GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE-

An accessible, beautifully presented fighting system

GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE- earns consistent praise across this review base for successfully reworking a historically demanding fighting-game series into something dramatically more welcoming. "If it's your first Guilty Gear or fighting game then I highly recommend it," reads one review, describing the redesigned core system's slower pace and simplified execution requirements as a genuine improvement for newcomers without gutting the depth experienced players look for. Reviewers are similarly consistent in praising the production values on top of that redesigned system: strong character animation, a widely admired rock soundtrack, and visual presentation that multiple reviewers describe as best-in-class for the genre. This review treats that foundation as real and well-earned; the game's Very Positive score reflects a genuinely strong fighting game at its core, not just built-in franchise goodwill.

An extremely consistent complaint about a fragmented paid roster

What dominates the critical portion of this review base overwhelmingly is a specific complaint about how the full character roster is monetized. "I love guilty gear, but this business of making practically the entire cast of the game into $7 DLCs each is just abuse of the player base," reads one review, and another lays out the arithmetic directly: "base + seasons 1-3 costs $105," before noting a fourth season pass on top of that. Checking a broad sample of negative reviews, this complaint — that a meaningful share of the roster sits behind sequential, individually priced season passes rather than being folded into the base purchase or a single expansion — recurs with striking consistency, making it one of the most repeated themes in this review base regardless of how positively reviewers otherwise rate the underlying fighting system.

A well-corroborated complaint about regional pricing

A separate, specific complaint concerns a pricing change reviewers date precisely. "As of the 24th of August 2023, ArcSys has made the incredible decision of getting rid of regional pricing," reads one review, and another reports the practical effect: "The regional prices now are absurd. They practically doubled the price in Brazil." A further review gives concrete numbers from Colombia: "the previous price tag for a season pass was around 30k COP, now it's 92k COP." This review treats the complaint as fair and well-corroborated: it's raised with specific, consistent dates and figures across reviewers from multiple different countries, describing a real cost increase for players in weaker-currency regions rather than a vague pricing grievance.

A battle pass that arrived five years into the game's life

This review checked Arc System Works' own update history directly and confirmed a specific, recent addition driving fresh backlash: a "Blazing Pass" system, with its first "Duel" launching in May 2026 and a second in July 2026, introduced roughly five years after the game's 2021 release. "5 years into a game's lifespan and we're drastically changing the gameplay and adding battle passes... are we serious?" reads one review from that period, and another: "why are we putting a battle pass in a fighting game? ... putting aside the cheap cost of said pass. why not just add it anyway?" Given how consistently and specifically this system is named across recent reviews, this review treats the backlash as a genuine, well-corroborated response to a real monetization change rather than reflexive complaint about DLC in general — many of these same reviewers are longtime players who supported several prior season passes before drawing a line at a battle pass specifically.

Balance patches that unsettle established players

Distinct from monetization, a consistent complaint concerns how balance patches accompanying newer seasons affect established character mains. "Character defining features got removed, and the damage is, despite buffs to health, still frustratingly huge," reads one review discussing a recent season's patch, and another: "They removed kara canceling and my favorite character is now the boring masher all the bad players complained about on twitter." This review checked the patch history directly and confirmed substantial version 2.00 and 2.01 updates shipped in April and May 2026 alongside new character releases — genuine, ongoing balance work, though reviewers consistently frame some of these specific changes as removing what made certain characters distinct rather than purely adjusting their strength.

A thin single-player offering at launch

A separate, more mechanical complaint concerns what the game offered outside of versus play when it first released. "Missing what makes most Arcsys games stand out - No combo mode (to be added later) - Lack of single player content," reads one early review, describing a launch state that leaned almost entirely on online and local matches without the practice tools, mission modes, or story-driven single-player content some Arc System Works fighting games are known for. This review checked the patch history and found that a combo/mission mode and additional single-player content were indeed added in later updates, addressing that specific gap over time, though it's worth noting for anyone buying the game expecting a robust solo offering from day one that this arrived well after release rather than being present at launch.

A note on a reported content edit

A smaller number of reviews describe a patch that removed references to Taiwan and other geographically sensitive terms from an in-game glossary entry. This review did not independently verify the specific wording change against original patch notes, but the detail is repeated with enough specificity and consistency across independent reviewers that it's worth flagging for players who weigh this kind of content decision when choosing what to support.

Final verdict

GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE- remains, at its mechanical core, an excellent and genuinely accessible fighting game with outstanding presentation and real, ongoing developer support five years after launch. What keeps this review's score moderate is an extremely consistent complaint about a fragmented, expensive paid roster, a well-corroborated 2023 regional pricing change that raised costs sharply in many countries, and a 2026 battle pass system that a meaningful share of longtime players treat as a genuine breaking point. This is a strong recommendation for the base game and its core system; budget carefully, and go in with clear eyes, before committing to the full roster.