Guilty Gear Strive Will Lack Instant Kills on Launch

But Instant Kills are One of Guilty Gear’s Trademarks

Guilty Gear Strive has officially revealed its opening movie and entered Early Access, and fans have immediately noticed the absence of the series’ trademark Instant Kill mechanic. Instant Kills were also absent from the game’s Beta Test, but at that point, we were all under the impression that they’d be added in for the game’s final build. It appears that we were wrong. For those of you who aren’t in the know, Instant Kills are special ultimate techniques that players can activate after achieving a certain state in their Tension Meter. From there, you have until the Tension Meter runs out to activate the Instant Kill command, which is a one-hit KO if it lands. However, you lose access to your Tension Meter for the rest of the round if you fail to land the Instant Kill, making it a very risky gamble.

Instant Kills are basically the Guilty Gear franchise’s equivalent of Fatalities, with the caveat that they generally don’t appeal in competitive levels of play. They’re the sort of flashy move you try and pull out dramatically while playing with friends. The fanbase has grown very attached to them over the years, so the glaring absence of Instant Kills in Strive has left many fans unhappy. However, given the impact the pandemic has had on Guilty Gear Strive’s development, it’s possible that Instant Kills could be added in the future.

Many games have been released in an incomplete state since the pandemic began, awaiting post-launch patches and DLC to complete the builds, so Instant Kills are still on the table. Even if they aren’t added in later, the lack of Instant Kills doesn’t necessarily mean that Guilty Gear Strive is not longer Guilty Gear. After all, the essence of Guilty Gear isn’t contained in a single mechanic–it’s contained in the wild character designs and fierce rock soundtrack.