Since Guilty Gear Strive's release in June 2021, the Arc System Works title has become one of the most popular games in the fighting game community. It was recently confirmed to be making its second appearance at EVO as one of the nine titles featured in the 2022 edition of the premiere fighting game tournament, and ArcSys has already announced a second season pass will bring even more characters to the twenty-character roster. Now, a new trailer has given players an in-depth look at the newest character set to join, Testament.
The reveal of Testament as the final character to join Guilty Gear Strive's first season pass was met with plenty of excitement from long-time fans of the series. Testament has been a mainstay of the Guilty Gear franchise appearing in most major games since the original Guilty Gear released on the PS1 in 1998. With Testament set to hit the roster in less than a week, announced for a March 28 release date for Season Pass owners and March 31 as a standalone, Arc System Works released a new gameplay video giving players a crash course on Testament's unique mechanics.
The trailer released Monday introduces Testament as a mid-range projectile-based character excelling at putting distance between them and their opponents and using projectiles to set up succubi around the stage for a variety of effects. The core mechanic much of Testament's kit revolves around is the "Stain State" effect, allowing the player to press the attack with follow-up moves after hitting enemies in Stain State. Testament can use the succubus projectiles launched with their "Grave Reaper" attack to teleport around the stage or using them as a homing target for their "Unholy Diver" attack.
Testament's scythe gives them significant reach on normal attacks and allows the character to punish opponents from a distance while using the "Possession" ability to either pop around the map, using the succubi to reposition, or act as a feint to dodge attacks. Their "Calamity One" attack also looks to be versatile for both offense and defense with the ability able to be used mid-combo to interrupt an opponent's attack and rebound onto the offensive. Testament is billed as being an easy-to-learn character perfect for new players looking to get into Guilty Gear Strive's mechanical fighting gameplay.
Testament marks the twentieth member to join Guilty Gear Strive and caps off a season pass that has seen plenty of fan favorites re-introduced to the fighting game. Strive previously added story mode antagonist Happy Chaos as a playable character with the first set of DLC also featuring popular characters like Jack-O' and Baiken. Strive has been a great success for Arc System Works hitting 500,000 copies sold in only a month after the game's release, and the reveal of a second season pass should sustain its popularity well into the future.
Guilty Gear Strive is available now for PC, PS4, and PS5.