The announcement of Street Fighter V: Champion Edition has brought with it the reveal of the classic villain Gill. The character will be joining the Street Fighter 5 roster as a part of the Champion Edition, or seperately as a standalone DLC.
Gill comes all the way back from Street Fighter 3, where he was the primary antagonist of the game and leader of the aptly named Secret Society. As the leader of a society that thinks they're above it all, Gill also holds himself in high esteem as the messiah and savior of humanity.
Gill's godlike aesthetic also feeds directly into his fighting style, giving his attacks ice and fire elements depending on the side of his body that he attacks from. In gameplay, that translates to extremely flashy combos and some considerable range that can dominate opponents long before their fists have a chance to reach him. With fans having anticipated Gill's announcement since rumors began circulating after EVO 2019, his official reveal should come as a pleasant surprise.
While Gill will be available to anyone who purchases the Street Fighter V: Champion Edition on February 14th, 2020, he will also be available to previous owners of Street Fighter 5 in December 2019, making him the first DLC character to drop since August. As with all DLC characters, players can either pay money to unlock the character ($5.99 in Gill's case), or they can unlock him with 100,000 of the in-game currency known as Fight Money. This means any players looking to get their hands on Gill's godly powers have a month to work on earning up that money.
As a DLC character, Gill's inclusion doesn't mean much for the story, but his moveset and gameplay mechanics might be an impressive addition to Street Fighter 5's tournament meta, making him a possibly high tier fighter and putting him as a possible gatekeeper for tournament-level prize money. Granted, his default skin might not exactly be tournament approved, so it's fortunate that Gill comes with multiple outfits with varying degrees of coverage for his Adonis-like physique.
Street Fighter 5 is available now for PC and PS4.