Guilty Gear Strive’s story mode has been shown off in new trailers, but after our interview with the Guilty Gear team at Arc System Works, we can confirm that the story mode lasts roughly four to five hours in length, and contains no battles.

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This is fairly traditional for Guilty Gear games, and Guilty Gear Xrd infamously featured a similar story mode, which was hours of dialogue and intricately posed 3D models, but no actual “gameplay” as far traditional fighting games are concerned. It’s an interesting strategy, and one that Arc System Works appears to be fond of.

While talking to the developers at Arc System Works we asked what we could expect from the story mode of Guilty Gear Strive, and producer Takeshi Yamanaka answered me.

[Takeshi Yamanaka] “The main character Sol's story reaches a conclusion. We hope everyone looks forward to the Story Mode, as it has evolved since the previous game, Rev2. There aren't any battles you need to fight during the Story Mode, so you can relax and watch. It should take from four to five hours.”

Unlike most fighting games that use cutscenes as justification for the battles, Arc System Works uses the story mode to set up and build the world of Guilty Gear that surrounds the characters. It’s a good way to avoid contrived writing explaining why everyone is fighting one another, but it’s also hardly the most engaging way to experience a story.

Elsewhere in our interview, development director Katano Akira tells us the easiest way to catch up with the Guilty Gear storyline and lore:

[Katano Akira] “As for the story, we hope players will read the digest comics summarizing the story up until now, which can be found on the official site. You can also watch the Xrd series' Story Modes on YouTube, so please check those out!”

You can view the Guilty Gear Xrd cutscenes on YouTube, and the Guilty Gear comic series can be found on the official site here. Make sure to read our full interview with the Arc System Works development team for more information on the upcoming Guilty Gear Strive, releasing June 11 on PS4, PS5, and Steam.

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