Liquid Swords Plays: Street Fighter 6

We’re a familiar team at Liquid Swords. Our studio punching and kicking its way to 100, and as of the time of this writing, we’ve hit 80. Since we’re keeping our operation relatively small, we’re able to get to know all of our colleagues. We eat lunch together, stick around for After Works each month, and organize events within our teams. It’s safe to say – we’re pretty close!

Or rather, were close. Friday, June 2 will forever be the day undid all our team-building work in one hard kick. Coincidentally, this was the same day that Street Fighter 6 was released!

We usually get our fighting fix with a round of Smash Bros, and if you happened to pass by our booth at this year’s Nordic Game Conference, you know this already! But the release of this highly anticipated title called for something special. We threw our double elimination brackets up on a big screen, filled up on snacks, and faced off!

Our fighters were made up of a mix of newcomers to the IP and longtime fans, which made the random opponent match-ups even more exciting. Even players who were new to the game usually picked one fighter and stayed loyal to them, but a few switched it up between rounds. Since the game had just been out for a few hours, this was particularly fun to watch as we got to sample almost all of the different fighting styles.

The animation and art in Street Fighter 6 is wonderfully loud and stylized. The looks were glossy, the poses perfection, and the moves beautifully choreographed. This also applies to the environment. As the name suggests, we settled our scores in public and all over the world! We fought in a gladiator ring, the streets of Paris, and even under blooming cherry blossom trees. But our final match took place in a completely empty room, its simplicity amplifying the drama of Jesper and Ricky’s fight.

Our popcorn-eating peanut gallery cheered our fighters on and kept running commentary. They were particularly taken by the NPCs in the game, who watched the fights almost as intently as we did. They weren’t just blank faces, but carefully crafted individuals. We speculated on their inner lives. What had brought them to Paris? Did they know that a fight was going to take place, or was it all dinner theater to them? We’ll never know the answers for sure, but we can confirm that the NPCs’ enthusiasm and blood lust only egged us on even more.