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French Bread Reveals Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes Fighting Game

Arc System Works announced during its panel at the EVO fighting game tournament on Friday that developer French Bread is developing Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes, the newest installment in its original Under Night In-Birth 2D fighting game series. The game is scheduled for a 2024 release on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam. The company unveiled a trailer and screenshots:

Image courtesy of Arc System Works

Image courtesy of Arc System Works

Image courtesy of Arc System Works

Image courtesy of Arc System Works

Image courtesy of Arc System Works

Image courtesy of Arc System Works

Image courtesy of Arc System Works

Image courtesy of Arc System Works

Image courtesy of Arc System Works

Image courtesy of Arc System Works

Image courtesy of Arc System Works

Image courtesy of Arc System Works

Image courtesy of Arc System Works

Image courtesy of Arc System Works

Image courtesy of Arc System Works

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The game will feature the final chapter in the "Hollow Night" storyline that began with the original series. There will be 21 returning characters and new In-Births.

Arc System Works' booth at EVO is hosting a game demo.

French Bread (Melty Blood) developed the original Under Night In-Birth arcade game, which launched in Japan as an arcade game in 2012. It was followed by an updated arcade game titled Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late in 2013. Arc System Works released a PS3 port of Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late in Japan in 2014. Aksys Games released the game for PS3 in North America in February 2015. The original Under Night In-Birth was never released outside of arcades.

The follow-up version is titled Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st]. The arcade version of the game launched in July 2015 in Japan, and Arc System Works released the game on the PS3 and PS4 in Japan in July 2017. Aksys Games released the game for the PS4 and PS Vita in North America in February 2018, and PQube Games released the game on the same platforms in Europe on the same date. Arc System Works released the game on PC via Steam in August 2018. The follow-up to that version was Under Night In-Birth EXE:Late[cl-r]. The game debuted on PS4 and Switch in Feburary 2020, and debuted on PC via Steam in March 2020.

The Under Night In-Birth game series is notable for its unique GRD mechanic. Aside from life and super move gauge, players fight over a secondary resource known as GRD, which can be gained or lost from the results of certain offensive and defensive exchanges. Every 16 seconds, the player with the most GRD is awarded a buff that increases their damage, and access to a cancel that also converts their existing GRD to an amount in the super gauge. In this way, players are just as often fighting for a lead on the GRD in addition to the life lead.

French Bread developed the Melty Blood: Type Lumina 2D fighting game, based on characters from Type-Moon's Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon- remake visual novel. The game launched for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam in September 2021, and has since been debuting DLC characters, the latest of which are Ushiwakamaru and The Count of Monte Cristo from Fate/Grand Order.

Source: Email correspondence