Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising promises to expand on its predecessor in every way | Hands-on preview

I made no secret of the fact I adored the first Granblue Fantasy Versus, and so Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising was firmly on my radar. The previous title threw an IP at me that I had very little prior knowledge of and made me fall in love with characters and universe, not to mention the superb one on one action. Needless to say I was delighted to hear that a sequel is on the way, to cap off a year that has been another fine vintage for fighting game fans.

I was lucky enough to attend a thrilling Cygames showcase this past week where I got to speak to some of the key names behind the two forthcoming Granblue titles. “Fuelled by caffeine and anime” after travelling half way around the globe for the sake of their art, the amenable Tetsuya Fukuhara and Yasuyuki Kaji were on hand not only to deliver a presentation, but to answer a bunch of my nerdy questions. You can read my interview on these pages, soon, but for now, lets talk about some sensational fantasy brawling.

For the uninitiated, Granblue Fantasy itself is a hugely popular mobile MMORPG with a fanbase of over 35 million players. To expand on the ravenous appetite for more Skyfarers action, they teamed up with one on one legends Arc System Works and asked them to do for Granblue what they did so successfully with Persona 4 Arena, Hokuto No Ken and Dragon Ball. It was very well received and did a respectable million copies worldwide.

Dropping in November 2023, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising promises to expand on its predecessor in every way whilst still presenting a fine balance between in-depth fighting challenge for vets and ease of use and accessibility for less seasoned beginners. Look at it as a beefed-up pseudo-sequel, it has already wowed gamers in beta form at EVO, and looks set to do the same when it hits shelves in November.

The core Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising gameplay fundamentals are more or less the same as in the original game, but there are more characters off the bat, including four brand new faces, with associated new storylines promised, alongside those present in the previous title. There will also be an additional six DLC characters dropped further down the line brining the roster up to a seriously impressive 34.

The gacha nature of the core GB RPG is milked with the addition of “Partners” – basically more of the same cute super deformed characters who pop up with words of encouragement, advice and praise after your matches: all fully voice-acted. There are promised add ons to the already sensational training modes too, which I already marked down as being some of the best I have experienced in a fighter. I cannot wait to test out the new participants in this arena and get to grips with learning their styles.

Along with crossplay and the now industry-standard rollback netcode, the online lobby has been expanded to become an entire sky island inhabited by chibi approximations of your characters, and a party game mode that they have called Grand Bruise Legends. We were shown a few of the clutch of mini games but couldn’t play them, but they include a Fall Guys-style obstacle course race, Beelzebub’s onslaught of explosive ordnance in Bombshell Barrage, and a free for all called Gold Brick Hoarder which involves fighting opponents to stockpile the gold bullion that is such an important and precious item in the mainstay Granblue Fantasy game. With all of the other modes from Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising presumably also present and correct, this is shaping up to be a very generous package.

I was given access to versus mode only, with the full range of fighters selectable, and the stage locked to the familiar Colosseum, Albion Citadel backdrop. I ravenously tore into it to find out more about the promised new mechanics and play with some new characters. Straight away I noticed that the visuals – no slouch to begin with – have been improved from the previous outing. The clever way that the 3D models are made to look like super crispy 2D sprites is as astonishing as ever, but the post processing effects have undoubtedly refined the living, breathing anime battles to within an inch of their life.

Whether it is the sumptuous animation, spectacular pyrotechnics or dramatic swooping introductory vignettes and Skybound Arts sequences, this is one beautiful piece of work. The soundtrack is as great as you would expect, with some compositions from the legend that is Nobuo Uematsu sat alongside some upbeat rock and pop numbers. Belial’s theme is still ringing in my ears as I write.

The four new characters are sumptuously designed and suitably diverse. Anila is a halberd-wielding, delightfully odd goofball who has the ability to summon the cutest videogame sheep – yes you read that correctly – sheep – since my boy Wooloo. She sits nicely alongside the other bizarre comic relief offered by Lowain, and is tremendous fun to play.

Siegfried is a moody, Arthurian swordsman with weighty, powerful strikes delivered with his enormous great sword. He reminded me of his namesake from Soul Calibur – yet plays more like Nightmare. Speaking of nightmares, newcomer Nier is a nihilistic magician known as an Evoker, who has a crazy series of cool-looking tarot card attacks, has formed a pact with Death, and shouts things like “I hate this world!” on the reg. She is another in the lineage of super interesting, complex Granblue faces given the ArcSys treatment and fitting in perfectly.

Rounding out the quartet of new faces is Grimnir – teased at EVO but now revealed in all his wind-commanding glory with the ability to alter the trajectory of his projectiles.

With the roster additions set, what are the new mechanics? Rush, Backshift and Overdrive have already been confirmed as not returning from the original, but there are new additions that create a fresh, balanced feel to proceedings.

There is a new series of Dash Attacks, in three different flavours.

• L: Lets you quickly apply pressure while moving forward
• M: Takes your opponent by surprise with a swift low effort. For example, all-rounder Gran is a low-hitting swipe that can catch standing foes off-guard.
• H: Has the slowest start-up and recovery, but can be chained into a combo for big damage

The Triple Attack I absolutely loved. It is similar to the original Auto Combo system from Granblue Fantasy: Versus in that Triple Attacks are performed by pushing an attack button three times in a row. The third hit, however, can now be changed to an overhead or low attack depending on your input.

Ultimate Skills enter the fray and stand as an enhanced, more powerful variant of the Plus Skills from the original game. They enabled me to extend combos to a ridiculous level and I had a lot of fun with my favourite character Cagliostro stringing together some crazy sequences, flinging rocks and whooping ass with complete abandon. Finally there is the Raging Strike, which is an unblockable blow that consumes 25% of the in-game SBA gauge and can either be incorporated into a combo or used to crush your opponent’s defence and initiate one.

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is available to pre-order now, with a standard edition and Deluxe package on offer. There will be a special item set generously given away which can be redeemed in the mobile Granblue Fantasy game, and rounding out Cygames extreme generosity there will also be a free edition of Versus Rising, which allows control of four characters in online matches and lobby access (Gran, and three rotating options), Paret 1 of the main story, and the full Grand Bruise Legends mode. It is a great way to sample what the game has to offer before committing to the full edition and I commend Cygames for this excellent freebie.

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is coming to PC, PS4, and PlayStation 5 on November 30th.