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Four-way anime fighter crossover BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle confirmed for a Steam release

BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle

It feels like just yesterday that the PC was a land forsaken by fighting games. Devoid of fisticuffs in the dark ages of the platform, we fashioned our own crude imitations, but nothing came close to the joys you could get at the arcades, and at your console-owning friends houses.

But times have changed, and Arc System Works are truly spoiling us now. With BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, we’re effectively getting four anime fighting games all at once.

Well, three and a half.

Not into fighting games? Well, we’ve got plenty more multiplayer picks for you.

BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle is a mash-up of four different properties. Taking the title role is Arc System’s own long-running BlazBlue franchise, sister-series to their Guilty Gear games and also serving double duty as a visual novel series. Coming along with it – and for the first time on PC – are characters from Persona 4 Arena, an excellent fighting game spinoff of the JRPG phenomenon.

In third billing is the amazingly titled Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late. Word salad aside, it’s a very creative and fast-paced gothic fighting game by indie studio turned arcade cabinet regulars French Bread, partnered with Studio Ecole.

Bringing up the rear is RWBY, American-made (produced by Red vs Blue creators Rooster Teeth) CGI faux-anime, but popular enough to have run for four seasons, become a regular favourite on Crunchyrolland also having spawned its own game on PC not long ago.

I say it only counts as half-anime. Your mileage may vary.

Anyhow, the latest trailer, as seen above, showcases three more character confirmations: Benevolent vampire princess Rachel and cackling backstab-enthusiast villain Hazama both come from Blazblue, while Weiss Schnee steps in to represent the RWBY character lineup. But the most important part of the trailer is the final screen, confirming a 2018 release for PS4, Switch and – most importantly – Steam.

We’ll keep you updated in case of any more major announcements between now and launch.