Street Fighter 6 got its first big showing at today's State of Play, and first impressions suggest that Capcom is working hard to make sure the launch version of the game feels more substantial than its predecessor. In the three-minute video we catch a glimpse of four confirmed characters—Ryu, Chun-Li, Luke, and a new character called Jamie whose fighting style is based on drunken boxing—as well as some other neat and unexpected features.
The most interesting new feature is Street Fighter 6's new World Tour mode. This is "an immersive single player story mode" that has at its core an explorable, urban open world that has just a tiny whiff of Yakuza about it. "It's time to experience the vast world of Street Fighter," the game's official website reads. "This isn't just a story about the fighters, it's a story about you, the player. Find your rival, meet friends, and walk the path of a world warrior."
Aside from the footage in the above trailer and that brief description, we don't know much more about World Tour as yet. In a post on the PlayStation blog, much is made of Street Fighter 6's new control system. Returning players can use a control scheme familiar from past games, but alongside that is a "Modern Control Type" which basically makes pulling off special moves much more easy. Another new addition to the core brawls is the Drive System, which is a gauge gradually filled by executing parries and blocks.
In the words of Capcom: "A Drive Impact is a powerful strike that can absorb an opponent’s incoming attack and can lead to a wall splat. Use Drive Parry to repel your opponent’s attack and refill your Drive Gauge. Cancel out of a Drive Parry or normal attack into a Drive Rush to quickly close in on your opponent. Overdrive Arts are similar to EX Moves from past games that power up your Special Moves. Use Drive Reversal to perform a counterattack to get you out of tight situations. One gauge, five techniques, unlimited possibilities. Use your creativity to choose which technique to utilize and when."
More flashy, and potentially impressive, is the new Real Time Commentary. In Street Fighter 6 you can have "well-known fight game community" members commentating on your match. According to Capcom, that will serve to both make games more exciting, presumably especially for fighting game noobs who like the spectacle but cannot figure out what is actually going on. That feature has its own trailer, which you can see at the bottom.
Overall, it's looking like a genuinely impressive evolution for Street Fighter. Street Fighter 6 will release some time in 2023. In a series first, Street Fighter 6 will use Capcom's own RE Engine, which powers the recent Resident Evil games and Devil May Cry 5.
