buggy, but comprehensible).”
emotional
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect is well-crafted, featuring an engaging and touching story mode that balances humor, sadness, and heartfelt moments. It effectively bridges narrative setups and deepens world-building, delivering top-notch writing with a wide range of impactful emotions.
- “Story mode is engaging and touching (even if occasionally trope-y).”
- “After CT's setup, CS is here to start making all the relevant emotional connections and to dive deeper into the details of the world.”
- “Extraordinary story mode with tons of dialogs of every type: extremely funny, extremely sad, extremely heartwarming, extremely brutal.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere is enriched by intricately designed, vibrant stages that visually enhance battles, alongside a magical combination of UI, sound design, and music that sets it apart from later entries.
- “Complementing the roster, the stages are intricately designed and full of life, providing visually striking arenas that enhance the overall atmosphere of the battles.”
- “You'll also notice that the UI, sound design, and music create a very magical atmosphere that the later entries completely lack.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding is required to reach the true ending, with the Abyss mode offering a challenging score attack that many find tedious due to its progressively difficult AI matches.
- “So you have some grinding if you just want to get to the true ending.”
- “The abyss mode is another score attack, presented as a tedious gauntlet of matches where you fight increasingly difficult AI.”

Skip Game Offers

Buy BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend

3h Median play time

3h Average play time

3-3h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs

Skip Videos

Videos

Skip Games Like BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend

82%1.4kreviews

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger

2014

Arcade Fighting

92%8.2kreviews

BlazBlue Centralfiction

2017

Casual Sport

83%1.3kreviews

Guilty Gear Xrd: Sign

2015

Arcade Fighting

79%821reviews

The King of Fighters XIV

2017

Arcade Fighting

89%4.5kreviews

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Ultimate Ninja STORM 3 Full Burst HD

2013

Open World Role Playing

More games like BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend

Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend is a arcade fighting game with anime theme.

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend is available on PC, Windows, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation.

On average players spend around 3 hours playing BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend.

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend was released on December 11, 2014.

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend was developed by Arc System Works.

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend has received very positive reviews from players. Most players liked BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend for its story but disliked it for its optimization.

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, BlazBlue Centralfiction, Guilty Gear Xrd: Sign, The King of Fighters XIV, NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Ultimate Ninja STORM 3 Full Burst HD and others.

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend

Platforms

Buy BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend