Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late [st] Review

Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late [st] Review

“Arc System Darkest game”

This is the year of Arc System. They released their highly anticipated game Dragon Ball Fighterz and its doing well. Now Arc System has released another anticipated game and that’s Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late [st].

Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late [st] is the third and final version of the Under Night games. Exe: Late [st] adds some re-balances and adds four new characters (two exclusive for the PS4.) This version also adds Chronicles Mode, which is basically the story of the game that shows every character’s prologue.

The story is interesting and it can be a bit confusing especially if you’re a newcomer. The story takes place in Japan. A phenomenon called the Hollow Night takes place once a month every several centuries. During the Hollow Night shadow like creatures called Voids lurk the night looking for power known as Existence or also called EXES in humans (your super meter.) Normal humans can’t see Voids but those that can are targeted and once bitten humans will either lose their sanity or wake up with a power called In-Birth.

There are couple of groups involved with the Hollow Night. One is the Night Blade that insist of people hunting down Voids and protecting humanity. The main protagonist of the game Hyde is currently part of this group alongside Linne. Another group is Licht Kreis. Just like the Night Blade they protect humanity from Voids too but they are more law kind of like the police. The last group is Amnesia. The bad guys of the game that want to free the Hollow Night.

Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late [st] is a fast paced 2D fighting game. It shares some similarities from BlazBlue and Guilty Gear. You have your fighters health and super meter and you have your light, medium and hard attack, but what makes this game different from BlazBlue and Guilty Gear is the GRD Gauge, EXES button and the TS Gauge Cycle.

The GRD Gauge is at the bottom of the screen next to your super gauge or EXES  gauge and the TS Gauge is the circle behind the GRD Gauge. Players can go to a awanked state with the GRD Gauge. Awakened increases your attack but in order to be awakened your GRD Gauge must be greater than your opponents when the TS Gauge fills up. The TS Gauge fills up automatically. It’s like a game of tug of war. You can fill your GRD by hitting your opponent, walking forward, blocking attacks and more. You can use concentration to fill the GRD gauge. Just hold down the D button and you’ll charge up your GRD and decreases your opponent’s GRD and also decreases some of your EXES Gauge but be careful because Concentration leaves you vulnerable for your opponent to attack you.   

The GRD can be used for all sorts of things. You can use Force Function which is character specific move that uses one GRD Block. Players can also use Chain Shift when the player is in awakened mode. Chain shift takes the players GRD Gauge and transfers it to their EXES Gauge so it's a nice way to build up their meter but the player will not be in their awakened form anymore.

Players can also enter Veil Off. Players can go into Veil Off when they have at least half meter. Players can use any move that requires EXES. It's highly recommended to do this when you have full meter because you'll be able to connect three EXES super moves.

There are a couple of modes in this game. You have arcade, Training, Time Attack, Survival and many others. Online is pretty decent, you have your ranked and player matches but it's pretty difficult to find an opponent. The tutorial is pretty good. It explains the game pretty well. You can also access pretty cool artwork in the gallery.

In the end Under Night Exe: Late [st] is a fun game. I really like the characters and their personalities. I’m a fan of the protagonist Hyde alongside his partner Linne. Carmine is a crazy guy but still cool and Seth and Gordeau are just badasses. The music is incredible as well. I can’t stop listening to it. My one gripe with the game is Chronicles Mode. It's only characters talking and no fights but that’s what you expect from an Arc System game. I would prefer this game to fans of Arc System games. It’s an easy game to play but can be pretty difficult to master. I’m also excited to see what characters from this game will make the BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle roster. Entertainment Fiends gives Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late [st] an 8 out of 10.