We Love It's Guide to…
A streamlined 2D fighter where one-button attacks leave room for spacing, reads, counters, and online or team battles.
Released 25 Jul 2019
Fight With One-Button Attacks
Escape Throws By Letting Go
Build A Boss-Rush Deck
A fighting game designed from the ground up to be so easy to control that even non-fighting game players can play it, yet deep enough to play in tournaments. Vibrant graphics and excellent online play.
Developed by Sirlin Games · Published by Sirlin Games
Fantasy Strike is a colorful 2D fighting game featuring fantasy characters with distinct combat styles, including archers, grapplers, and martial artists. Players choose a fighter and face an opponent in quick, head-to-head battles.
Attacks use simple button presses rather than complex motion inputs, with concise move lists and straightforward combos. Matches focus on spacing, timing, predicting an opponent’s choices, and countering them; throws can be escaped by releasing all controls.
Play includes casual and ranked online matches, friend challenges, practice, and fights against AI. Ranked team battles use three fighters per player in a best-of-five series, with each fighter taking a separate game. Other modes include an illustrated-story arcade mode, survival challenges, and a boss rush where players build a deck of power-ups.
Players who enjoy Fantasy Strike often praise how quickly its simple controls let newcomers start fighting, while the focus on spacing, reads, and counters still gives matches strategic depth. Reviewers also appreciate the distinct character styles, and some report smooth online matches. Others find the limited movesets restrictive, and reviews raise concerns about access to certain modes and the size of the player base.
Free-to-play, the good kind like DOTA2: Play all our characters online for free without any grinding or unlocks!
Free Modes: Online Casual Play, Online Ranked Play, Online Friend Match, Practice Mode, Single Match vs. AI
Be an archer with fiery arrows, a colorful painter, a martial arts master who can transform into a dragon, and more! Fantasy meets martial arts in this vibrant world.
Designed to work great on keyboard, no need for a special controller. We’ve streamlined the genre to get you to the fun decision-making part as soon as possible. All moves are just a single button press, combos are easy, move lists are concise. We’ve cut the chaff to focus on the heart of the genre so we can show you why fighting games are awesome.
This game is designed by an ex-Street Fighter dev and hardcore player for play in tournaments. Mixups, rushdown, zoning, and the grapplers seeming too powerful on day 1. It’s got all that. And you can play it with pretty much anyone in the fighting game community, no matter what other fighting game they play, because you can all reach basic competency in Fantasy Strike in minutes and start playing for real. Plus you can play with a joystick, gamepad, Guitar Hero controller, or whatever else you want.
• Excellent online play + cross-platform play. We are not aware of better networking tech in any other fighting game, and we're sorry about how that sounds. Custom implementation of GGPO networking technology. Cross-platform with both Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 version.
• Online quick match. Just pick a character, click ready, and you're playing online.
• Online ranked play. Pick a team of 3 characters in this team battle mode. You'll play a series best 3 out of 5 games where you get to play each of your characters in separate games, for maximum variety. This mode uses built-on-the-fly tournaments.
• Friend Challenge. Directly challenge friends online to either standard 1v1 or 3v3 team battles. To play a friend, go to your in-game friends list and click on the crossed swords by any name to challenge them. (Or click on the eyeball to watch them play.) That’s it!
• One-click spectating. Click on any friend in your in-game friends list to watch them play and automatically follow them as they play more online games. That’s it!
• Daily Challenge. An endless survival mode that you can only play ONCE per day. See how you do compared everyone else that day.
• Practice mode. Includes dynamic frame data and frame-step features.
• Tutorial. A quick, 5-minute tutorial teaches you the basics of how the game works.
• Single Match vs AI. Pick your character and the AI's, then play a game. As much as you want!
• Spotlight Videos. Every character has their own spotlight video, a narrated tour by game director David Sirlin. Each video goes though that character's moves and what their general gameplan and strategy is about.
• Unique throw escape. To escape (normal) throws, simply let go of all your controls! You'll automatically "yomi" counter any throw attempt.
• Simple controls. All moves are done with a single button press so you can play with any controller.
If you're looking for even more, get the Core Pack for these additional modes:
• Boss Rush mode. Build a deck of powerups in this very crazy roguelike mode. Can you defeat all 8 of the increasingly powerful bosses?
• Arcade mode. With illustrated, voiced story intros and endings.
• Survival modes. How long can you last in these four sub-modes? Each is a rapid-fire series of opponents with no loading times between them. Opponents get stronger as you go and include Shadow Bosses.
• Local versus. Play standard 1v1 and also 3v3 team battle (each player picks 3 characters and plays a special best 3 out of 5 series).
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux |
|---|---|
| Age ratings |
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| Controller support | Xbox |
| Controller required | No |
| DLC / extras | 3 listed on Steam |
| Content notices |
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| Website | Official website |
