Fantasy Strike

65%
Game Brain Score Based on 1,494 reviews
  • gameplay
  • graphics
  • music
Fantasy Strike Game Cover
Fantasy Strike threads the needle between Street Fighter and Smash Bros.
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"Fantasy Strike" is a colorful and accessible fighting game that simplifies complex mechanics, allowing players of all skill levels toexecute advanced strategies with ease. Choose from a diverse roster of characters, each with unique abilities, and engage in fast-paced battles in various arenas. The game features both online and offline modes, including a story mode, training, and local matches, providing a rich and engaging experience for solo and multiplayer enthusiasts.

  • Mac OS
  • Nintendo Switch
  • PC
  • Play​station 4
  • Play​station 5
  • Windows
  • Linux
  • Play​Station
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

65%
Audience ScoreBased on 1,494 reviews
gameplay63 positive mentions
monetization12 negative mentions
  • Fantasy Strike is an excellent introduction to fighting games, making it easy for newcomers to learn the fundamentals without complex inputs.
  • The game features a diverse cast of characters, each with unique playstyles, and provides in-game tutorials that help players understand their mechanics.
  • The rollback netcode ensures smooth online play, allowing for enjoyable matches even with players from different regions.
  • The game locks local play and friend matches behind a paywall, requiring players to purchase the Core Pack to access these features.
  • Some characters are considered overpowered, leading to frustrating matchups that can feel unbalanced.
  • The visuals and character designs are often criticized as bland or generic, detracting from the overall experience.
  • gameplay289 mentions

    The gameplay of Fantasy Strike is characterized by its accessibility, featuring simplified mechanics that allow newcomers to engage with fighting game fundamentals without the steep learning curve typical of the genre. While many players appreciate the focus on strategic decision-making and the unique yomi counter mechanic, others criticize the game for being overly simplistic, leading to a lack of depth and variety in gameplay. Overall, it serves as a solid introduction to fighting games, but may not satisfy those seeking a more complex and nuanced experience.

    • “It's very polished, nice visuals, fun mechanics, great tutorials and practice tools plus rollback net code.”
    • “The gameplay is really good and clean but the matchmaking system in ranked is flawed.”
    • “The gameplay is simplistic, but surprisingly deep.”
    • “The gameplay is incredibly uninspired and feels unnecessarily restricted for no apparent reason.”
    • “The issues here are obvious and painful: the absence of motion inputs removes the situational limitations that help to balance matches in fighters such as these, and the low amount of unique moves makes gameplay feel painfully repetitive, not to mention immensely creatively limiting.”
    • “Overly simplified fighting mechanics to the point of not being fun.”
  • graphics117 mentions

    The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the clean art style and fluid animations, while others criticize the visuals as bland, awkward, or even ugly. Many note that the graphics are not up to modern standards, with some describing them as simple or budget-friendly, yet functional for gameplay clarity. Overall, while there are elements of charm and improvement, the aesthetic appeal remains polarizing among players.

    • “The graphics have improved a ton since the Patreon started, and I'm not sure how much more they are going to improve them, but even if they stopped right where it is, you have a great looking game that is very pleasing to the eyes.”
    • “The visuals and animations here are beautiful.”
    • “Wow, this is the best, and only, free to play fighting game I ever played, it's a lot of quality put into the animations, character designs, intro movie cutscene, backgrounds, and cell shaded graphics.”
    • “Visually, it often ventures into the uncanny valley, making character appearances unsettling, and some visuals are downright confusing.”
    • “The graphics rework made the ugly game look hideous...”
    • “The visuals are extremely ugly and initially turned me away from the game and the game's easy mechanics are a good thing, but they create an extremely low skill ceiling.”
  • music44 mentions

    The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players praising the soundtrack as solid and fitting, while others find it generic and forgettable. Highlights include specific tracks that stand out, such as those featuring unique instruments, but overall, many feel the music lacks variety and memorability compared to other fighting games. Despite these criticisms, the audio design is generally considered serviceable, contributing positively to the game's atmosphere.

    • “The soundtrack is also solid.”
    • “There's a wide variety of characters to fill all the fighting game archetypes, and a banging soundtrack to boot.”
    • “The soundtrack is a wonderful complement to the in-game visuals, especially Rook's theme and the character select music.”
    • “In terms of audio, the music is serviceable but rather generic, and the lack of variety quickly makes it repetitive.”
    • “The soundtrack is meh, and barely worth looking at as anything but background noise unlike many fighting games.”
    • “Soundtrack and graphics, while not up to Tekken 7 or the like, are fine for what this game is and the single player has decent variety for those who prefer that experience.”
  • monetization39 mentions

    The monetization model of the game has received significant criticism, with many players labeling it as a cash grab that employs aggressive free-to-play tactics, including mandatory purchases to play with friends and a reliance on microtransactions for cosmetic items. While some appreciate the gameplay, the monetization practices are seen as exploitative and detrimental to the overall experience, leading to frustration among users who feel misled by the game's marketing. Overall, the monetization approach has overshadowed the game's potential and enjoyment for many players.

    • “A really good monetization model with one notable hiccup being you have to pay to play with friends, which is frankly absurd.”
    • “Every character is unlocked for free, and with the new monetization model, they might even be introducing more if they aren't done with new characters.”
    • “It even exceeds most recent fighting games with its cross-play, high-quality rollback netcode, and very respectful implementation of in-app purchases.”
    • “I enjoy this game, and I have plenty more time in it on Switch, but its monetization is horrendous.”
    • “The audacity to claim 'free-to-play, the good kind like Dota 2' without the ability to play with your friends is beyond anything I've ever seen relating to monetization and marketing before.”
    • “Love the game, but the choices they've made with their free-to-play model are atrocious; I would have gladly paid for those new characters as DLC to support the game rather than see them make these other poor decisions for cash grabbing.”
  • character development26 mentions

    Character development in the game has received mixed reviews, with many players criticizing the character designs as bland, generic, or uninspired, detracting from the overall experience. However, some users appreciate the unique and creative aspects of certain characters, praising the art style and animations as well-executed and fitting for the game's theme. Overall, while there are standout designs, the consensus leans towards a need for improvement in character aesthetics and diversity.

    • “I genuinely love the character designs (for the most part), the aesthetics fit the game well and having full voice acting is a worthy addition.”
    • “The character designs are unique and varied, building on long-standing fighter archetypes and offering plenty of options for different playstyles.”
    • “Beautiful polish, great character designs and animations, great soundtrack, and a game design that is really daring but extremely effective.”
    • “The character designs, too, felt uninspired.”
    • “Horrible art style and character designs really drag down the presentation.”
    • “This game is good in theory but leaves a lot to be desired in terms of character design.”
  • story23 mentions

    The game's story aspect is generally considered minimal, with some players wishing for more depth and character development. While there is a light-hearted narrative and some introductory graphics, the story mode primarily serves as a backdrop to the gameplay rather than a substantial feature. Overall, the focus remains on multiplayer experiences, with the story content feeling secondary and somewhat lacking.

    • “While I do wish there was a little more story, the game is more or less complete and feels polished.”
    • “Still, it is nice to get that prequel story for Nagoriyuki now that Onimaru is in the game.”
    • “During my time playing, it has gained story mode, a tutorial, introductory videos for every character, as well as graphical polish.”
    • “There isn't a whole lot of single player/story content beyond just playing matches, but the tight focus works well.”
    • “In the free-to-play version of this game, you get the entire game minus the story mode, DOA2/3 music, and all of the characters except for four of them.”
    • “The core pack enables an arcade mode with some brief story for 10/12 characters (Onimaru and Quince can be played, but they don't have any vignettes).”
  • stability14 mentions

    The game's stability is a significant concern, with users reporting frequent freezes, lag spikes, and crashes, particularly in online play. While some players find the core gameplay enjoyable despite these issues, the overall experience is marred by persistent bugs and connectivity problems, leading to frustration during matches. Despite its potential, the game's stability issues detract from its overall quality.

    • “It runs smoothly without any problems, looks great, and works really well under Linux.”
    • “The game maintains a stable performance throughout, providing a seamless experience.”
    • “I've experienced no crashes or bugs, making for a consistently enjoyable gameplay.”
    • “It's ugly, it freezes, it crashes, it lags, and the game design is hot garbage.”
    • “My only complaint is the buggy online play, which often causes freezes and disconnects between matches.”
    • “However, at this time of writing, the menu is buggy.”
  • optimization13 mentions

    The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with some players experiencing significant frame drops and performance issues, particularly on the Switch, while others note improvements following updates that have enhanced compatibility across various systems. Although the graphics engine has been optimized for better performance on PCs and older laptops, many still feel that the game is not fully optimized, leading to a frustrating experience for some users. Overall, while there are signs of progress, optimization remains a concern for a portion of the player base.

    • “The skill ceiling is still very high, but exceptionally difficult things (mechanically speaking) don't become hard barriers for anything except for minute, top-level optimizations.”
    • “Your wins and losses are primarily determined by your knowledge and decision making, while input accuracy and raw reaction time offer smaller rewards and optimizations on the 'norm' of play.”
    • “They have also made great headway in optimization since the last free demo weekend, so it should run on a much larger number of systems.”
    • “Either that or the game is incredibly poorly optimized.”
    • “Lots of frame drops that can't be alleviated in any way (docked vs handheld performance is the same, forcing the Switch to 720p or 480p doesn't help docked mode either).”
    • “On a technical level, this game does not feel optimized.”
  • grinding12 mentions

    Reviews highlight that "grinding" in this indie fighting game is minimal, as all characters are unlocked for free without the need for extensive playtime or training. This design choice allows players, especially newcomers, to focus on gameplay and strategy rather than tedious skill-building, making it an accessible entry point into the genre. Overall, the game is praised for eliminating the grind typically associated with character unlocking, enhancing the enjoyment of competitive play.

    • “Fantasy Strike is also free to play (no grinding or unlocking characters), has GGPO netcode (which any FGC veteran knows is a huge thing), and is fully cross-platform so anyone can play against anyone, which is awesome for the most part.”
    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “This is a gross assumption that I would be content simply grinding out online if I decided to stay a free player.”
    • “It's supposed to be part of how to get good, but it's tiresome when I have to do it every time a new game comes out and is more tedious than difficult.”
  • humor6 mentions

    The humor in the game is highlighted by its absurd character abilities and the irony of competitive elements being locked behind a subscription, which players find amusing. Users appreciate the comedic aspects of gameplay, such as over-the-top attacks and the presence of meme-worthy characters, contributing to a lighthearted experience despite the game's competitive claims. Overall, the humor is seen as a notable and entertaining feature, even if it contrasts with the game's serious competitive intentions.

    • “This is completely hilarious from a game by someone who supposedly wants to remove barriers of execution from fighting games.”
    • “You cannot bill this as a competitive game, but then gate a hilariously basic feature like replays behind a monthly subscription.”
    • “If you hated hadouken spam in Street Fighter II and think Flowchart Ken is a funny meme, wait until you get a load of this character.”
  • replayability5 mentions

    Overall, the game's replayability is mixed; while some players appreciate the distinct characters and sound mechanics that encourage multiple playthroughs, others find it lacking in fun and motivation to return. The balance between simplicity and complexity offers potential for replayability, but not all users feel compelled to revisit the game.

    • “The mechanics are sound, and all of the characters are different enough from each other to make the game replayable.”
    • “Not very fun, honestly low replayability.”
    • “Replayability: I see no reason to go back.”
    • “This game is just simple enough to relax the learning curve, but complex enough to have replayability similar to the bastions of the genre.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

75% average critic score

Buy Fantasy Strike

Play time

51hMedian play time
68hAverage play time
7-194hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 4 analyzed playthroughs

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