There's a number of unassuming brick buildings in the industrial areas of San Francisco. One happens to sit right down the street from the UPS hub that serves the entire city. What makes this one special is that it is the home of Venue 550, an event and party venue equipped with an array of cameras, projectors, streaming infrastructure, and one heck of a sound system.

This was the site of Bandai Namco's Ringout SF: a one-night showcase for the fighting game Soul Calibur VI.

The latest public build that was also shown at the 2018 GDC (Game Developer Conference) the week prior was on display. Test machines were running SC6 on PC with Xbox One controllers hooked up. It's farther along than the build I saw at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas back in January where you could only play as Mitsurugi or Sophitia but still has quite a ways to go if the roster is any indicator. The roster has been expanded to six characters with five of them being staples of the Soul Calibur franchise: Nightmare, Kilik, Mitsurugi, Sophitia, and Xianghua. They are joined by Groh who makes his debut in Soul Calibur VI. As you can see below there's still a lot of empty circles just waiting to be filled.

I'll be honest: I did the bulk of my Soul Calibur playing during the days of SC3 on the PS2 and SC4 on the PS3. I didn't play SC5, partly because my main player was deleted, and partly because my game playing choices had moved onward in the cycle. I was (am) a Cassandra player and I'm glad Sophitia was put in the SC6 public builds so early because without her I'd be completely lost. She actually plays more Cassandra-like than Sophitia-like so that makes things better for me.

Somewhat disappointing is the lack of The Witcher's Geralt of Rivia as well as fan-favorite Ivy and the scythe-wielding Zasalamel. All three of these characters were announced last week and many an attendee was hoping to see how they would play.

_{The freshly announced Geralt, Zasalamel, and Ivy}

Now if you've never played a Soul Calibur game it's 3D and not 2D-based. The staple movement system is the eight-way run and you can, if the other person stands still, circle around them. No need to jump like in Street Fighter (and even if you do jump it's just a little hop). You have three primary attack buttons in the form of a vertical, a horizontal, and kicks. Combined with the D-pad, those three buttons give you a dizzying array of options and moves. One combination might be a fast poke, another a horizontal, and the third, a vertical launcher. Characters with larger weapons can have both slower moving, long-range swings, and short quick strikes.

I gave each character a go and the returning ones feel more or less the same as I remember: Xianghua is fast and flowing with her Chinese long sword, Nightmare is hard-hitting (albeit slow), Kilik with his long-range staff, Mitsurugi with his down and dirty katana fighting, and Sophitia bashing people in the face with her shield. The new character Groh seems to be somewhere in the middle. Not a speedster like Xianghua but not a slow bruiser like Nightmare. He has a mix of hard hits and fast moves. His weapon is a double-bladed sword that he can separate with certain button combinations and hit much faster than normal.

_{Groh showing off his dual swords}

There is a new mechanic called Reversal Edge which makes the game go slow-mo and in general looks cool. It's described as rock-paper-scissors and if you hit the right buttons you'll do some good damage to your opponent. You can, if you so choose, not act at all and just back away if you don't want to risk things.

The Critical Edge super moves return and if you're me and have terrible reaction times you'll eat them quite a bit. These flashy moves can turn the tide of a battle if landed, as they do a large chunk of damage. If you've played most other fighting games (particularly recent ones like Street Fighter V, or Soul Calibur V for that matter) this will be nothing new.

_{Nightmare’s Critical Edge involves running you down on a phantasmic horse}

One cool little detail is that as the rounds go on, costumes get more and more damaged. Shirts get ripped. Masks go missing. While that has absolutely zero impact on their performances it's something I can appreciate. I'm surprised that (spoiler) Nightmare is a fairly handsome guy underneath that crazy helmet of his.

I believe Ringout SF is one of the first opportunities the public-at-large was able to try their hand at Soul Calibur VI. Before this only industry, trade, and press shows were graced by its presence. Nowadays, the competitive side of things is just as important for a fighting game and Ringout SF held a small four-person single elimination tournament. The participating players were: Kayane (Xianghua), Yellowtail (Groh), Xephukai (Mitsurugi), and Ceirnian (Nightmare). Fans not present at the event were able to watch a stream with commentary by Markman, Maximilian Dood, and others.

You can check out the tournament along with lots of gameplay here:

_{Post-tournament exhibition fun with Kayane}

Soul Calibur VI will be released at some point this year. No date has been announced but we might have a better idea after E3 in June. Thanks to Bandai Namco for this opportunity and an early look at the game.