When I reviewed Granblue Fantasy Versus back in February of 2020, I said it stood out as a great fundamentals-driven and uniquely approachable anime fighter that was held back by just a few key issues: An overly convoluted and dull RPG mode, only 11 playable characters, and dated delay-based netcode. I don’t know if the developers used that as a checklist for things to improve in Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising, but they may as well have because I’m thrilled to see that they’ve corrected all of those issues, and then some.
Let’s run down the new stuff and improvements: The newly renamed Story Mode is now a much brisker version of the base game’s campaign that trims all of the fat and while also adding a new chapter; the fighting system has been completely overhauled for the better, adding several exciting new mechanics; there’s better learning tools; rollback netcode; and even a Granblue-themed Fall Guys-esque mode included in the online lobby. It all amounts to one of the most feature-packed “definitive edition”-style updates to a fighting game I’ve ever seen, and is a fantastic re-entry point into the grand world of Granblue Fantasy Versus.
I’m not going to go in depth on every single mechanical change made to the core fighting of Rising – because there are quite a lot – but the biggest ones are the removal of universal techniques added after launch like Overdrive and Tactical Move, a brand-new variation of special moves called Ultimate Skills, a resource called Bravery Points, and then a handful of powerful abilities that use those Bravery Points.
I personally didn’t keep up with Granblue when Overdrive and Tactical Move were added, so I can’t quite comment on how their absence feels, but I can say that the new additions all feel great. Ultimate Skills are new variations of special moves that add all sorts of powerful new properties to existing moves at the cost of 50% of your special meter, with 25% getting refunded if the skill hits. As an example, the Ultimate version of Katalina’s Frozen Blade shoots out a massive blade from full-screen distance that goes through most projectiles and can crumple the opponent and allow her to get a combo if she’s positioned well enough, forcing you to think twice before throwing a projectile at her when she’s got 50 meter. Other characters, like Siegfried, can use the ultimate version of his down special to just straight up carry his opponent from one end of the stage to the other. In addition to that, these moves can also uniquely be used even while on cooldown. It’s just a ton of utility added to every character; there’s a lot of freedom to create new combo routes depending on whether you want big damage, a hard knockdown, or added corner carry; and stacks another layer onto the meter management game, which improves the thoughtful decision making that’s central to any great fighting game.
Bravery Points, meanwhile, are a resource that’s tied specifically to two new abilities: Raging Strikes and Brave Counters. Brave Counters are simple: You press two buttons simultaneously while blocking to push an opponent off of you at the cost of one BP. Raging Strikes, however, are massively powerful attacks that can be used during a blockstring to crush an opponent’s guard if they just sit there blocking. That allows you to follow up with a Raging Chain attack, which in turn enables you to convert that hit into a full combo, even though the opponent blocked the attack. Not only that, but Raging Strike can also be used to continue combos off of far-reaching attacks that wouldn’t typically be comboable.
On paper, that may sound busted, but Raging Strikes are very smartly balanced, much like Drive Impacts are in Street Fighter 6. For one, they’re super slow, and if they’re being used predictably you can either just interrupt them with a jab or use a spot dodge that causes a cool looking slowdown effect, giving you plenty of time to do a big punish. The other important wrinkle in all of this is that Bravery Points also dramatically increase your defense if you bank them, so every point you spend means you’ll take more damage from your enemy going forward. So you really have to make sure that you’re using those points to seal out rounds as opposed to using them haphazardly.
Sky Scrappers
Pretty much everything else is what I remember from playing Granblue back in 2020. Which is to say, it’s a uniquely beginner-friendly fighting game thanks to features like auto combos, easy one-button special move inputs (which also no longer incur added skill-cooldown penalties), and a very measured pace to the action that’s far more akin to Street Fighter than most other ArcSys anime games. What is new for me, as someone who only played Granblue at launch, is the vast majority of the roster: it’s shot up from a paltry 11 to a very respectable cast of 28 thanks to Rising including all of the DLC over the last three years, plus four entirely new characters.
Even as someone who didn’t play the mobile Gacha game and didn’t watch much of the anime, the playable roster in Granblue is stellar. Every character is just bursting with personality, there’s a great spread of different archetypes, the super moves are gorgeous, there are a ton of fun and unique intro exchanges between characters when a match begins, and the character designs themselves are just spectacular.
The four brand-new characters – Nier, Grimm, Anilla, and Siegfried – all live up to that standard as well. My personal favorite is Siegfried, who is a Dragon Knight infused with dragon blood, and fights with a giant sword that hits like a truck. He’s also able to sacrifice some of his health for a power buff that increases his damage up to three times, boosting his already-insane damage output even higher. Both Nier and Grimmnir are pretty technical characters, with Nier being a puppet character that relies on the position of both herself and her puppet, and Grimmnir being an extremely mobile character who can place down sigils that he can dash through, making for some absolutely wild and flashy-looking combos and set ups.
Rounding out the newcomers is Anilla, who is much more straightforward, but still packs her own uniquely quirky charm by fighting with a spear that’s bigger than she is, along with an army of sheep that she sends careening into her opponents. She’s adorable.
The new characters are at the forefront of Rising’s new Story Mode chapter, which thankfully removes all of the extraneous RPG systems, weapon collecting, and so on. Instead, now you just earn skills that you can equip to your character for some sort of temporary boost or buff. Not that I ever really needed it – it’s still ridiculously easy – with even the late-game bosses barely putting up any sort of fight.
The fighting is secondary to the story though, and as far as the story goes, it’s… fine. There are definitely some funny moments, mostly involving the Lowain trio, but the overarching plot is largely uninteresting and didn’t quite have that big satisfying payoff that I was hoping for, given the buildup to the final few chapters. Ultimately, it’s an improvement over the vanilla GBFV’s RPG Mode, but mostly just because it’s much faster and less arduous to get through it. It took me just about two or three hours to beat the new chapter, which felt like the exact amount of time I wanted to spend with it. .
Rising to the Top
Rising improves just about every other area of Granblue Fantasy Versus as well. Its training mode and learning tools are all far more fully featured, with a more detailed frame data display; quick character guides that give you an overview of what a character excels at and what buttons you should press at different ranges; and practical combo trials that give you combos for every situation, from anti-airs to counter-hit anti-airs, corners, and combos for when you hit your opponent with a raging strike. I never felt like I needed to search elsewhere to get a baseline level of competency with a new character, which is how a modern fighting game should be.
The charming chibi avatar lobby system also returns from the base game, though this time it’s been greatly expanded to be an actual virtual social hub where you can play soccer, go to the arcade and play a crane game for collectibles, queue up for ranked and casual matchmaking, or park next to one of the seemingly hundreds of arcade cabinets to play with other people in the lobby. It’s not quite as impressive as Street Fighter 6’s Battle Hub, and the performance is a little chuggy once you enter, but it’s still a fun way to meet new players and experience online play in a way that goes beyond just endlessly queuing for matches. Of course, if that is what you want to do, you can still do that too. You don’t have to engage in the lobby at all if you don’t want to.
The best thing, though, is the addition of rollback netcode, which at this point should virtually be a requirement for fighting games going forward. Online play feels as smooth as can be, on par with bar-setters like Street Fighter 6, Guilty Gear Strive, and Killer Instinct.
Then there’s Grand Bruise, which is – as crazy as it sounds – a Fall Guys-inspired game within a game that uses the lobby’s chibi anime avatars in a platforming battle royale mode. And you know what? It’s pretty fun! It combines Mario Kart-style item pickups with frantic platforming footraces, resulting in an absolutely chaotic mode that had me shouting and hollering in exactly the same ways that Fall Guys does. It’s very obvious that Bruise is not meant to be a main attraction – there’s no ability to create a custom lobby, there’s only a paltry number of minigames to play right now, and some of those, like a wave based survival minigame, go on for a bit too long. Still, it’s a fun diversion, and is especially a nice addition for those who opt for the free version of Rising, which includes Grand Bruise and a rotating selection of three playable characters, plus Gran.