On October 19, 2018, Soulcalibur 6 launched nearly seven years after its predecessor. Comparatively, Soulcalibur 5 came out only three-and-a-half years after Soulcalibur 4, and fans were keen to move past both. Although there was some uncertainty about Soulcalibur 6's new mechanics, reverting to Soulcalibur 1's era and bringing staple Soulcalibur fighters back lined everything up for Soulcalibur's return to form. Soulcalibur 6 overcame fans' fears, and developer Bandai Namco quickly proclaimed it to be a success.

The game sold over two million copies and even got a surprise second DLC season after featuring on EVO 2019's main stage. Soulcalibur 6 may not have been everyone's favorite entry, with Soulcalibur 1 and 2 reigning supreme and Soulcalibur 3's single-player content standing unmatched, but it enhanced most of Soulcalibur 5's good points while leaving out its worst. The franchise has gone quiet since DLC season 2 concluded in late 2020, but once Tekken 8 is out, a new Soulcalibur should capitalize on the foundation Soulcalibur 6 built.

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The Next Soulcalibur Will Be Built On Past Successes

Soulcalibur 7 has a head start thanks to everything Soulcalibur 6 has accomplished. Basic movement via the 8-Way Run system feels on par with Soulcalibur's arcade glory days, and other mechanics are already building on the best part of Soulcalibur 5. Its core fighting gameplay is why SC5’s fans put up with it, as it otherwise lacks long-term single-player content and its newcomers and plot are mostly disliked. Soulcalibur 6 improved all of that by setting up an alternate timeline to allow more returning faces, as well as potentially give old characters new roles like Cassandra taking the sword-and-shield spotlight from Sophitia at the urging of her future self.

Soulcalibur 7 should get a boosted budget like Tekken 8 did thanks to the success of Soulcalibur 6 and Tekken 7, leading to an equivalent visual upgrade on modern hardware. Nothing in Soulcalibur 6 is ugly, but the limited number of stages and need for every character to fit in the Create-A-Soul system left it noticeably less impressive than the older Tekken 7. A modern Soulcalibur title would also benefit from releasing after Tekken 8's research into 3D rollback netcode, not to mention the rising standards for quality-of-life and general features in AAA fighting games.

Soulcalibur 7 Can Take Full Advantage of SC6's Character Creation

Speaking of quality features, Soulcalibur 6's single-player still holds up thanks to its inclusion of a detailed main story that grew with DLC, a separate arcade mode, and, last but not least, Libra of Soul. This mode calls back to the RPG hybrids present in the arcade-to-console Soulcalibur ports, some of which also featured a custom protagonist. Soulcalibur 7 needs to have at least one such mode, as Libra of Soul was still rather barebones compared to past outings. Things like Soulcalibur 3’s RTS mode Chronicles of the Sword or Soulcalibur 2’s dungeon crawler segments in Weapon Master would all help Soulcalibur 7 reinforce the franchise’s renowned casual appeal.

To support that, Soulcalibur 7 also needs to keep expanding the Create-A-Soul system. Present since Soulcalibur 3, this is already a major selling point, and even something that other franchises have begun incorporating like with Tekken's character customization and Street Fighter 6’s Avatars. While it’s unlikely fans will see a return to the days of CAS-exclusive bonus movesets like Devil Jin's, there's still room for limited moveset customization, and SC6’s thorough list of fantasy races needs to be Create-A-Soul's standard going forward. Soulcalibur 6 proved to be a model entry for the series even back in 2018, so Soulcalibur 7 should use that as a springboard to shoot even higher.

Soulcalibur 6 was released on October 19, 2018, for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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