Arc System Works announced a slew of new Guilty Gear Strive content just before the game’s top 8 players of Arc World Tour Finals 2024 duked it out. On top of Venom’s debut trailer, an updated Season 4 roadmap was released, featuring planned content all the way to Summer 2025.
Venom is set to release on March 24
To kick things off, Venom will be added to the game on March 24. As Guilty Gear fans predicted, his infamous Ball Set special move will return alongside new moves to keep his playstyle fresh.
In an unexpected turn of events, Venom will be accompanied by a stripped-down Robo-Ky – a robotic copy of Ky Kiske whose personality is more self-centered and egotistic than the person it is based on. Robo-Ky will assist Venom in performing some of his moves, making this duo a strange but welcome addition to Guilty Gear Strive.
Unika and in-game frame data are coming in May
Keeping with her original Spring 2025 schedule, Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers anime newcomer Unika will be joining the roster in May. Arc System Works did not showcase any Unika gameplay at Arc Would Tour Finals 2024, but the character will be playable for those who attend EVO Japan 2025 at the Tokyo Big Sight from May 9 to 11.
Guilty Gear Strive Fans will be thrilled to know that Arc System Works is finally adding in-game frame data to the game in May. You will be able to actively check total frames, active frames, frame advantage, and follow-up window frame data in the Training Mode, making labbing much easier (as of now, players have to rely on external sources like Dustloop for frame data).
Arc System Works plans to add more features to Training Mode after the frame data update, which will hopefully make learning and playing the game more intuitive for newcomers and veterans.
A real Ranked Match mode is arriving in June-August
Guilty Gear Strive’s online matchmaking isn’t in the best position right now. Online Match has three modes: Rank Tower, Open Park, and Follow. Rank Tower automatically puts you in a ranked mode where you fight players of supposedly equal skill (though the 10 levels provided aren’t enough to balance the experience for players). Open Park is a free-for-all where experienced players often trounce on less-experienced ones. Follow is where you can find and fight against players that you have chosen to tag (i.e. friends and rivals), provided they are within your skill level.
With the addition of Ranked Match, players will be matched with similarly ranked opponents without going through the Online Lobby. Players’ characters will each have different ranks (as in Street Fighter 6) and will start at the “Iron” rank. Ranked points will be gained or lost depending on the number of wins and losses earned respectively. There are seven ranks in total, with the final “Vanquisher” rank allowing players to compete for points within the one rank. Rank Tower will be renamed once Ranked Match is introduced and will allow players to casually compete against similarly skilled players.
As of the Arc Would Tour Finals 2024, the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners collab character Lucy is still on track for her Summer 2025 release. The planned schedule is subject to change, but from the looks of things, Guilty Gear Strive is finishing Season 4 with a bang.
Guilty Gear Strive is currently available on PS4/PS5, PC (Windows), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and arcades.
