Video Game / Soulcalibur VI

All spoilers pertaining to the original timeline of the Soul Series will be unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

Welcome to the stage of history... retold.

"Perhaps it was fate..."

Soulcalibur VI is the seventh mainline installment of the Soul Series (eleventh overall), and the first on the eighth-gen consoles PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, as well as the first on PC.

Despite its title, Soulcalibur VI isn't a sequel — at least not in the traditional sense. Rather, it's a Continuity Reboot that doesn't follow the Time Skip utilized by Soulcalibur V and instead goes back to the time of the first Soulcalibur "to uncover hidden secrets" about the struggle between the legendary swords. The story, titled Soul Chronicle, is a major focus in the game.

The roster features a complete host of iconic returning characters, with additional newcomers. Most of the roster from I return, but some of the characters who first debuted in II and III are also playable. In addition, a second story mode called "Libra of Soul" allows players to create their own character and thrust themselves into the conflict between the two swords.

The main roster has 21 characters, plus two seasons of four DLC characters for a total of 29.

Soulcalibur VI was the first and only game in the series to be made under the leadership of Motohiro Okubo, who previously worked on Tekken 7, and the first made in the Unreal Engine. It was released worldwide on October 19th, 2018.

On November 25, 2019, Season 2 went live complete with new moves, new battle mechanics, four new characters, and more CAS parts.

With Okubo's departure from Bandai Namco after 25 years of working the company, the future of the Soul Series would once again fall into a limbo.

The game's playable characters include:

Italics indicates DLC.

• From Soul Edge: Heishiro Mitsurugi, Sophitia Alexandra, Siegfried Schtauffen, Taki, Voldo, Seong Mi-na, Cervantes de Leon, Inferno, Hwang Seong-gyeong
• From Soulcalibur: Kilik, Chai Xianghua, Nightmare, Ivy Valentine, Yoshimitsu, Maxi, Astaroth
• From Soulcalibur II: Talim, Raphael Sorel, Cassandra Alexandra
• From Soulcalibur III: Zasalamel, Tira, Amy Sorel, Setsuka
• From Soulcalibur IV: Hilde von Krone
• New to Soulcalibur VI: Grøh, Azwel
• Guest characters: Geralt of Rivia, YoRHa No. 2 Type B, Haohmaru

Gameplay Mechanics

• Guard Impact: Returns from all the preceding Soulcalibur entries, and allows players to parry non guard breaks/unblockable attacks with a timed button press. Unlike V, GI no longer requires a meter, though it does however cost guard meter.
• Reversal Edge: A counter performed with a single button, which allows the player to defend against an opponent's non guard breaking or unblockable attack and counter with a powerful strike that sends both combatants into a Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors situation.
• Armor Break: Returns from Soulcalibur IV and V. Different sections of armor can be broken off during a match via Lethal Hit, though finishing a match with a powerful strike will also shatter armor similar to V.
• Lethal Hit: An advanced system where landing certain moves under the right conditions will deal extreme damage to an opponent and break off a section of their armor, comparable to the Fatal Counters of BlazBlue.
• Critical Edge: Returns from V. A move that uses one bar the user's Critical Gauge to unleash a powerful attack.
• Soul Charge: A temporary power-up that increases the user's attack power at the cost of one bar of the Critical Gauge. It gives the player access to extra moves and allows one to deal damage to an opponent even while they're blocking. A revamped and modernized version of the Soul Charge mechanic seen in Soulcalibur II and III.

After the release of Season 2 two new game mechanics where added.

• Soul Attack: A powerful attack that can be unleashed at the cost of one bar of the critical gauge while entering Soul Charge mode.
• Resist Impact: A more powerful version of Guard Impact where at the cost of a half a bar of the critical gauge can defend against any attack including Unblockables and Guard breaks.

Game Modes

• Soul Chronicle: A full-fledged story about the Tale of Souls and Swords described as "epic" by the creators. There's a main storyline, and as one progresses there are "branches" that explore different aspects of the timeline with the individual characters.
• Libra of Soul: An alternate story mode where you play as your own character and embark on an adventure separate from the main story.
• Creation: Returns from previous entries as a staple of the series. The mode is given several improvements, most notable being a choice of 16 different races rather than just humans. There are now 100 slots (twice the amount than older games), and you can now download creations from others should they put it up for share in another 100 slots, making a total of 200 character slots total.
• Arcade: Battle against eight A.I. opponents in the fastest time.
• Network: Online play; includes ranked, unranked and replay mode.
• Museum: Returns here after its absence in V, allows one to view profiles, lore, and concept art among others.

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The game has examples of the following tropes:

General

A-G

• Ambition Is Evil: In this game, it is revealed that Soul Calibur being just as evil as Soul Edge was not new knowledge, and that the sword's darker nature was still dormant by the time of Soulcalibur I and II. This is because Elysium, the spirit that personifies the weapon, was kept suppressed due to both powerful purification rituals and careful selection of its wielders. The wrong wielder, such as someone overly-ambitious or willful, risks awakening Elysium and enabling the sword to pursue its ambitions.
• Anti-Frustration Features
  • Going into an online battle against a created character will tell you whose fighting style it is above the name the other player has given. Zigzagged in that since height has an effect on hitzones and hitboxes, it will be slightly different from how the actual character works.
  • A minor one, but when the fight goes near a ring edge, the camera pans down to indicate the possible danger of a Ring Out.
• Armed with Canon: This game, led by Motohiro Okubo, is a Continuity Reboot made to escape the Soft Reboot of Soulcalibur V, led by Daishi Odashima (who left in 2013), which made a 17-year Time Skip to create a new status quo. However, it goes further than that and into this trope upon the revelation that the Original Timeline is still canon as an Alternate Universe, and this being a brand new continuity is actually a plot point. Daishi was the one who came up with the idea that Cassandra would be trapped in Astral Chaos, most likely to have her Put on a Bus at the time and bring the focus on the new generation. Okubo, who favors the classic cast, decided to revisit this element by having her appear in Soul Chronicle. It's there where the New Timeline Cassandra visits Astral Chaos and discovers her, and then learns that the future that led up to V is considered a bad one that must be undone by saving Sophitia (who was killed off between IV and V) and preventing a dark and cruel world from existing. Okubo is essentially using Daishi's canon to erase his canon, if you will.
• Ascended Extra: Cassandra, who has always been little more than Sophitia's Boisterous Bruiser younger sister, a funny side character with little if any sway over the main events of the story, is by the end of VI one of two people (the other being Zasalamel) who is aware of the Original Timeline and uniquely placed to avert the Bad Future that comes about in Soul Calibur V.
• Badass Normal:
  • In a cast full of wizards, god-empowered warriors, evil-seed empowered warriors, alchemists, ninjas, wind priestesses, undead pirates, golems, witchers, androids, and the wielder of Soul Edge itself, there are seven characters on the roster who have no superhuman abilities yet still fight as well as the others: Mitsurugi, Maxi, Voldo, Seong Mi-na, Raphael, Tira, Amy, Hilde, and Setsuka. All of them instead use their skills with their weapons, athleticism, (admittedly) Charles Atlas Superpowers, and in Amy's case, the ability to calculate the movements of her foes to fight. It's much more pronounced now since all the magic-based characters do use their abilities in gameplay this time around.
  • It's best showcased by Mitsurugi, who is able to fight Geralt of Rivia to a draw despite being just an ordinary samurai from 16th Century Japan. Geralt meanwhile is a kind of monster-hunting Super-Soldier created through alchemy and medieval bioengineering, who can cleave a fully-armoured man in half with a single stroke from a steel sword, and whose keen senses and quick reflexes can put a wild cat to shame. And that's not even mentioning Witcher Signs!
  • On the other hand, this is deconstructed often in the story mode. True to her backstory, Mi-na loses really badly to Ivy because prior to their clash, the girl had no idea magic even existed or how to defend herself from effectively a living weapon. Then there is Hwang, who actually gets killed when he tries to infiltrate the Society of Salvation because he has nothing to counter Gabok's magical techniques; he gets resurrected by a Taoist sage and told explicitly he needs to learn magic from her because he stands no chance against Gabok with just conventional martial arts and swordplay. Even a few other characters that were this trope end up with powers later; like Cassandra, who used to be just a Greek baker's daughter making up for lack of formal training with bravery and tenacity, but now has weapons blessed by Hephaestus and is able to summon wind, lightning and holy fire against her enemies.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Nightmare is the main antagonist of Soul Chronicle, while Azwel is the main antagonist of Libra of Souls, with both villains being the primary antagonists in Soulcalibur VI as a whole.
• BFS: Soul Edge is back, sporting the appearance it had in the original Soulcalibur. Siegfried is also back with his ever-present zweihander, Requiem.
• Bond One-Liner: Each character gets a special line upon winning with a Critical Edge (with the obvious exception of Voldo):
  • Mitsurugi: "Can't stand? You're done for!"
  • Seong Mi-na: "Phew... would you knock it off?"
  • Taki: "You'll be lost to history!"
  • Maxi: "Night night, sleep tight!"
  • Sophitia: "I, too, cannot afford to lose..."
  • Siegfried: "I'd hoped I wouldn't have to rely on this strength..."
  • Ivy: "You missed your chance for mercy!"
  • Kilik (normal): "Om vajra dharma Kilik." ("Glory to Varja, the divine arm wielded by Kilik.")
  • Kilik (possessed): "... Shouldn't be like this, Xianglian..."
  • Xianghua: "Just kidding~! Hehehe!"
  • Yoshimitsu: "Let me guide you... to Hell!"
  • Nightmare: "This nightmare shall consume you!"
  • Astaroth: "Good, you're quiet now!"
  • Cervantes: "Gyahaha, now to take your soul!"
  • Raphael: "With my blade, I shall forge a new world!"
  • Talim: "Wind, I thank you."
  • Tira: "I've already had enough of this..."
  • Zasalamel: "Just as it is written..."
  • Grøh: "Atone for the sin of weakness."
  • Azwel (normal): "Excellently done!"
  • Azwel (Soul Charge): "Consider yourself saved!"
  • Geralt: "Ever fight a Witcher? Guess not..."
  • 2B: "...until our day of reckoning comes." She also has this if she uses her Critical Edge while low on health:
    2B: Ugh... Nines?!
    Pod: Alert. Error in YoRHa Unit 2B's memory region.
    2B: Understood.
  • Amy (normal): "I live, so as not to lose!"
  • Amy (against Azwel): "I will not be anyone's puppet!"
  • Amy (against Raphael): "Raphael, I told you not to hold back."
  • Cassandra: "Am I even...using these right? Well, I won."
  • Hilde: "Consider this loss, an honor."
  • Haohmaru (Judgment Blast Slash): "Whew. Worked up a good sweat."
  • Haohmaru (Lightning Blade): "This is what it means to be a warrior."
  • Setsuka: "This is the work of fate, I merely played my part."
  • Hwang: "This victory is for my homeland."
• Clothing Damage: Returns from IV and V, and actually combines the way both work. Clothes can break mid-match like IV, but it doesn't trigger an Instant-Win Condition (i.e. the Soul Crush), and like V you can destroy an opponent's clothing by finishing them off with a powerful attack. And just like V, this system is purely cosmetic.
• Comeback Mechanic: As in the previous installment, when one fighter is at match point, their opponent will immediately gain an entire bar of the Critical Gauge at the start of the next round, signified by a brief flare of energy.
• Composite Character:
  • This version of Nightmare is Siegfried, and yet he has distinct aspects taken from Inferno, the second Nightmare. This includes his One-Handed Zweihänder style that introduced in III, the monstrous arm being as detailed as his more recent appearances, and the use of vocal enhancements to add to his presence when before he was just a Large Ham. Also, he has some lines taken from Graf Dumas, the third Nightmare, interestingly enough.
  • Zasalamel integrates elements of Abyss, his One-Winged Angel form from III. These aspects include magical powers that his normal self didn't have (or rather, didn't use). He also cites the "abyss" when using his magical abilities as a Call-Forward.
  • Yoshimitsu uses the Fu-Ma Blade as his second sword, bringing to mind his V successor Yoshimitsu the Second.
  • Seong Mi-na has inherited many of Xiba's exclusive moves to help better diversify her from Kilik, though Kilik also has some of Xiba's moves. This makes sense, as Xiba was their successor in numerous ways: he's the illegimate child of Kilik and Xianghua ^note although Xiba is unaware of his father's identity and doesn't realize that Xianghua is his mother (or that Leixia is his half-sister) even though Xianghua visits him once per year, and while Xiba later becomes the inheritor of Kilik's Kali-Yuga, his overall style with the bo falls closer to Mi-na's. Xiba was also taught by Kong Xiuqiang, the same digraced monk of the Ling-Sheng Su order who'd take Mi-na under his wing for a short time prior to III.
  • Astaroth brings in several elements of Rock, which is befitting as Kunpaetku had created Astaroth ("the Black Giant") using Rock ("the White Giant") as the template. This version of Astaroth has more grappler-based moves that bring Rock to mind mixed in with his own, and furthermore his appearance draws upon him with the barbarian-like loincloth complete with an animal-themed belt.
  • Inferno takes after both his Original Timeline self, as well as Night Terror from III (confirmed to be canon in the OT, but had no part in the plot), as an evil abomination that's the personification of Soul Edge and uses a more powerful version of Nightmare's style. Even aspects of Night Terror's looks were integrated into him, having the horns and the darker flames alongside Inferno's skeletal body.
  • Nightmare and Mitsurugi's expanded Chronicle of Souls entries use music from Soul Calibur II, which they are chronologically set just before the events of.
• Cool Versus Awesome: Par for the course for the series! Pirates Vs Ninjas! Golem vs. Alchemist! Lizardman vs. Animalperson! Witcher vs. Android!
• Costume Evolution: Many of the character designs are based off of Soucalibur, but have new aspects and influences integrated to still make them unique. This is especially the case when you consider I is nearly twenty years old and as such many of the designs may not have aged so well.
  • Mitsurugi's takes heavily after I but has a few touches added onto it. He has more armor on top, which is of a slightly richer red. His pants include more detail, namely a tiger decal. Also, before only the chestpiece was red, while the rest was of a plain steel gray. Here, the gray parts are colored red to match it.
  • Sophitia keeps the design layout from I, but has added elements of III and IV, specifically the laurel wreath from the former and the white upper tunic from the latter. She looks a bit younger, but physically is still largely based on her IV appearance. Coincidentally, that happens to be when she was bustiest.
  • Nightmare's appearance from I was relatively bland◊ for a character that would become the Series Mascot. Apart from the monster arm, it was a standard blue set of armor, with only the helmet having any sort of pizzazz to it. In order to stay true to his appearance from this era while making him more distinguishable and as fearsome as you would expect, the armor was used as a blank template to add more details like extra Spikes of Villainy (on his right shoulder with the arm, to be exact), gold trimmings, an emphasis on his glowing red eyes that are further obscured by shadows, and engravings to add more detail. His claw also is more detailed than in the earlier games, more in line with his appearance in IV and V. Oh, and the tattered Badass Cape added on it certainly helps.
  • Xianghua keeps the general color scheme of white on blue with gold trimmings that her I counterpart had. However, the design is now decidedly more feminine. Instead of pants, she wears a Mini Dress Of Power with blue leggings. Her hairstyle is based on her IV appearance rather than in I, and her headband shifts from her forehead to being a topknot.
  • Kilik got a massive overhaul. Apart from the general red color scheme, a belt across his chest, and straps around one of his pants legs, much of the old was thrown out in favor of a complete makeover. In the original, he was a Walking Shirtless Scene with detached sleeves and an overall basic look. VI trades that in for a martial arts-style top matching his status as a disciple of the Ling-Sheng Su order that keeps most of his chest covered. It also adds phoenix-themed right shoulder and boots, keeping in line with how the phoenix became more prominent as his Animal Motif as the series progressed, though these pieces of armor are not gold like in previous installments but silver. The aforementioned leg straps are now on Kilik's right leg, as they were in III, instead of on his left as they were originally. Finally, his hair is styled the same as it was in the last three games as opposed to the decidedly less shaggy haircut seen in his debut, but he retains his ponytail from I as a sort of middle ground.
  • Ivy has her I appearance, but made even skimpier by taking away much of what little cover she did have, and she maintains her proportions from later games (the Ivy of Soulcalibur was actually rather modest up top compared to her depiction in subsequent installments, but her character model here is based on how she appeared in IV and V).
  • Zasalamel combines both his III and IV appearances; having the hood, boots and overall white suit of the former with the wizard-like robe, collar, and shoulders of the latter. The result makes him look appropriately enigmatic and mysterious while alluding to his status as an immortal dark sorcerer.
  • Siegfried keeps his general knight design, though it strays from the usual template of a rather plain suit of silver armor. In the original, he was skinnier and his suit had less in the way of details. This version, however, adds more, such as gold trimmings, engravings, some muted blue areas to contrast the gold (design choices largely lifted from, interestingly enough, the Lost Swords recoloring of his 1P design in V), and an added Scarf of Asskicking akin to his IV default and his P2 outfit in III (though closer in style to the latter). He's also the size of his V counterpart this time around (172cm/5'8", 70kg/154 lbs), whereas Siegfried was a fair bit shorter and lighter previously (variable by game, but generally around 168cm/5'6", 50kg/110 lbs).
  • Taki in this era was slimmer than in the later entries and had a Cleavage Window that some would say didn't synergize with her design. For VI, they integrated aspects of various games Taki appeared in to improve the concept while staying true to the core. Her physical appearance is based on her IV design, but with more Asian features (as a common criticism was that she looked like a European woman). The suit is based on her I appearance with the purplish-red hue, but the cleavage is completely removed in favor of showing some of her back and sides similar to her II appearance. She also wears a ninja mask like in the original, but instead of cloth, it's a steel demon-themed mask much like her III version. Additionally, her bodysuit is adorned with rune-like characters that glow whenever Taki uses her ninpo.
  • Yoshimitsu is another prime example of a character that was completely redesigned. The only thing this version has in common with the I counterpart is a red-on-green color palette. The original was comparatively plain, with an armored chestpiece and shoulders over green cloth and rather plain boots. The most distinctive thing was his demon-like skull mask, but even then it was still of a generic variety. This version, however, gives him a much more detailed skull mask that has glowing green eyes and a glowing open mouth. His cloth was traded for more armor that looks almost like an exoskeleton, and the boots now resemble skeleton feet.
  • Maxi sticks very closely to his I design, albeit with some deviations. The sleeves are shortened, he has more prominent gold on his outfit from his boots to his belt to his jacket, and a sash is added alongside his belt.
  • Talim's design is a mix of her attire from II and IV, keeping the general look and color scheme of the former (a green tube top that bares her stomach, white shorts with green accents, predominantly white boots with red-and-green trim, and a more elaborate version of the gold-and-red medallion depicting a crescent moon and the sun she dons in both II and III) while adding slightly recolored variants of her vest and headdress from the latter. Talim's pants are also accentuated by a red sash wrapped around her waist, in the vein of her default outfits in III and IV.
  • Voldo in the original Soulcalibur had a design that, while still freaky and highlighting the oddity the character is known for, was rather plain compared to his more "interesting" designs from later on in the series. This version combines aspects of just about all games, such as wearing drill-like protrusions over the straps covering his eyes (a la his "goggles" in IV) but also having a crescent moon-shaped mask and different, more festively colored attire worn on his back (like his 2P costume in III). In a deliberate design choice, none of these elements seem to synergize with each other so that Voldo looks like a Rummage Sale Reject. Given who he is, it works.
  • Astaroth got a redesign of his most classic golem look. His skin was made to look more stone-like and given red Volcanic Veins, the armor pieces are given more elaborate and prominent Spikes of Villainy, he has a barbarian loincloth, a cobra motif that was absent before featured on a belt (that looks like a chain) and around his neck, and his mask now resembles one used to restrain people rather than a generic steel one.
  • Seong Mi-na's design, interestingly enough, is actually based on her pink bonus costume in Soul Blade ^note i.e. the PS1 port of Soul Edge as it was marketed in North America, Europe, and Australia rather than her appearance in Soulcalibur. While keeping the general theme, it was (much like the other female fighters) made Hotter and Sexier by removing the covering bits, adding a bra underneath the shirt that flaps, and thigh-high leggings to go with her boots.
  • Tira keeps the color scheme and facial/body markings of her III appearance, but apart from the bird motif she looks very different. Her hairstyle is half-black, half-green and the style is actually the "bladed pigtails" of her alternate costume from III. Much of her costume is torn, she's given strategically placed wraps over her chest (with her "top" almost identical to what she sports in V), a tiny skirt, special clawed gloves for handling her blade (which she didn't start wearing until IV), and thigh-high boots with Combat Stilettos. Also, her chest has been noticeably enlarged in this game for whatever reason.
  • Cervantes in this era looked like a normal human despite being an undead pirate. This version corrects that, playing up the "ghost" part of Ghost Pirate by giving him pale white skin to match how Cervantes looked in II, Volcanic Veins, and a very prominent skull motif to make sure there's no confusion about him being an evil undead pirate that walks among the living.
  • Raphael got a huge overhaul. The only thing this version shares with his II debut is a dark blue-on-red contrasting palette. In comparison to the rather-plain-for-a-blue blood attire of his original appearance, Raphael here gets a much fancier getup with frills, a shoulder cape in line with his III and IV design, a fleur-de-lis symbol in gold, and a gold-blue vest that really plays up his love for theatrics. The most noticeable addition of all is his glasses, which are combined with a Domino Mask.
  • Lizardman, based on what little we've seen of him, looks bulkier and more heavily armored compared to his original appearance.
  • Inferno in I consisted of orange-yellow fire connecting to arms and legs, with a skull. In VI, the fire is made to look more of a hellish purple-red while the skeleton aspects are more pronounced, including a horned skull with red eyes and the bones appearing more prominently.
  • Amy's outfit is based on her III outfit with some additions and modifications. Now she has a strap on her dress and her skirt is a little longer along with a skirt extension, a headdress, and a top cover on her shoulders. She also gained a rose motif on her dress.
  • Cassandra has drastically changed from her appearance since the last time we saw her. About the only remnant of her old outfits are her signature pantyhose, her gloves from II, and a medallion on her belt based on the one she had in IV. Here, her dress is primarily orange instead of blue as a contrast to her sister. Her new outfit has a noticeable Cleavage Window, a blue Scarf Of Ass Kicking, a white bow with orange outlines, a pauldron on her right shoulder, and leather wrist bands. Her hair is now styled into a ponytail instead of letting it loose.
  • Hilde forgoes wearing a helmet for the first time, instead donning a tiara. She also wears a fur-trimmed surcoat and golden armor instead of silver. She's still the Token Wholesome, so the Fanservice Pack is just her breast plate having actual breasts. That's it. It's a balance between her full-armored 1P designs and her more royal 2P designs.
  • Setsuka has gone through one of the biggest design overhauls of the cast. No longer sporting her old geisha-esque default outfits, her new costume is a blend between both her eastern-themed defaults and her western-themed alternate outfits to fully encapsulate her origin as a European woman raised in Japan, while still evoking the image of a refined lady.
  • Almost nothing of Hwang's old outfits are shown in his current one with the exception of a scarf from III and his signature headband. Here, he's wearing primarily black with golf trimmings, a longcoat like outfit with a hat and a mask to hide his identity with feathers adorned all over his outfit including his hat. As an acknowledgment to the theory that Assassin from II was Hwang, the outfit has a lot of homages to said extra character.
• Counter-Attack: Reversal Edge allows players to counter the attack of their enemy and retaliate with one of their own.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!:
  • Pressing the vertical and guard buttons at the same time (B+G) doesn't do your character's second grab attack this time around. Instead, it's mapped to Reversal Edge. Everyone's B+G grab is now a back throw (4A+G), much like in 2D fighting games.
  • For players that got into the series with Soulcalibur V, that particular game's Guard Impact input (4A+B+K) is now used for Soul Charge instead, with Guard Impact returning to its original input prior to V (6G).
  • Within the game itself, blocking a Critical Edge can be this against certain characters. Upon activating a CE, most characters only make a single hit at close range that can be easily blocked, but there are five that may trip you up because you're not used to it.
    • Astaroth and the possessed Kilik will grab their enemies, bypassing the block all together.
    • Talim on the other hand, hits three times and it's easy to let your guard down after the first block out of habit, only to get hit by the preceding strikes.
    • Yoshimitsu does a single, blockable strike, but he doesn't have to be close to use his Critical Edge because he teleports and no matter where he is on the map, he will strike his opponent if they're unready. "Ninjas aren't fair" indeed.
    • Nightmare does one strike, but not only can it be used as a Counter-Attack in the middle of getting hit, but it's unblockable. If it connects, it will be successful. The only way to thwart it is to evade.
• Decomposite Character: Xiba in V was a Composite Character of Kilik and Seong Mi-na's movesets, done to keep the rod users down to one and rid the roster of its clones, all while giving him unique moves of his own to stand out. In a rather interesting twist of fate, Xiba doesn't appear in this game, but instead his unique moves are given Kilik and Seong Mi-na, which combined with the two getting more unique moves in general, means they officially been decloned at long last.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Guard Breaks make a return, and just like in previous games, they are very difficult to pull off consistently, as it requires decent reflexes to pull it off. Whiff it, and you're rewarded with an asskicking for your trouble. Pulling it off isn't fool proof either, as the opponent can reverse the situation. That said, it can make life hell for your opponent if you can do it consistently.
• Divergent Character Evolution:
  • Seong Mi-na has been considered a "female clone" of Kilik for many years despite actually making her debut in the very first game of the series, but here marks Mi-na's transition into a full-fledged fighter of her own, gaining many unique moves and even inheriting several of Xiba's from V (though Kilik also has some of Xiba's moves). Apart from their similar weapons, they play very differently from each other now.
  • Sophitia and Cassandra are even more different than before, with Cassandra emphasizing brutal attacks and aggression over defensive playing and finesse. Interestingly, this even applied to their costumes — while both used to have prominent white and blue, now Sophitia is the one with the white and blue scheme whereas Cassandra's new primary color is orange, which was most likely done to make her visually distinctive from her sister.
• Earth Drift: While it's hard to say Soulcalibur is a "realistic" depiction of late 16th century life, by and large it never really dipped too heavily into the mystic until V. However, with VI, you get things like Zasalamel being able to freeze his opponent in time through magic and Cassandra summoning lightning to aid her attacks.
• Everyone Has a Special Move: Par for the course in fighting games, but VI brought the trope even further by giving everyone unique attributes that could make them varying degrees of mechanically unusual in their own right. This includes:
  • Mitsurugi gets his old Relic stance back after it was cut from V. While one of the simpler characters to use, some of his strings now end in Reversal Edge parries.
  • Sophitia's signature punishers now lead to Lethal Hit juggles upon counter. Soul Charge will extend many of her strings.
  • Grøh has two equally applicable ways of fighting that stem from the nature of his double saber, either wielding it as one large blade or dual-wielding two smaller blades. His Soul Charge gives him the ability to teleport.
  • Nightmare regains his Night Behind Stance that was previously cut from V, and many of his moves grant him a temporary Soul Charge boost, a property unique to him since III (see Super Mode below).
  • Xianghua plays largely as she did in IV, but has gained a new stance similar to Xiaoyu's Age of Phoenix stance.
  • Kilik's Soul Charge is his Possessed State, which has a different function compared to the others. It gives him a new style, increased damage and a second Critical Edge (thus making him the only character with two unique CEs). The tradeoff is that his Possessed State actively drains his health while he's using it. Unless you already have high health, activating this state is very risky, so use it with caution.
  • Ivy regains her previously cut Serpent's Embrace stance (which she lost in V when the game's streamlining process removed all of her stances), and has a new long-range command throw. A recurring command throw of hers, Summon Suffering, is now unblockable.
  • Zasalamel can cast and stack multiple levels of "curse" on the opponent (in a manner vaguely similar to Arakune's Crimson), which he can then spend on a temporary time freeze ability.
  • Geralt can spend meter using one of his five signs: Aard, Igni, Yrden, Quen, Axii. Using his Soul Charge, Geralt can access all five.
  • Siegfried enters a special "Dark Legacy" state as he gets lower on health. Though the exact properties aren't known, it does open him up to new Lethal Hit combos.
  • Taki's Mekki-Maru causes Scratch Damage when blocking at all times (not just when in Soul Charge), making it perfectly viable to rushdown a blocking opponent. She also gains a unique projectile.
  • Yoshimitsu returns with his unique moveset that already qualifies him as an example of the trope. But furthermore, he can absorb his opponent's meter and add it to his own through combat, and can use it on unique moves in a manner similar to V's Brave Edges.
  • Maxi can shift to a different stance after attacking with an input (up to seven), and can stop to enter a Pure Soul Loop stance, which grants him a damage buff.
  • Talim gets a new Air Rage stance, where she summons wind as a weapon turning her attacks. Additionally, her Critical Edge allows her to regain health.
  • Voldo, true to his Badass Back nature, gets a different Critical Edge depending on what side is facing his opponent. He can also perform a Reversal Edge when backturned, similar to how he's the only character capable of blocking while his back's to his opponent.
  • Astaroth has had the size of his upper body increased to improve command throws. Additionally, his Soul Charge gives him Super Armor.
  • Seong Mi-na's attacks have different properties at tip and close range, making her difficult to approach and great at controlling space.
  • Tira has a variety of attack throws, and her dual-personality mechanic returns which gives her a different playstyle depending on whether she's set to Jolly or Gloomy.
  • Azwel uses magic to summon weapons into existence, and has three different categories of weapons: long, mid and close range. He also has a unique Soul Charge in a similar vein to Kilik.
  • 2B has all of her abilities from her game, allowing her to Flash Step and increase her speed. She is the only character who can air combo her enemies and like Kilik and Azwel, has two Critical Edges but instead, her second one can only be performed with low health and can leave her a silver of health if the enemy survives.
  • Amy can throw roses at her opponent, allowing her to increase her Perceptive meter and when max, changes the abilities of her moves to make it either more offensive (if Red Rose Perception is max) or defensive (if her White Rose is at max).
  • Cassandra has a unique buff state that gives her access to powerful special moves in exchange for reducing her guard gauge.
  • Hilde can perform certain actions to gain Regalia Arts or if she already has them, an increase to her soul gauge. She also retains her focused attacks from the previous games where if a button is held for a long time, she can perform a powerful move.
  • Haohmaru retains his abilities in Samurai Shodown including the series' rage mechanics and some button combinations you can perform from his home game. Like some characters, he also has a second Critical Edge.
  • Setsuka can increase her attack and add new abilities for punishing the opponent if she can attack before the opponent, attack after the opponent attacks, or perform an attack counter.
  • Hwang has a life force meter where he can increase his attack or gain new abilities from his moves. It can be increased through various ways and he can use his Taoist magic even when his life force is zero but if it ends the battle in a negative number, he will have less health at the start of the next round.
• Fanservice: It's Soulcalibur, so it's to be expected.
  • The first trailer gives us very generous shots of Sophitia's breasts and butt. Sophitia's character design appears to based primarily on her SCI appearance, but made Hotter and Sexier with elements of her later costumes ^note namely the laurel wreath from III and the white upper tunic from IV and a more generous bosom in line with Sophitia's post-SCI designs (particularly SCIV).
  • The second trailer provides a closeup of Xianghua's chest as it jiggles while she moves.
  • Ivy returns with a more revealing outfit (basically a scantier version of her attire from the original Soulcalibur) after the previous game dialed back her sexiness.
  • Taki makes her return after her absence in V, and she doesn't disappoint. The ninja is as buxom and with an outfit that is as skin-tight as ever. It's also worth nothing that her Critical Edge gives us a very good closeup of said buxomness during its animation.
  • Talim's outfit is played for fanservice just as much as the others, despite being 15.
  • Seong Mi-na gets a much more sexualized version of her bonus costume from the home ports of Soul Edge as her main wear, with a small bra underneath her tiny shirt that allows all kinds of interesting shots, on top of a small skirt (again) and thigh-highs.
  • Tira has a very revealing costume as always, basically a Hotter and Sexier version of her III outfit. It consists of wraps that make up her top, a tiny miniskirt, and thigh-high Combat Stilettos, while her breast size has been very noticeably increased from the past games (whereas Tira's previous in-game models were more petite than her character art would suggest).
  • 2B brings in some third-party fanservice from her home game. In a tiny dress that features an open Cleavage Window, a tiny skirt with her backside emphasized, thigh high stockings and Combat Stilettos, she fits in with the rest of the girls despite being from a very different series. Oh, and as a bonus, she comes with special CAS parts that you can deck the main characters in, or your own.
  • Cassandra. Oh god, Cassandra. While she always provided fanservice, she wasn't a "leading lady" for it like Ivy, Taki or her big sister Sophitia. Here, she's made sexier in every possible way. Many were surprised, as they expected her to be sexy like the others, but not to receive that big of an upgrade in that department.
  • Fret not ladies, there are a few male examples; Kilik is halfway shirtless, muscular, and is a Bishōnen who loses his shirt after using his Soul Charge mode, while Mitsurugi is revealed to be wearing a fundoshi once you break his armor. Said armor breakage shows and even more ripped body belonging an utterly manly yet youthful samurai.
  • As for a non-sexual example, the game takes place around the time of the first Soulcalibur, which was the game that really put the franchise on the map and is still considered by many to be the best entry (or, at worst, on par with the equally revered Soulcalibur II). Understandably, nearly every member of the SCVI cast revealed so far who was present in Soulcalibur takes after their original designs to some degree, with the likes of Mitsurugi, Sophitia, Ivy, Taki, and Maxi drawing the most heavily from their SCI incarnations. Additionally, Project Soul added Zasalamel and Talim, two of the more popular post-SCI characters, to the roster despite the game largely sticking to a retelling of the events of Soulcalibur. Tira, another popular addition from the post-Calibur era, is also featured, albeit as a DLC character.
• Fanservice Pack:
  • Most of the ladies have received recreations of their classic outfits from the old era to varying degrees, though several costumes have generally been redesigned to be skimpier while the ladies themselves keep their more generous proportions from the later games. This is most evident with Sophitia, Ivy, and Seong Mi-na.
  • Tira always had revealing costumes, but small breasts. This time, she's very well-endowed.
  • Taki zig-zags this trope to a degree. While she's still a kunoichi fighting in a bodysuit that leaves practically nothing to the imagination (which has been a constant since the series' inception, but was made even more noticeable from II onward) and is as voluptuous as ever (whereas she was skinnier and less busty in Soul Edge and Soulcalibur), her outfit trades in the Cleavage Window Taki sported in Soulcalibur in favor of baring a little bit of skin on the sides like in II. This is also a notable contrast to Taki's design in IV, where parts of her bodysuit were replaced with fishnet-like mesh, revealing her legs and the sides of her breasts while making it apparent that there was no way Taki could be wearing anything underneath.
  • Cassandra is the unambiguous queen of this in the roster, which says a lot considering both how the women all fits this and she was already a Ms. Fanservice before. Her breasts are larger, her thighs are thicker, she's even more prone to Jiggle Physics and panty shots, she retains her Ass Kicks You attacks, and like before she wears pantyhose. Unlike before, they don't cover her legs as much as they accentuate them.
  • It's a relatively minor case but even Token Wholesome Hilde is not exempt from this treatment. Her new breast plate armour does a lot to accentuate her curves, contrasting with her practical plate armour from previous games.
• Game-Breaking Bug:
  • There was a bug that allowed Voldo to use Soul Charge and his Critical Edge from a crouch dash while his back was turned...''without any meter whatsoever''. Tira also had a similar, albeit milder exploit where she could activate her own Soul Charge for half a meter while in her Gloomy state. The bug has since been patched.
  • A scant few days after v1.11 dropped (to be more precise, exactly on 2B's release), it was found that PC and PS4 users were getting falsely permabanned from online play by simply attempting to play ranked battles at all. It got to the point where Bandai Namco had to temporarily roll back to the previous patch on PC to make it stop.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Characters with explicitly magical elements make much more use of it than past games. Those who didn't use magic at all in normal play do, and those who did use it even more prominently. This definitely helps distinguish them from the Badass Normals of the roster.
  • Grøh has clear magical abilities. He can have his moves be magically enhanced, complete with energy projection, teleportation, and explosions. These become even more prominent upon unleashing his Super Mode.
  • Nightmare rides a Hellish Horse when using his Critical Edge, a step up from past games where he simply slashes at his enemy. Overall low-key in comparison to the others, as despite clearly having magical abilities, Nightmare mostly relies on his brute strength.
  • Kilik has a Superpowered Evil Side with the Possessed State, which he activates upon using his Soul Charge. This explicitly enhances his damage, gives him new moves, and a new Critical Edge, and it's explicitly magical in nature complete with auras and explosions alongside the general change in appearance. Before, the Evil Seed was just a story aspect that had no effect on gameplay (though partially justified by the lore itself ^note the Dvapara-Yuga mirror/pendant Kilik wears is meant to prevent him from going berserk and Kilik later mastered balancing the evil that had tainted him and the Kali-Yuga in the four years between Soulcalibur and SCII), so this marks its introduction as a gameplay element.
  • Continuing on from V, Ivy more heavily integrates magical attacks into her moveset, whereas before the only thing magical was her weapon. A returning move from V involves shaping Valentine into a bow and arrow to strike an airborne enemy, whereas another has using using a magical disk to hold her opponent in place. Magical seals appear much more prominently as a visual effect in general, as benefitting of a woman with alchemical prowess.
  • Zasalamel receives special Power of the Void abilities. In the lore, he always had them, but never used them in-game outside of his Critical Finish in IV. Here, he can summon vortexes and black holes, and command time. He has a special trait where he "curses" his enemy by casting a purple orb on them, allowing the player to briefly freeze time to create additional openings for combos.
  • Geralt, being a witcher, has access to "signs" that give him special abilities, as well as enchanted potions and blade oils. His silver sword also does extra damage against Soul Charged opponents, in keeping with its Anti-Magic properties in his home series.
  • Taki was one of the few fighters who used mystical abilities in past games, but here her moveset makes even more use of it. Ninjutsu, complete with energy blasts, bombs, teleportation, are used in tandem, and in her Critical Edge she explicitly holds her enemy in place with a magical seal. She also has a passive where she inflicts Scratch Damage at all times (not just during Soul Charge), likely owing to her weapon being infused with a shard of Soul Edge.
  • Yoshimitsu also utilized mystical abilities beforehand (owning to starting out as a transplant of his Tekken counterpart, who himself possessed supernatural powers), but in this game he has a special trait that involves taking his opponent's meter after every successful combo, which itself is represented by yellow orbs transferring from the opponent to him, and he can perform Brave Edge-like enhanced attacks that likely allude to his sacred Yoshimitsu sword being of mystical nature, forged with secret Manji techniques that cannot be replicated by anyone else (hence, he's the only one with that ability). His Critical Edge is much more magical in nature, where he takes his opponent's soul out of their body and crushes it. Speaking of which, his use of teleportation also gives him an advantage here. Yoshimitsu is the only fighter who can use his Critical Edge anywhere on the map and have an equal chance of hitting his opponent with it, as he always teleports right to his target beforehand. Thus, anyone facing him should be prepared at all times.
  • Talim's command of the wind due to her spiritual affinity as a wind priestess was previously relegated to her Soulcalibur III ending and her Critical Finish in IV. Here, she gains new wind-based attacks, specifically tied to a new Air Rage stance that's marked by the wind circling her. Furthermore, her Critical Edge makes full use of it, and Talim's status as a healer is also integrated into the gameplay with her regaining some health after a successful Critical Edge.
  • Azwel might be the pinnacle of this, explicitly being a wizard who shows us just what someone who summons various weapons out of nowhere can do with telekinetic powers, teleportation, various projectiles, and a One-Winged Angel form of his own.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: In-game, any character can beat any other character purely down to skill. In-story, it's made clear that some characters are way, way beyond the abilities of others to defeat. Perhaps the best example being Seong Mi-na vs. Ivy, where the latter's unusual weapon and quasi-magical powers catch the Badass Normal Mi-na by complete surprise, allowing Ivy to defeat her with contemptuous ease. Going by ranking, you have: Characters that are stated to be capable of laying low entire armies (Astaroth, Nightmare, Zasalamel, Cervantes), characters who have abilities beyond human potential (Ivy, Raphael, Yoshimitsu, Taki, Hwang), above-average human fighters (Mitsurugi, Kilik, Sophitia, Hilde), and then average human fighters (Maxi, Talim, Xianghua, Seong Mi-na).
• Genre Throwback: To the original era of the series, no less. A stark contrast to V attempting to throw out everything old in a Soft Reboot, this is a Continuity Reboot that wears the old proudly on its sleeve. Despite the various modernizations, VI is very much a throwback to the '90s and '00s fighting games that the series was most prominent in, using I as the template. With designs based on characters from that era, the return of old gameplay mechanics like the Soul Charge, the day/night stages, the wealth of single player content, and the retelling of the series' most classic storyline, it's hard not to get some sense of nostalgia if you're a longtime player.
• Goofy Print Underwear: You can now apply numerous patterns to the underwear of characters, and plenty of those patterns are fun and silly.
• Guest Fighter:
  • Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher is confirmed to appear in the game. And this time around, custom characters can use his style.
  • 2B from NieR: Automata joins as DLC, notably the first female guest in the series.
  • Haohmaru of Samurai Shodown leads off the second season pass, leading to the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny that people have wanted to see between Haohmaru and Mitsurugi.

H-P

• Hotter and Sexier: Continuing from Lost Swords, VI brings the Fanservice back in display as one of the biggest selling points of the game in full force. This is also notably after V had reversed the trend established by past games. Every female fighter in the game is a Ms. Fanservice in some form or another and boy do they take every chance at demonstrating it. The game is full of convenient wind, Clothing Damage is more prominent this time around, Male Gaze is everywhere, and the Unreal Engine 4 allows characters to look even sexier compared to previous games that looked a little too plastic at times. Let's not forget that Creation returns, allowing players to take part in it themselves. Not only that, but there's actually more references to sex and innuendos this time around, which beforehand, for all the fanservice was relatively rare. At this point, VI could very well supplant IV as the most sexualized game in the series. Even Hilde, who is the series' Token Wholesome character, is given a "boobplate" cuirass that emphasizes her bust — though her classic outfit from IV is included as Season 2 DLC.
• Limit Break: The Soulcalibur V version of Critical Edges return in VI. ^note The Critical Edge mechanic originated in Soul Edge, where it was a character-specific autocombo that lowered the durability of the user's weapon and usually could only be used three times per round before the Weapon Gauge was fully depleted. In Soulcalibur V, it was reintroduced as a more standard super move similar to the rest of the genre.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: As noted above, everyone has been given something unique about them beyond just their baseline fighting styles. But even beyond that, there are several that come off as especially unusual and worth noting.
  • Kilik, normally a fairly standard character with a staff, becomes one in VI. While most characters have a Soul Charge that grants extra moves that are more powerful and Scratch Damage while running on a timer, Kilik on the other hand has a different Soul Charge where he awakens his Superpowered Evil Side. While his health depletes with each attack, he becomes much more powerful all-around, and can last the entire match unless one lands a Critical Edge, which is unique itself and extra powerful, creating a risk-vs-reward factor in its use compared to others. Because of this, he effectively has two different gameplay styles in one, and is one of the very few characters with multiple Critical Edges.
  • Geralt's signs system, which grants him abilities like fire-based projectiles, a unique and exclusive counterattack, and an ability to slow down his opponent in a trap among others, are all unique in and of itself. They all require meter to use (whereas in this game, meter is mainly used either for Soul Charge or Critical Edge), while in his Soul Charge state he can use all five without meter.
  • Siegfried has a special state called "Dark Legacy", in that the lower his health gets, the more dangerous he becomes with his standard attacks becoming Lethal Hits, and he can cash in the whole thing to use a version of Nightmare's Soul Wave. Additionally, the player can force Siegfried to enter Dark Legacy beforehand by using Guard Impact a number of times, even if it's not parrying anyone. This state is marked by his sword and armor exhuming blue-and-purple wisps of energy.
  • Zasalamel has a "kick" attack that isn't a kick at all. Rather, this command will have Zasalamel cast up to three curses on his opponent, which circles around them as dark purple orbs. You can then cash in on it to temporarily freeze time and gain a major opportunity to attack, if executed right. Patch 1.30 also added a Soul Charge move that allows him to fire a curse at the enemy as a projectile.
  • Yoshimitsu would already count, as his style was too unique and off-kilter even before this game to not be "unusual". However, not only has he gained an Energy Absorption passive ability where he takes his opponent's meter and adds it to his own, but he gains a new mechanic called Soul Burn, which are effectively Brave Edges; enhanced attacks marked by yellow auras that consume his meter (unless he's Soul Charged, whereupon these special attacks become cost-free). Keep in mind, the Brave Edge mechanic seen in V has been otherwise completely removed from VI.
  • Azwel is very odd in the game, as he doesn't have a defined weapon but he summons weapons out of nowhere. His move list is divided into three different stances, each reminiscent of a fighting game archetype, and each essential to mastering him. This includes the "Comedy" stance (lance and shield) which focuses on parrying and long-range pokes, the "Beauty" stance (dual blades) which focuses on vertical invasion and mixups, and the "Tragedy" stance (axe) which focuses on damage and rushdown. Like Kilik, he has a different kind of Soul Charge as well and two different Critical Edges. Notably, his second Critical Edge requires the player to burn another meter of the Critical Gauge while Azwel is already under the effect of his Soul Charge—a requirement reminiscent of Algol's alternative Critical Edge in the preceding game.
  • Tira has two different stances with her Jolly and Gloomy personalities, which give her access to different moves, but cannot be switched on the fly. Furthermore, she has two different Critical Edges — with Gloomy delivering an extra blow if accessed. And finally, she can access a "burning" Gloomy state where she can access Soul Charge-exclusive moves until she switches back to Jolly, basically giving her a lite Soul Charge without having to actually use it for a duration.
  • 2B plays like she should from NieR: Automata but transplanted into Soulcalibur, and as such her style is very different from those found in the regular roster. She can switch between different weapon configurations, utilize flash steps to gain an advantageous position, gain bursts of speed, engage in combos while airborne, and call upon Assist Character Pod 042 for special moves and projectiles (itself a distinct rarity of its own) which makes her the only character in the game with an assist helping them, and only the second after Z.W.E.I. in V to feature one. She's also the one of the very few characters (the others being Kilik, Azwel, Tira and Cassandra) to have two different Critical Edges, but her second one is activated by a different command when she's at less than 30% health, wherein she self-destructs on her enemy. It will leave her at sliver of health, meaning she's the only who can be hurt from her CE and one must be sure they can win with it.
  • Amy has a meter called the Abandonment Level. Certain moves can raise it higher, which then increases the level, and if raised high enough the player can cash in on it to unleash a powerful attack. It should be noted that this is separate from the Soul Gauge, which she has in conjunction with the Abandonment Level, and she effectively has two Limit Breaks from unrelated sources. The battle director even compared using the separate meter to a strategic game of cards where one builds up to a strong card to secure victory.
  • Cassandra can effectively channel a Super Mode at will outside of Soul Charge at any given time, using the Divine Force. This increases her stats across the board for a very short duration. The main drawback is that using it causes her to take guard damage, significantly weakening her defenses should one rely on it too much. Furthermore, she's the only one who can activate a Guard Impact via a directional imput (rather than pressing a button), which makes it very useful, if also confusing at first. Cassandra also has a unique projectile by throwing her shield as a Precision-Guided Boomerang, which can catch enemies off-guard, but the trade-off is that she can't strafe during the process. Finally, she's one of the few characters who have two Critical Edges, with her second one being an enhanced version used during Divine Force that deals extra damage, and thus requires the proper timing to get right.
• Megamix Game: VI features recognizable content from all corners of the series.
  • The story, roster and setting is mainly based on Soulcalibur, a classic entry in the series that is considered by many fans to be its zenith (a claim contended only by the equally praised Soulcalibur II), and the majority of lore is told at this point in time.
  • Many of the themes are also reinterpretations and modernizations of Soulcalibur's soundtrack.
  • Of the cast originally present in Soulcalibur, most of their costumes are based on their appearance in that era, but redone while even adding elements from later designs as an influence.
  • The use of Soul Charge is taken from II and III, getting a revamp.
  • Soul Chronicle can be likened to a mix of Arcade Mode from previous installments (taking large cues from I and II in particular), Tales of Souls from III, and Story ~1607 A.D.~ from V, combining the latter's linear but clear path of storytelling with the individuality of the character-specific narratives present throughout most of the series along with the branching routes seen in Tales of Souls.
  • Libra of Soul plays a lot like a Spiritual Successor to III's Chronicles of the Sword.
  • The Character Customization feature that was first introduced in III and returned in all subsequent games is back, and better than ever.
  • Some characters who debuted after I return here, accompanied by a few new ones.
  • Armor Break returns from IV and functions closer to that installment than it did in V.
  • Critical Edge is also featured, functioning the way it did in V (i.e. akin to a standard super move in most fighting games).
• Men Get Old, Women Get Replaced: As a Soft Reboot that reverses the previous games' controversial seventeen-year Time Skip, this entry does have the surprise return of the original timeline's Cassandra, who was lost in the Astral Chaos but still witnessed the events of the future. Though horribly corrupted by evil, due to her Malfestation she's still more-or-less as young and pretty as she ever was, making her yet another female character who legitimately avoided physically aging past forty.
• Motif: Everyone's artwork features a motif in the background pertaining to their heritage or personality.
  • Mitsurugi — Tiger
  • Seong Mi-na — Hibiscus Syriacus ^note the national flower of Korea
  • Taki — Oni
  • Maxi — Dragon ^note specifically an (East) Asian dragon
  • Voldo — Spiderweb
  • Sophitia — Grapevine
  • Siegfried — Pegasus
  • Ivy — Caduceus ^note the double snake and staff motif associated with alchemy (and, among other things, the Greek god Hermes)
  • Kilik — Phoenix ^note specifally the Fenghuang
  • Xianghua — Lotuses
  • Yoshimitsu — Death
  • Nightmare — Unicorn
  • Astaorth — Cobra
  • Inferno — Soul Edge
  • Cervantes — Skull
  • Raphael — Lion
  • Talim — Sampaguita ^note the Philippine national flower
  • Tira — Bird skeletons
  • Zasalamel — Clock
  • Grøh — Yggdrasil
  • Azwel — Gateway
  • Geralt — Wolves
  • 2B — The YoRHa logo
  • Amy — Red roses
  • Cassandra — Berries
  • Hilde — Lily of the Valley
  • Haohmaru — His stage, Gairyu Isle (waves crashing against rocks, along with a torii)
  • Setsuka — Snow, moon, and flowers
  • Hwang — Thunderstorm
• Ms. Fanservice: Nearly female fighter in the game. If all the fanservice tropes on this and related pages weren't a good enough indication, VI is absolutely filled to the brim with it and most girl featured will be this without exception. It becomes downplayed with Hilde and Setsuka in her default outfit; while both women are stunning to look at, they aren’t depicted as heavily sexualized as the other female characters and dress much more modestly.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The Automaton class is stated to be magitek cyborgs created by Fygul Cestemus — a reference to Ashlotte Maedel from Soul Calibur IV.
  • The Malefic class is described as being comprised of ancient warriors mutated by Astral Chaos — a reference to the backstory of Necrid from Soul Calibur II whose own particular weapon was named "Maleficus".
  • The Lost Soul (Winged) are angelic beings described as pursuing order and ruthlessly attacking those who are corrupted by darkness — clearly inspired by Elysium's portrayal in Soul Calibur V, wherein she took the form of an angelic version of Sophitia and was ruthlessly dedicated to enforcing her brand of "order" upon the world, killing all Malfested, and destroying Soul Edge.
  • In Nightmare's extended Chronicle of Souls, Iska Acht references the events of Soulcalibur Legends while mocking Siegfried, implying that she's actually Iska Farkas.
  • Some characters' alternate outfits/palettes include references to other characters throughout the series. For example, Mitsurugi's Color 3 outfit includes an eyepatch (in reference to the Englishman samurai Arthur) and Sophitia's third and fourth alternates reference Pyrrha (Including eyes colored in a manner akin to malfestation) and Azola (A character that failed to make the cut for the roster of Soul Edge) respectively.
• Necessary Drawback: You can combo into a Critical Edge, but said Critical Edge won't do nearly as much damage as a normal one on its own. This is because the additional hits combined with all the high damage of a normal CE would likely be broken, especially for characters who can easily do this.
• Non-Indicative Name: With a title like Soulcalibur VI, one would naturally think it's the continuation of the series going forward. It's actually a Continuity Reboot that starts everything all over again from the beginning (or rather, the beginning of the Soulcalibur titles). The naming choice has confused some, to say the least.
• Non-Linear Sequel: Officially titled Soulcalibur VI, the game is a Continuity Reboot that takes place between the ending of Soul Edge and the beginning of Soul Calibur II, meaning it's actually set over twenty years before when V would take place. It takes on a whole new meaning, upon the revelation that the original games are still canon, but as an Alternate Timeline separate from this one, that's portrayed as a Bad Future that needs to be prevented.
• Order Versus Chaos: Soul Calibur embodies Order and Soul Edge embodies Chaos, but the motif runs deeper than that. The flavor text for the two variants of Lost Soul reveal that Astral Chaos is — despite its name — split between the forces of order and chaos, with the Conduit being able to skew their morality to one side or the other.
• Pintsized Powerhouse: With the character creator, reducing a character's size decreases their reach but boosts their damage to compensate. So the smaller the character is, the stronger they are.
• Put on a Bus:
  • VI is set around the same time as the first Soulcalibur. As such, the new characters from V will not be making an appearance. Justified by the fact that most of them haven't even been born at this point.
  • Of the pre-V roster: Hwang, Li Long, Rock, Lizardman, Cassandra, Yun-seong, Setsuka, Amy, Hilde, and Algol aren't playable in the base game. DLC added several of them back in with their own stories taking place at appropriate points in the timeline with Season 2 expanding the roster and story even further.

R-W

• Red Baron: Everyone is given a unique title meant to invoke this trope. Some of them come from the original Soulcalibur, even.
  • Mitsurugi — Mercenary in The Warlike Age
  • Seong Mi-na — Daughter of the Bladed Rod
  • Taki — Fu-ma's Shadow
  • Maxi — Dandy of the Seas
  • Voldo — Hell Guardian
  • Sophitia — Second Advent of The Vow
  • Siegfried — A Soul in Purgatory
  • Ivy — Coiling Contempt
  • Kilik — Destiny Awakened
  • Xianghua — Traveling Artist
  • Yoshimitsu — The Original Mechanical Ninja
  • Nightmare — Azure Nightmare
  • Astaroth — The Demonic Guard
  • Inferno — Hellfire of Despair
  • Cervantes — The Shell of a Proud Man
  • Raphael — Prelude to Madness
  • Talim — The Last Priestess of the Winds
  • Tira — Bird of Death
  • Zasalamel — The Dark Side of Karma
  • Grøh — The Agent in Black
  • Azwel — Leader of Humanity
  • Geralt — The White Wolf
  • 2B — Glory to Mankind
  • Amy — Winter Rose
  • Cassandra — Warring Maiden
  • Hilde — Defender of the Kingdom
  • Haohmaru — Rōnin Vagabond
  • Setsuka — Drifting Snow Blossom
  • Hwang — Secret Royal Blademaster
• Reimagining the Artifact:
  • The Soul Charge mechanic that was in II and III but cut in subsequent games returns here in keeping with the theme of Revisiting the Roots. In those games, it was a power-up that could be activated at any time but left the player vulnerable to an attack, making it more impractical than it ought to be. Here, it's been revamped and modernized to fit today's standard as a meter-based mode that allows one access extra moves and deal Scratch Damage to a blocking opponent, and can be activated instantly.
  • Soul Chronicle is essentially a reinvention of the Arcade Mode from most preceding Soul installments, Tales of Souls from III, and Story ~1607 A.D.~ from V. It tells a complete story, but also has branching paths for each character, and displays their journey from start to finish. As such, it combines the endings and individuality of the former two, with the linear storytelling of the latter.
  • Libra of Soul is the newest iteration of the quest/mission modes from previous installments. Like Mission from I or Weapon Master mode from II it involves hopping around the world, getting into fights that have unique conditions. Like Chronicles of the Sword from III it adds in all sorts of RPG elements such as leveling up and getting new weapons. But it adds new elements such as hiring mercenaries and side quests. And unlike the previous games, Libra of Soul's story is actually canon to the overall story of the game and shows a different conflict happening elsewhere in the world.
• Retcon: Several of the characters are taller than they originally were in either the original SC or in the original timeline. Siegfried was 165 cm in the original SC before growing to 172 cm by V, but is made 172 cm right away in this game. Mitsurugi was 171 cm in the original SC before growing to 173 cm by V, but is made 173 cm right away in this game. Zasalamel, Kilik and Hwang have been made taller than they were in the original timeline, going from 180 cm to 183 cm, 167 cm to 169 cm and 171 cm to 176 cm respectively. Conversely, Cassandra and Hilde, who made their debuts after the original SC, have been made shorter than they were in their debut appearances, with Cassandra being 163 cm instead of 164 cm and with Hilde being 158 cm instead of 160 cm like in IV. It could be argued it’s because they debuted earlier, but is still odd that they got the opposite treatment as characters such as Siegfried and Mitsurugi. This seems to have been a decision to make the men more taller than the women because by this game, only Maxi and Raphael are the only returning male characters to have not gained any height and because Sophitia, who was originally taller than at least Kilik and was the third tallest female character, is now shorter than every male character.
• Revisiting the Roots: The core theme of the game. After V attempted a Soft Reboot by means of a Time Skip that changed the series in order to take Soulcalibur in a new direction which included cutting out some of Soulcalibur's most popular and established characters and replacing them with younger successors, VI revisits the setting of I to expand upon its story and the iconic original cast. To go with this, many characters are given costumes that throw back to their appearances during this era, but appropriately updated with changes that still fit the aesthetic. You also have gameplay mechanics like classic stages, the Soul Charge, day/night settings and previously cut moves making their return as well. This is also notably the first game since II to feature Inferno as the Final Boss.
• Schizo Tech:
  • Soulcalibur has always been an Anachronism Stew and never did it adhere to real-world history, but the new Aval Organization pushes the series into this. Their signature Eyepatch of Power isn't just for show — they're high-tech visors that allow them to communicate with each other in a long distance, effectively making them Bluetooths in the 16th century. They also regularly use technical terms that also seem out of place, such as the term "wavelengths", with the Hand Wave being that they're a masquerade that's more advanced than the world and are keeping the technology for themselves to protect them.
  • Though her canonocity is debatable, the game also features 2B, an android from 10,000 years in the future who uses laser cannons and machine guns in some of her attacks, fighting against the entirely medieval cast of Soulcalibur.
• Shoo Out the New Guy: An extreme example, being a Continuity Reboot that was done in part to escape the infamous Time Skip utilized by V and return the old guard in the place of their less-than-well-received successors.
• Spiritual Antithesis: VI is a stark contrast to V. Both stand as attempts at revitalizing the series, but whereas V was about deviating from the source to evolve the franchise by introducing a new generation of fighters, advancing the story forward significantly, and creating new ideas to progress the series in a different direction, VI is about returning to the core of Soulcalibur by taking a back-to-basics approach by exploring the established lore in more detail, bringing back the old guard, and revamping old ideas to make them new. What makes them directly contrast each other is that V was more notable for what it changed, while VI is more notable for what it's bringing back.
• Stealth Sequel: Or rather, stealth reboot. The game carries the title of Soulcalibur VI, and much of the game seems to just be a simple retelling of the original Soulcalibur era that still follows the events closely without changing the actual canon, but certain deviations, culminating with Zasalamel's secret final chapter, confirm that this is in fact a completely new timeline. Then, Cassandra is made aware of what happened in the Original Timeline, and thus has the knowledge to prevent it.
• The Stinger:
  • The first trailer ends with a brief shot of a mysterious character holding a double-bladed sword, later revealed to be Grøh in the second.
  • The second trailer has Kilik entering his Evil Seed-influenced berserker state, turning the Kali-Yuga into a spear by imbuing it with energy, and stabbing Xianghua.
• Super Mode: This game's version of the Soul Charge mechanic (last seen as a universal mechanic in Soulcalibur III ^note though Soul Charge was removed in IV and V, Nightmare could still receive similar buffs (increased attack power, certain moves becoming auto counters or guard breaks) if he was able to successfully land either Soul Wave or Soul Smasher, moves that would automatically power him up to a Lv. 3 Soul Charge in III) is not a temporary power-up with three levels of effect that ends after a short duration but a Super Mode that players can activate at the cost of one bar of the Critical Gauge. It allows your character to do damage to the opponent even if they block and allows them to pull off enhanced versions of certain moves like the Brave Edges of V, and certain characters have moves that can only be used during a Soul Charge.
• Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors: During a Reversal Edge clash, horizontal attacks beat kicks, kicks beat vertical attacks, and vertical attacks beat horizontal attacks.
• True Final Boss: In the Libra of Soul mode, Inferno, who doubles as an SNK Boss. Encountering the boss requires the player to achieve Mastery of every Style available in the base game, and then to defeat every Ancient Master of each weapon Style through a quest line given by the Edge Master. Inferno himself is Level 99, is always Soul Charged, and can deal up to 830 damage from one basic combo.
  • Alternatively, Groh is this for the optional Astral Fissure Sealing side-quests. Once the player has sealed enough fissures, a rematch against Groh will appear in the mission "Never Cease," in which he is always Soul Charged, and can only be defeated by a Critical Edge.
• Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny: Standard with CAS, but also achievable with actual characters. The game lets you match Geralt against 2B to battle each other for supremacy.
• Wham Line: Meta, during the 2017 Game Awards:
  Do your souls still burn?
• Unlockable Difficulty Levels: Initially, arcade mode can only be played on Easy, Normal, Hard, and Very Hard difficulty. You have to clear Very Hard to unlock the Legendary difficulty setting, which also unlocks the "Glory Awaits" achievement.
• Wham Shot: Kilik is shown being unable to stave off Soul Edge's corrupting influence, entering a berserk state at the end of the second trailer.
• World of Buxom: As usual, nearly every female character is pretty busty. The only ones who aren't are Xianghua, Talim, and Amy who are all teenagers at the oldest.

Story

Soul Chronicle

• Adaptational Early Appearance: While based on the first Soulcalibur, certain characters from II and III appear during this era before they did in the original timeline.
  • The first known example is Zasalamel, who didn't debut until III, which was the game where he stepped out of the shadows. He has a role in the story here around four years before he originally did. In fairness, being an enigmatic Chessmaster who's also immortal makes this completely plausible. In fact, his inclusion is what reveals that this is a hard reboot.
  • Talim was first introduced in II and held the distinction of being one of the youngest members of the cast at 15. Her Chronicle of the Soul begins one year before the events of II, with her proving her worth as the Priestess of the Winds before setting off to find and cleanse Soul Edge. As such, her story is mostly divorced from the bulk of the narrative and is treated more as a Sequel Hook.
  • Tira debuted in Soulcalibur III, which occurred after the four-year Time Skip between Calibur and II. (She would've only been 13 during Soulcalibur, though lore also states she was a member of the Bird of Passage long before then, having escaped the organization when the chain of command broke down due to the Evil Seed unleashed by Siegfried three years prior.) Despite only being a child at the time, Tira did offer up her services to Nightmare's cause a short while before the events of II, however; the raven seen delivering Soul Edge shards to various characters in the opening FMV was established to be one of several belonging to Tira. Her DLC Soul Chronicle starts off in the immediate aftermath of Soul Edge, but shows her as being 17 right from the start, meaning she would be in her twenties by the time of III.
  • Downplayed with Amy, who first appeared around the time where it's said that she first met Raphael in the original timeline, though she wasn’t really involved in the story itself until Soulcalibur IV. Here, she begins her journey around the time II started by trying to reach Raphael before he finds Soul Edge and becomes Malfested.
• Adaptation Distillation: The story aims to compress the large, often convoluted lore of the original continuity into a single digestible package, likely to expose the story to new audiences and even their own.
• Adaptation Expansion: If looked at as a retelling of I, there are some deviations that set VI apart from it aside from the modernized visuals and gameplay. This includes the addition of new characters, the concept of the Aval Organization having ties to King Arthur, the inclusion of characters from II and III appearing even when they weren't involved at this point in time, and the general presence of aspects and ideas that didn't even exist during the era of I.
• Adapted Out:
  • Not everyone from the old games got to make the base roster, as the original Soulcalibur cast got emphasized most with only some of II and III characters making it in. However, the one who got it worst is Rock, who doesn't appear on screen and is only referred to in the encyclopedia as the "White Giant", while others not playable in the base roster such as Cassandra, Amy, Hwang, Lizardman, and Edge Master still appear as NPCs. This was later rectified with the former three being added as playable characters with unique Soul Chronicles.
• Arc Welding: Soulcalibur VI isn't "just" a reboot, but the fact that it's a brand new continuity is actually a plot point. Two characters, Zasalamel and Cassandra, are given messages from the Original Timeline that set the stage for the future to heavily diverge. In the former, he receives visions from his future self heavily indicated to be from the OT, that causes him to skip over being a Death Seeker entirely. In the latter, she meets her OT self driven mad by Sophitia's death and Astral Chaos, and is then told the chain of events that lead to V and that she can prevent it. This establishes that the Original Timeline is canon in a way, but as an Alternate Universe.
• Arc Words: "Fate is carved with your own hands."
• The Atoner: Siegfried's backstory draws from the original continuity's narration of what happened to him between Soulcalibur and Soulcalibur II — freed from Soul Edge's control by Kilik and Xianghua, he seeks to atone for his unwitting murder of his father and the sins he committed as Nightmare.
• Battle Discretion Shot: Some fights, notably ones involving main cast characters who aren't yet playable are fought yet unlike other fights with non-cast members, are left offscreen or skipped over.
• Bittersweet Ending: Soul Edge is destroyed, at least for now. In the process, Siegfried, Nightmare's host, is freed from the cursed sword control by Kilik, while his Dvapara-Yuga got shattered, leaving behind a small piece of the gem in a pendant-like shape and entrusting it to Xianghua. Meanwhile, Siegfried sets out on a journey to atone for his sins, but ends up becoming Nightmare again before he could reach Soul Calibur inside Astral Chaos.
• Book Ends: The Chronicle of Souls storyline begins with Kilik being given the Dvapara-Yuga by Xianglian, at the expense of becoming a Malfested when the Evil Seed made its way into the Ling Sheng-Su temple, and ends with Kilik entrusting to Xianghua a shard of Dvapara-Yuga after defeating Nightmare and Inferno.
  • The same applies to each of the respective characters' Soul Chronicles:
    • Taki's first and last opponent in her Soul Chronicle is Geki. Only that in the latter part where he is possessed by Gel-O-Fury.
    • Connecting to both Ivy and Cervantes's character arcs: Cervantes was defeated by Sophitia and Taki before his revival into the Ghost Pirate we knew of him today. And in Ivy's own episode, she is confronted by Taki, the same person who slew Cervantes no less, who outright reveals to her that she has inherited Cervantes's cursed blood. In other words, she is Cervantes's daughter!
    • The game's main storyline also began with Siegfried stumbling upon Soul Edge after Cervantes's defeat, in the process is transformed into the Azure Knight. At the end of his Soul Chronicle, by defeating Inferno inside Astral Chaos, Siegfried once again becomes Nightmare before he could reach Soul Calibur.
    • Cassandra's Soul Chronicle is also connected to Sophitia's, the latter's character episode begin with Sophitia returning home and being greeted by Cassandra, only to writhe in pain due to a shard of Soul Edge lodged inside her heart, something that Cassandra would become increasingly aware of in her own episode. Cassandra's Soul Chronicle ends with her returning back to Athens, confronting Sophitia after she has just finished her duty.
    • Grøh's Soul Chronicle begins with him being nursed back to health by Azwel after being mortally wounded by Nightmare, while keeping his Malfestation in secret for the remainder of his character episode, with Azwel serving as the Final Boss of his character arc once his true colors are revealed.
    • Raphael's story begins with him being exiled from his clansmen, in the process losing all power, wealth, and influence and becoming a vagabond on the run until a fateful meeting with Amy, and ends with him inheriting Lord Dumas's wealth as his own.
• Broad Strokes: The story is very much a true retelling of the original Soulcalibur but with some details changed, removed, or added to better streamline the story and set up the rebooted universe as a whole.
• Call-Back: Sophitia and Nightmare's pre-match dialogue is the same as their rival cutscene in Soulcalibur during Sophitia's Arcade Mode (though given what this game is, it might just be the same encounter that occurred canonically in SC).
  • In the actual game, Sophitia doesn't encounter Nightmare but encounters Siegfried, who she also states her desire to save him.
• Call-Forward:
  • Zasalamel peppers his speech with a few references to the abyss; he was the (default) Final Boss of his debut game in a transformed state named Abyss.
  • The end of the "Fate's Choice" story trailer from E3 2018 has Kilik determinedly declare "I'll carve... my own fate!" as he assumes one of his trademark stances and prepares for battle, likely in response to Nightmare's line at the top of the page and fitting in with an earlier recording of Kilik and Xianghua reciting "Fate is carved with your own hands" in unison. Fans might also recognize this line as belonging to none other than Alpha Patroklos when using his Critical Edge; even the delivery is the same. While this may be nothing more than a sly wink to V, note that Patroklos did receive some guidance from Edge Master—Kilik's master—late in that game's story.
  • The man who would later continue the name of Yoshimitsu in V grew up among the Fu-Ma ninja and was established to be acquaintances, possibly even Childhood Friends, with Taki's disciple Natsu. As such, he wielded a sword known as the Fu-Ma Blade alongside the Yoshimitsu katana favored by the Manji clan leader. Here, his immediate predecessor and originator of the title favors the exact same Fu-Ma Blade, suggesting a possible (earlier) tie between the two ninja clans. In fact, the use of the Fu-Ma Blade by both Yoshimitsu may serve as a further Call-Forward to their distant successor: Tekken 6 saw Yoshimitsu adopt a second blade (Fumaken) so as to seal away the cursed properties of his namesake weapon and retain his sanity in the process, and Fu-Ma Blade is a partial translation of Fumaken.
  • Raphael's chapter in Soul Chronicle reveals the wealthy noble he once served, and subsequently took over after he poisoned, was named Dumas. That's the same name Raphael took seventeen years later when he became the ruler of Hungary as Graf Dumas.
  • Amy's chapter has her face Azwel wielding a crystal ball that looks like the one Viola from V uses and shows an image of Viola herself at one point.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Astaroth meets a blonde Malfested in his story mode who acts as the Mouth of Sauron to Nightmare; this generic returns in Siegfried's story mode, drawn to the former Azure Knight's aura, hoping to take his old master's place by killing him.
• Continuity Porn: The game is a real treat for longtime fans of the series. Based on the original Soulcalibur, considered by many as the most nostalgic game (and certainly the one that kickstarted the series into the mainstream), VI takes many elements from across the history of the series and puts them proudly on display. Most of the designs are updated versions of the Soulcalibur costumes, the story is based on that era which means aspects that had long passed, such as Siegfried as Nightmare, Inferno as the Final Boss, multiple story paths, and the heavy presence of artwork, are featured. Iconic moments in the series, including those that had only been referenced but never shown, are portrayed here — such as Taki and Sophitia teaming up against Cervantes, Siegfried's visible transition into becoming Nightmare after obtaining Soul Edge ^note something that's only seen briefly in Siegfried's Soul Edge ending as well as the ending of the non-canon Legends, and the trio of Kilik, Xianghua, and Maxi joining forces to defeat Nightmare, to name a few. For those who had wanted to see these events, it's a major payoff. And for those who never knew, it's a good introduction.
• Continuity Reboot: Despite bearing the name of a sequel, Soulcalibur VI is actually a reboot of the series. All in all, the story very closely follows that of Soulcalibur right down to recreating iconic scenes, but with the advantage of hindsight, they've integrated aspects of all the lore that was convoluted and rarely expanded upon on top of being added with little thought, and used it to help better flesh out the world itself. Zasalamel's secret Soul Chronicle chapter, unlocked by completing his special sidequest in Libra of Soul, fully establishes this game as such.
• Demoted to Extra: Cassandra, Amy, Hwang, Algol, Rock, Edge Master, and Lizardman are characters who've appeared on the main roster in the past and all appear in the story mode in some form, but aren't playable in the base roster. It's believed that at least some of them will appear as DLC later. Indeed, Amy joined the roster as the third DLC character and Cassandra as the fourth and her appearance imply that she wouldn't be just some extra and Hwang joined the cast during Season 2.
• Eldritch Location: Astral Chaos—previously known just as Chaos prior to V—makes its return, with the Story Mode trailer showing Xianghua claiming the newly-awakened Soul Calibur and facing off against Inferno wielding Soul Edge.
• Fanservice Extra: The unnamed sorceress that sends Geralt to the Soulcalibur world is, as per tradition, very busty.
• For Want Of A Nail: Only two characters we know of so far have any knowledge of the Original Timeline — Zasalamel and Cassandra. The former receives visions of his future self (very likely his OT self), which causes him to change his plans completely (skipping over being a Death Seeker entirely) to embark on a new vision for the future. The latter sees into the future, finds her future self driven mad by Astral Chaos, and after defeating her, is told of the events that lead up to Soulcalibur V and that she can prevent it. Both of these make it clear that this is not a retelling, but a full-on reboot, and it's these "nails" that'll lead to a massive divergence from the lore later on.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Algol casts a shadow over the storyline, having been a past wielder of Soul Edge and creator of Soul Calibur, but outside of an encyclopedia entry and Zasalamel's Chronicle (neither of which actually refer to him by name), he has no bearing on the plot.
• Hufflepuff House: Wolfkrone Kingdom is confirmed to exist via an encyclopedia entry, despite not having any place in the actual story aside from being ravaged by Nightmare, nor is its representative Hilde on the roster. It's mostly because, at this point in the timeline, Hilde is barely a teenager.
  • However, Season 2 kicks off with Hilde, averting this trope.
• Innocuously Important Episode: Cassandra's Chronicle at first seems like the others — a simple retelling of events that expand upon her backstory. The fact that she wasn't the most relevant character in the past would likely give you no reason to think she'll be important here. Then it ends, and the epilogue begins, where she goes to Astral Chaos and encounters "The Masked Swordswoman", or rather, Cassandra's Original Timeline self, or rather she did this before the first part of her story, revealing she knew this the entire time. This changes everything, and makes Cassandra only the second person to have any idea of the Original Timeline events, and the means to change them, with the first being Zasalamel. Similarly, it's heavily implied she'll play a major role in diverging the timeline from what we know later on.
• Interface Spoiler: Create A Soul reveals the name of Cassandra's default weapon is "Original Omega Sword and Elk Shield." Original, as in from the old timeline.
• Medium Blending: The story combines 2D demos, 3D demos, hand-drawn illustrations, and in-game battles together, freely transitioning between them.
• Not His Sled: There are certain deviations from the Original Timeline, some more subtle than others.
  • Siegfried in this timeline willingly becomes Nightmare again to prevent Soul Calibur from being consumed by Inferno, as opposed to slowly succumbing to Soul Edge itself until Raphael inadvertently freed him.
  • Tira seems like the same character except she's given an Age Lift, a deliberate Adaptational Early Appearance, her split personalites exist from the start, she's even more depraved than before, and the one thing she's known for, being Nightmare's Dragon, is never realized — instead she's informed by Zasalamel that Nightmare is merely a puppet for Soul Edge, and Tira seeks Soul Edge itself.
  • Zasalamel contains the biggest example, by far. So much so that it eliminates any doubt over the game's status as a reboot. In his final chapter, Zasalamel reveals he's receiving visions from his future self, and decides to abandon his plan of achieving death in favor of collecting both soul swords to lead humanity into a brighter future. This is before he enacts the original plan to begin with. That said, his new plan requires him to obtain both swords, implying he'll still resurrect Nightmare to obtain Soul Edge.
  • Amy becomes more involved in the plot earler by vowing to stop Raphael from obtaining Soul Edge and become Malfested instead of quietly accepting what he plans on doing for her.
  • Cassandra seems to follow the path she did in the older games very closely. Until the epilogue, that is. It's there where she sees into the future, discovers her future self driven mad by Astral Chaos, and after a couple bouts, her future self tells her of the prophecy that Sophitia will be murdered, that Pyrrha will be host to a shard of Soul Edge, and abducted and made the host of the evil blade, and leading to the events of Soulcalibur V — which is painted as potentially leading to a Happy Ending Override of that game. Though she doesn't fully believe it, it's clear that Cassandra has full knowledge of the events before they unfold, and thus can actively change it before they happen.
  • Hwang stepped out from the story after Soulcalibur in the OT, basically meeting up with Yun-Seong and Mi-na once separately between III and IV to tell them the sword is evil. He takes a much bigger role in the story this time, with being the first one to report Nightmare's return to the Aval Organization and actively going after the fragments supposedly to purify them. And he's manipulated via proxy into this by Zasalamel out of all people.
• Only Six Faces: The cutscene portraits for minor NPCs consist of only a few different faces for men and women, distinguished solely by their different clothes and hairstyles.
• Power Trio: This being a retelling of Soulcalibur, we have three main characters in the form of Kilik, Xianghua and Maxi. They fit multiple molds, such as the Token Trio (Kilik being The Hero, Xianghua being the only girl and love interest to the former, Maxi being the best friend and of a different nationality), the Balance, Speed, Strength Trio (Kilik being the balance, Xianghua being the speed, and Maxi being the strength), the Nice Mean And In Between (Xianghua's nice, Maxi's mean, Kilik's in-between), and Two Guys and a Girl (Kilik is The Hero, Maxi is The Lancer, Xianghua is The Heart).
• Pragmatic Adaptation: Though largely based on I, the game's roster deviates from it. Most of that game's cast is set to return, but it's implied that not all will make it (likely the less iconic characters), while some characters that debuted later in II and III will be featured as part of the story. Additionally, there are brand new characters like Grøh making their debut in the rebooted timeline.
• Revision: The game takes place at around the time of the events of the first Soulcalibur in order to uncover new information and hidden secrets. Basically, the story is very much a retelling of the classic Soulcalibur, while also incorporating many years of obscure and convoluted lore, tying them together, and making everything much more cohesive overall. Until the secret endings of Cassandra and Zasalamel's stories show the old timeline still exists in a seperate universe, and the two of them know enough about the orginal to make changes going forward...
• Rewatch Bonus: When playing Cassandra's Soul Chronicle notice how Rothion mentions that Cassandra brought him some old arms of Sophitia's to repair. This turns out to be a hint that Cassandra has had contact with another timeline because there shouldn't be two versions of Sophitia's sword and shield. Furthermore, Sophitia's old shield was called the Owl Shield, not the Elk Shield.
• Secret Level:
  • Two chapters are unlocked by beating certain missions in Libra of Souls, Raphael and Zasalamel which aren’t required to complete for 100%. Raphael’s chapter is locked merely to prevent spoiling that Azwel survived his battle with the Conduit but Zasalamel’s has heavy implications that he knows about what’s to come from his future self.
  • Cassandra's Soul Chronicle has a secret side story that reveals she somehow made contact with an alternate version of herself from the old timeline and now knows everything that will befall her family.
• Sequel Hook: While the story sticks mainly to Soulcalibur, there are quite a few leads for a potential sequel to follow up on.
  • Nightmare ravaging Wolfkrone Kingdom, which in turn leads to Hilde's involvement with the story later. She doesn't appear herself — at least until the Season 2 DLC, but the context of what it would likely lead to is clear.
  • Tira's Chronicle of Soul ends with Jolly and Gloomy setting out in search of Soul Edge.
  • Talim’s Chronicle of Souls is set at the beginning of the events in II, where people find shards of Soul Edge.
  • Zasalamel noting that Soul Calibur was just as malevolent as Soul Edge before having its will sealed away, tying into the The Reveal in V. He also begins to enact his plans that took place in III until he saw a vision of the future, possibly from his future self, and decide to follow his plan from IV before ever trying to achieve death, suggesting a massive divergence to come.
  • Azwel escapes justice in Libra of Soul, and then informs Raphael about the abilities of Soul Edge, setting him on the path of find it and achieve the perfect world for Amy. Amy herself decides to stop Raphael from enacting his plan before he becomes Malfested from Soul Edge.
  • Cassandra is informed of the events that lead up to Soulcalibur V by her Malfested future self, driven mad by Astral Chaos. Thus, she has knowledge of the events before they happen, and can and likely will prevent the events from unfolding the way they originally did and creating a completely new timeline.
  • Setsuka's Soul Chronicle ends with her seeking out Mitsurugi to avenge her master. She also decides to search for the Kokonoe Clan's hidden scrolls to master her style with the final scroll having been missing for years along with the true forge of Shugen's sword. A shadowy figures also goes to where Setsuka and Gyobu fought, taking the shard of Soul Edge that had been used to turn Gyobu into a Malfested.
  • Season 2 adds special side story and interlude chapters to not only address lingering plot threads, but also to set up what will eventually become the events of Soulcalibur II. Groh's special chapter reveals that not only did he canonically survive Libra of Soul, but also that he iss the one who allows Maxi to come back to life after being carried along a river (which was due to Groh being attacked by Malfested and not wanting Maxi to end up in their ranks). Mitsurugi's side story involves him being confronted by a mysterious silver-haired girl named Iska Acht, a new servant of Soul Edge's who wishes to malfest him, believing him to be a suitable host for the sword. However, before anything can come of this, a mysterious entity appears and interrupts them to Acht's horror. That entity is none other than Algol, and he remembers everything about the original timeline, where he and Mitsurugi were rivals, saying to Mitsurugi he wishes to meet and challenge him again. Nightmare's side story and interlude chronicles Siegfried's slow transformation back into Nightmare and his struggle for control against Inferno, offers some more insight as to exactly who Acht really is, and reveals that Inferno has established a brand new evil cuncil in order to manipulate events behind the scenes and gather powerful souls to revive Soul Edge at full power. It is also the true, final ending of Soulcalibur VI as a whole, as it ends on a note saying "To be continued..."
• Ship Sinking:
  • Siegfried x Hilde has been a popular ship ever since the latter's debut in Soul Calibur IV, but V sank it by revealing that Hilde was a mother but that Siegfried was not the father of her children. After her announcement for VI, fans began getting hopeful that the game being set in an alternate timeline would mean that they could get together, only for Hilde's Soul Chronicle to reveal that she is happily engaged to her cousin Wilhelm, who is presumably the father of her children in the original timeline as well.
  • Another popular ship, Siegfried x Sophitia, emerged due to her interactions with him in their Soul Chronicles and has been a popular ship since the beginning of the series, but was also sunk because Sophitia gets married to Rothion like in the original timeline.
• Villain Episode: Soul Chronicle gives all the playable characters their own paths to explore, learn and play from their point of view. Yes, even the villains like Nightmare and Tira.
• Void Between the Worlds: Astral Chaos is indicated to be this between the Original and New Timelines. It is here where Cassandra of the New Timeline encounters Cassandra of the Original Timeline, driven mad after years in the Eldritch Location, and after defeating her, the latter gains just enough sanity to warn the former of the Bad Future that her timeline became.
• Wham Episode:
  • Zasalamel's secret final chapter, made so that you have to unlock it for this reason. Those who were expecting the timeline to be the same and that the game was just a mere Soft Reboot or retelling, will be in for a huge surprise to learn that this is implied to be a new timeline, and that future installments will definitely deviate further from the old if this is any indication.
  • Cassandra's chapter starts normal, following the same path as the old games. Except for the unlocked prologue. If there ever was any doubt that VI was a reboot, even after Zasalamel's secret final chapter above, this completely and utterly shatters it.
  • The finale for Season 2's DLC tops both of the above by having multiple bombshells rapid-fire, not just in Hwang's Soul Chronicle but also in new chapters for Nightmare and Mitsurugi. To wit a brand new character named Iska Acht approaches Siegfried and Mitsurugi. Acht turns out to be the living will of one of Soul Edge's fragments who was previously part of an amalgamation of souls inside of Soul Edge (as well as possibly being connected to Iska Farkas from the non-canon Soulcalibur Legends. Oh, and she has six other counterparts who all serve as attendants to Nightmare's lieutenants, one of them even implied to be a young Z.W.E.I. from V! If that wasn't enough, Algol is close to waking up. And remembers Mitsurugi from the original timeline.

Libra of Soul

• Absurdly Low Level Cap: It's Level 99. While a player who only follows the main story path will probably end the story at a respectable Level 60, a player who aims to complete all the sidequests will cap out very long before they've come close to doing so.
• Adventure-Friendly World: You're on a journey in the Tale of Souls and Swords, and there's always something somewhere going on that you can take part in. You hop around Eurasia and northern Africa to meet all sorts of people from different cultures, discover ancient secrets, and generally seeing what the 16th century had to offer. And that's not even taking side quests into account.
• Another Side, Another Story: The story begins literally on the other side of the map from the main conflict of the game, starting shortly after the Evil Seed event in 1584 and then spanning over years. Most of it is divorced from the main conflict, instead focusing on the machinations of Azwel and Zasalamel. However, at times the story will cross over with the main plot and the player will encounter other members of the cast during their own journeys.
• Ascended Extra: On a broader scale, most races appeared before in a small capacity before being expanded upon here.
  • Generic lizardmen have existed since II.
  • Mummy was a costume choice in V before becoming a race.
  • Automatons existed in the lore with IV bonus character Ashlotte, another creation of the Fygul Cestemus sect responsible for giving Astaroth life.
  • Colossi are inspired by a bonus boss character that can be fought in III.
  • Hidden Village Clan (elves) are based on the "elf ears" from V, which were fake ears meant to imitate elves, before becoming a proper race. Before that, IV featured Scheherazade as a bonus character, though it's unclear if she's actually elvish or merely elf-like in the vein of Link.
  • Revenants were generic enemies in III and appeared as a costume choice as "skeletons" in V.
  • Malfested were always part of the lore but didn't get focus until V. (In the Japanese versions, and the English versions of preceding games like IV and Legends, the Malfested were instead referred to as Evils.)
  • Outcasts are inspired by Olcadan, who was cursed by a god to have an owl head.
  • Malefics are described as being ancient warriors mutated by Astral Chaos — a reference to the backstory of Necrid from Soul Calibur II. Also worth noting that his weapon is named "Maleficus".
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: All of the ugly-monster-looking races available for custom characters — Lizardman, Malefic, Darksider, and Malfested (Fully Transformed) — can only be male. Especially strange in the Malfested's case, since there are three stages of transformation to choose from and the first two (which still look mostly human) can be female. You can even create a female skeleton or mummy, but lizardwomen are off the table.
• Bragging Rights Reward: Defeating Inferno after completing all the Edge Master sidequests is this. For your trouble, which includes mastering every Style, traveling all over the map to defeat every Ancient Master of each Style, and then managing to beat a Level 99 opponent banned from competitive play with a full Soul-Charge and 800+ damage combos, you get... some gold, some EXP, and a short text-based cutscene. Justified in that by the time you get to this point, you'll have accomplished virtually everything there possibly is to do in the game.
• But Thou Must!: At one point you are asked to help an old man recover some donations he made to Azwel's organization. If you refuse, the old man wonders if you're joking and asks you to help him again until you agree.
• Character Customization: A staple since III and returns here better than ever.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Azwel is set up to be the final boss, but after you defeat him and are about to die yourself, Zasalamel saves your life.
• Dramatic Irony: One side-mission has you running into a lost girl in the forest and almost bond with her, only for her to be kidnapped by assassins and whisked away to a castle in front of your eyes - spurring your character to rescue her. The girl's name? Tira. The player knows this girl is going to turn out to be bad news long before the character does, and it takes several missions of tense situations before the Conduit discovers what the bloody paths and screams of terror they're following are really being caused by.
• Easy Level Trick:
  • Fighting against a permanently Soul Charged opponent? Use Geralt's fighting style and use the silver sword moves to easy deplete their life bar.
  • Another one: use Siegfried's style with a weapon that regenerates health. You'll get access to Dark Legacy while your health bar is recovering.
• Full-Frontal Assault: When creating a character the Automaton, Colossi, Darksider, Lizardman, Revenant, and Shapeshifter start off naked instead of with generic underwear on, and it’s entirely possible to have them fight in a state of undress.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • The story involves trying to free yourself of the Evil Seed even if you're already a malfested.
  • Despite being set mainly in continental Asia, stages from various locations not tied to the continent are used as arenas.
• Genre-Busting: This mode is effectively an RPG fighter. It combines the fighting system with distinct RPG elements such as currency, branching paths, side quests, an alignment system, a party system, and of course a Virtual Paper Doll as a protagonist.
• Hero of Another Story: The main characters which the Conduit encounters on their journey are treated this way. Some of them are encountered in the midst of their own journeys relative to the Soul Chronicle timeline (e.g. Kilik and Maxi), while others are encountered after those events have been completed (Groh, most significantly).
  • And of course, the Conduit is a Hero of Another Story relative to the Main Story of Soul Chronicle.
• Hidden Elf Village: A series of side quest reveals there's one in Wolfkrone. As usual, they're pretty aloof but they are willing to trade with Wolfkrone.
• Karma Meter: The titular Libra of Souls is a set of scales that appears on your character's card on the map screen which measures your alignment between good or evil; the more good or more evil you are, the more the scale will tip towards blue or red, respectively. Though some decisions can lean on Blue-and-Orange Morality, one example is on a side-story where you can either cheer Plata up or ignore her to stay and watch Talim become a priestess of the Wind Deity. Choosing the former leads you to Soul Edge.
• Massive Race Selection: In a series first, Creation allows one to create characters that aren't just ordinary humans. Now, you have the choice of 16 different races. They are:
  • Human — Baseline humans.
  • Outcast — Humans cursed by the gods and outcast from society due to possessing beastly features like rabbit ears and feline tails.
  • Lost Soul (Winged) — Ruthless angelic beings from Astral Chaos.
  • Lizardman — Reptilian creatures mutated from humans by Fygul Cestemus.
  • Mummy — Undead humans who've been mummified and reanimated by miasma from Astral Chaos.
  • Automaton — Magitek cyborgs created by Fygul Cestemus.
  • Shapeshifter — Shiny shapeshifting entities who are regarded as harbingers of doom.
  • Colossi — Living sculptures made of stone and brought to life by Hephaestus.
  • Hidden Village Clan — A clan of long-lived pacifistic elves with pointy ears.
  • Malefic — Primeval warriors corrupted by Astral Chaos into savage green-skinned orc-like monsters.
  • Lost Soul (Horned) — Sadistic demonic beings from Astral Chaos.
  • Darksider — A clan of beings who claim to rule the night and reside in the darkness beneath mountains.
  • Revenant — Skeletons reanimated by dark energies, but just as capable of fighting like the rest of them.
  • Malfested — Pale-skinned humans stricken by the Evil Seed.
  • Malfested (Mutated) — Those stricken by the Evil Seed and who have begun to transform, sporting glowing red eyes and markings on their bodies.
  • Malfested (Fully Transformed) — Once-human monsters completely mutated by the malevolent energies of Astral Chaos.
• Mercy Kill: The Conduit can do this twice, first with Haoran and then with Grøh.
• Multiple Endings: Though the only thing that's different is Grøh's ultimate fate. It ultimately didn't matter in the long run as Hwang's Soul Chronicle revealed that the good ending is the canon one.
• Not Using the "Z" Word:
  • Angels and Demons are "Lost Souls".
  • Elves are Hidden Village Clan.
  • Malefics are orcs in all but name.
• Nintendo Hard: A player determined to explore everything the Epilogue of Libra of Soul has to offer will encounter this in the endgame. Specifically, the player will be hounded by Level 90 Encounters when traveling on expeditions, which consist of challenging enemies who have effects like health regeneration or high rates of Soul Gauge gain. Astral fissures will emerge every other turn with enemies who have similar effects, and much more intelligent A.I. which take advantage of every opening while offering very few openings in their attacks. Finally, Edge Master will offer a new mission every time the the Conduit masters a different style, in which the player is tasked with defeating Ancients who serve as masters of each style which the player must defeat. These enemies are massively powerful, with A.I.s as challenging as the highest level Astral Fissure berserkers, infinitely triggered Soul Charge states, and very high damage output. The Katana Master, for example, can kill the player in two two-hit combos.
• Ringout Boss: Quite a few random encounters take no damage and can only be defeated via ringout.
• Shared Universe: Characters made by other players can be encountered online and be fought or recruited, the implication being that everyone is an adventurer in a large, sprawling world. And of course, by way of Canon Welding, Geralt of Rivia exists in this mode via interdimensional portal and interacts with both the player and the cast of the game.
• Shout-Out: You get the title "Abyss Watcher" for winning the second, random encounter against Voldo.
• Spiritual Successor: To Chronicles of the Sword from III, being a separate RPG story mode dedicated to your custom character.
  • Also to Weapon Master from II. The structure of the missions and general story match up with Weapon Master, only now you have a unique character instead of text assuring you that it's a unique person doing the missions. In addition the weapon system seems to be intended as a call back to previous games were different weapons would hold unique attributes, only rather than spesfic attributes based on the weapon they're more randomly generated or crafted with a select few set weapons. ^note  such as escot being shorter but dealing damage through guards or soul calibur healing the user.
• Video Game Perversity Potential: A few races are completely nude, but lacking in details. Some items that can be placed anywhere on your custom character, allowing you to add said details back. For bonus points, choose Voldo's style so your fighter can do pelvic thrusts and make your opponents even more uncomfortable.

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The names of the warriors whose fates were bound to the two swords have been etched into the very fibers of history...