Skullgirls 2nd Encore

Skullgirls is genuinely a great game. The music is an absolute jam, gameplay is enjoyable, the humor is lovely, characters are fun in every way, and the art is beautiful. This is one of the biggest vibes I've had the pleasure of experiencing in a fighting game. If you like jazz, 2d fighting games, and don't shudder at the sight of a woman, give Skullgirls a try. The only reason I leave a negative review is because of censorship, followed by a lack of foreseeable support. After the original dev team broke apart due to horrendous management following the attempted removal of the lead designer, Hidden Variable Studios & Future Club were to take control of Skullgirls and keep it afloat. These new devs added additional paid characters to play as, but proceeded to censor content that has been in the game since a decade before. Various references to and depictions of sexual content, race, and fascism were removed in 2015 (following the rebranding of Skullgirls as 2nd Encore) & 2023. In 2015, some animations were changed to obstruct visible panties, and Lab Zero Games promised no more censorship afterwards. In 2020, ownership changed. In 2023, the game was censored as a whole. Some of these changes took form in sprite & art alterations: changing the colors of undergarments, removing a comb from an Italian character's head because her burst animation turned her hair into an afro (this was in the name of removing racial stereotypes, but her brown clone still has the comb for some reason), replacing Valentine's cross imagery with shurikens (blame the actual Red Cross organization for this, since they copyrighted the medical symbol we all grew up with) ,and removing Nazi symbolism from the Black Egrets (the villains). Much of the art from the downloadable artbook was removed in line with updates made to the game itself. In terms of actual content, multiple voice lines, voice packs, & lines were removed; some were sex jokes while others were references to other games, the story, or the community (two examples are the "Barely Legal" 18-hit combo rating, and Big Band's "Cheen" line from his voice pack). Story panels related to the police brutality & sexual assault suffered by Big Band & Filia, respectively, were removed entirely. Gallery art was altered in the same way as all the other changes. The only way to experience the game with its original story and art is to download a pre-censorship patch and replace your game files. Or you can got to Properties -> Game Versions & Betas -> entercode 'ireallyfearchange' and select that build from 2016. Development for this game has also ceased in the wake of legal disputes between the devs & publisher, forgoing future content additions and leaving the censorship as is, unless the development team(s) shift again. Online play still works, though, so its worth buying if you want to play with a friend on another computer. My only other complaint is that the men aren't as sexualized as the women. GIVE ME EQUALITY DAMNIT!

Great game, Very responsive. Makes me want to break my keyboard in ways i couldn't possibly imagine.

The difficulty scaling is terrible, every fight until Bloody Marie is stupid easy then all of a sudden you have to fight a boss that can fly around, avoid every attack and take no damage while also stun-locking you with attacks that come from all sides of the screen. Special moves are the only thing that really does damage so the game forces you to cheese spam attacks and it doesn't feel like an earned win. The fight does not fit this genre of side fighter, it's so out of place and breaks the pace of the game by using artificial difficulty to showcase the character as a genuine threat to the main story.

Came for Big Band. stayed for the fluidity. Also Cerebella... I really like Cerebella...

Developers make an honest effort to make their game less gross. Gamers respond with outrage. Wish I could say I'm surprised. Anyway, this is one of the precious few fighting games shipping with a tutorial that actually teaches you how to play instead of assuming you already know the fundamentals from having played other fighting games.

Не затянуло, но на пару вечеров пойдет

Look, the game is really great, but I find it irritating that the devs go through such effort to take what they consider offensive out of the game, (like the Russian announcer which was obviously a gag and I doubt offended anyone), but think it's fine that Parasoul wears an upside down cross around her neck.

[h1]Skullgirls 2nd Encore[/h1] [h3]Niche Fanservice Fighting Game [/h3] [h3]Worth a try, but with reservations[/h3] Skullgirls is a very unusual 2D fighting game that has gone through significant changes, censorship controversies, and attempts to reshape its public image over the years. For example, this title was originally aimed at a mature audience due to its suggestive character designs, fanservice elements and mature themes. However, it is currently presented as a T-rated game, but honestly despite the changes it has undergone over the years, it still retains a noticeable amount of sexual content and suggestive depictions. In the end, this game is actually fun, features intentionally attractive character designs, and has a unique worldbuilding style that helps it stand out from other fighting games. Nonetheless, it is also a game that may not be comfortable for everyone due to its awkward themes, controversies around its studio members and some of the decisions made throughout its development. [h3]Gameplay[/h3] The game's combat system is built around a classic six-button layout featuring light, medium, and heavy attacks. The fighting moves feel incredibly smooth, and every attack is carefully adapted to the fighting style of its respective character. The combo system is fairly simple and yet effective, with only a few inputs, it is possible to perform many useful aerial follow-ups, extend combos and tag attacks. The difficult part lies in the precision required to execute these techniques consistently. Like any fighting game, it requires a reasonable amount of practice to learn its multiple combos and the timing behind them. Skullgirls can be quite demanding in this regard, as precise execution is often necessary to perform longer combos consistently. However, thanks to its relatively simple inputs, it remains comfortable and accessible to play even without relying on particularly elaborate or lengthy combos. My only complaint concerns the tag attacks. I find most of them risky and rather simplistic for what they offer, with many of them providing limited utility outside of a few exceptions that can deal damage from a distance. [h3]Art and World Design[/h3] As I mentioned earlier, this game shines thanks to the cartoonish design and personality of its female characters. On the other hand, the scenario and the background characters are equally impressive, each map has its own life and identity. Unlike many other fighting games, this title places considerable emphasis on its characters’s individual stories. Honestly, I was surprised by the creativity behind the game's cast. While some characters clearly draw inspiration from familiar fighting game archetypes, each of them manages to feel distinct thanks to their unique visual designs, personalities, and gameplay mechanics. [h3]Music and Sound effects[/h3] The soundtrack is an interesting blend of genres including jazz, swing, orchestral music, and occasional electronic tunes. It is both enjoyable and varied, rarely becoming repetitive and remaining pleasant to listen to both during gameplay and outside of it. The sound design, particularly the voice acting and hit noises, is every bit as good as the soundtrack. Both are well executed and feel remarkably unique compared to those found in many other fighting games.

After playing this game for only two sessions, I can proudly say that for my first Steam purchase for a 2D fighting game, this is excellent! The characters are lovable and memorable, from the sadistic nurse Valentine to the more fascinatingly designed characters like Double or Filia. The stories are rather simple, but they have the charm needed to keep the player invested. The OST is just fantastic, and there was no point where I was taken out of the game. As someone who hasn't played many advanced fighting games, I really appreciate how balanced this game feels. In a lot of fighters, like Killer Instinct, you can sort of just button-mash your way through. Here, mashing won't work—your inputs need to be intentional—but the game handles it so well that it never feels overwhelming or too difficult to pick up. Keep in mind that in story mode, you will actually have to unlock some characters like Valentine by playing other characters' stories first, though she is unlocked out of the gate in free play. Also, Fukua's story mode is actually on some bull. The final boss has 300% health, and even cheese strats make it difficult! Finally, for the more controversial censoring, don't worry about it-you're playing a fighting game. I never really noticed anything since I'm too focused on the *fighting*. Additionally, the developers let you rollback to previous versions of the game anyway via Steam betas, which are uncensored. So even if you are pissed about it, it doesn't make much of a difference to the actual package. A solid 4/5 game.

I would only recommend this game to anyone who can ignore the goonbait and don't care for story TLDR, goonbait bad, story mid, gameplay really good Skullgirls has a sorta unique spin on "I will give you any wish you want" except there's a penalty to making a bad wish and also a new threat arises. that's definitely interesting but i felt like the story was generally mid, there was a lot of potential that wasn't tapped into probably because it's a fighting game, but idk the goonbait is really there, luckily I'd say only about half the characters are goonbait, (which is still bad but better than i thought) the designs in this game are really sick tho, the animation is ridiculously smooth and detailed, and the backgrounds look awesome the soundtrack is also really good the gameplay is insane, the combos in this game are so crazy they had to make an "Infinite combo prevention system" or IPS HOWEVER, this game is not very beginner friendly. I had 100 hours on guilty gear strive before getting into this game and i still had bit of a difficult time learning combos. unlike guilty gear, where combos are pretty limited, this game is built for and pretty much demands that you know some good 10 hit combos, because holy crap the people online will destroy you if you don't if you are accustomed to losing a lot but improving and slowly start actually winning matches via learning combos (luckily this game has a good amount of tutorials and written combos to get you started) it becomes a really fun game. Every character is really unique and has a lot of depth into their mechanics and combo potential. I also find it really funny that the only 2 male characters in this game are considered to be the best characters in the entire game by myself and many others 😭 Beowolf and Big Band are awesome characters. even if one grapple means the end of my life