I play a lot of fighting games and this is easily one of my favourites. The source franchises don't interest me at all, so no comment on which characters are/aren't included or the story. That said, there are a couple of characters from the previous Melty Blood (MBAACC) I wish were included.

Compared to MBAACC the mechanics in Type Lumina (TL) are somewhat simpler. That may be a pro or a con depending on the player. For me, it's a pro as I don't have as much time as I'd like to play this or other fighting games. Having said that, the mechanics still have plenty of depth. This is not a brain dead game by any means.

Regarding the mechanics, this has most of the "standard anime systems" with enough of its own flavour to not feel generic. You have chains, auto combos, specials, EX moves, supers, a type of "manual cancel" like a Roman/Rapid/One More Cancel, and a bunch of movement options. The movement is one of the best things this game has to offer IMO.

The graphics are nice enough with a range of cool looking backgrounds and nice high res sprites. I must admit, I actually prefer the more "crunchy" sprites from MBAACC, but it doesn't stop me appreciating this games visual style.

Mad props to the devs who have released extra characters since release FOR FREE, which basically never happens with modern fighting games. I hope they add a few more, but the current roster as of this review has a lot of variety in terms of play styles and archetypes.

Characters have 24 built in palettes, but you can also save 6 custom palettes for each one. I wish more games would let us create custom palettes, so the feature is much appreciated. The practice mode is fully featured with options like reversal playback and random playback, and the combo trials give some good insight into each characters options. There is some kind of story mode (as mentioned before, I don't care about this, but it's there).

The net code is great, using rollback as all modern fighting games should. Online activity is somewhat low, but I have been able to find player and ranked matches daily without needing to use discord or forums. I'm in the EU and play sporadically from the afternoon to the early hours, but your mileage may vary depending on where you are and when you want to play.

I highly recommend this game for long time and new fighting game fans alike.

This game needs to be played to be appreciated. The trailers piqued my interest, but I wasn't prepared for how much I would love it. The mechanics are simple, but effective. This applies to the movement, puzzles, and combat. They all mesh well together and it really is more than the sum of it's parts. The exploration is probably the main star of the show. There's no map, but it totally works. You have a kind of "radar vision" which helps you figure out where you can or should go. It doesn't just give you a way point to follow, it actually prompts you to explore to find more points of interest and collectibles.

If you like open world exploration, you need this game. Buy it already.