David Sirlin’s Fantasy Strike Enters Steam Early Access

EMERYVILLE, CA – Sept. 14, 2017 – Fantasy Strike, the accessible fighting game from SuperStreet Fighter II Turbo HD Remix lead designer David Sirlin, begins round one at 3 pm PT today with its release on Steam Early Access for Windows and Mac. Fantasy Strike will simultaneously come to PlayStation 4 when it exits early access and officially launches in 2018.

Designed with accessibility in mind, Fantasy Strike provides players with a rare experience in the world of fighting games: a game that’s unusually easy to jump into, yet with the depth of strategy and tactics that hardcore fans of the genre expect.

Fantasy Strike’s diverse roster of combatants includes a painter, a watchmaker, a flame archer, a dragon-man, and more. It’s fifth and latest battle arena debuts in today’s release: the beautiful Morningstar Sanctuary-the in-world location of the Fantasy Strike tournament itself. A full set of game modes are also available, including arcade, practice, local versus, and online play with the best-in-class GGPO networking technology to minimize online lag.

The Steam Early Access release also unveils many new graphical improvements to cel-shading and visual effects as well as a new “Friend Match” feature. True to Fantasy Strike‘s mission to be as approachable as possible, Friend Match allows players to challenge friends online without the hassle of creating lobbies or bothering with external Steam menus. To play a friend, you simply highlight their name in your in-game Steam friends list, click challenge, then you and your friend are presented with the same flow as if you were playing the local versus mode together in the same room.

“Whether you’re an expert at fighting games or new to the genre, there’s a big hump you have to get over in any new fighting game before you can ‘play for real’,” said David Sirlin, President, Sirlin Games. “Before you get to the juicy part where it’s all about your decisions, you have to be able to actually do all the moves, do the basic combos, know your entire move list, and so on. From its inception, Fantasy Strike has been about launching experts and new players past the usual training mode drudgery as fast as possible. We want you enjoying the intricate dance of fighting games in minutes, not in weeks or months.”

Fantasy Strike will launch for $19.99 on Steam Early Access. The game will be available in English with additional language support planned for the final release in 2018.