June, according to Capcom, will be “huge month” for the company’s latest fighting game, Street Fighter V. Along with the release of Ibuki as a playable fighter, Street Fighter V’s long-anticipated cinematic story mode will also make an appearance. Capcom writer Harrison shared some details with Street Fighter fans today on the game’s “biggest update yet,” which will include the aforementioned story mode, along with several other updates on the game’s currency system and more future content.
According to Harrison, Street Fighter V’s Story Mode will be titled “A Shadow Falls” and spans five different chapters. The entire experience adds up to about three-to-four hours of viewing and fighting pleasure, and will be available as free DLC to all SFV players at the end of June.
The main goal of the cinematic Story Expansion is to bridge the gap between Street Fighter 4 and Street Fighter 3, between which Street Fighter V takes place. Here’s a synopsis:
The Street Fighter V Cinematic Story Expansion, “A Shadow Falls,” depicts the ultimate battle between the evil Shadaloo organization and the heroic World Warriors who rise up against them. Seven “Black Moons” are deployed by Shadaloo, granting M. Bison unimaginable power and enveloping the earth in total darkness. Seeing the moons mysteriously appear in the sky, Ryu, Ken, and Chun-Li embark on an epic journey around the world to retrieve fragment pieces that are the key to stopping the “Black Moons” before it’s too late. Along the way, they encounter the rest of the World Warriors, each of whom have their own agendas and motivations in mind. The final battle between good and evil begins now… who will RISE UP?
In addition, all six announced DLC characters will be available for play in the Story Expansion. This includes characters who will not be released by the time the Story Expansion arrives: Balrog, Juri and Urien. As such, the Story Expansion will also act as a teaser for characters to come, though Harrison reminds us that their gameplay may change before they are finally released.
The Story Mode will feature difficulty levels. Completing higher difficulties will reward the player with more Fight Money, which can be used to purchase costumes and stages in-game.
If you’re itching to see what Capcom has to offer in SFV’s Story Mode, you can get a sneak peek below, courtesy of Brazilian gaming channel UOL Jogos.
Capcom has also announced that they will no longer be introducing the Zenny system to SFV. Back in [date], Zenny was announced as a microtransaction system that would allow players to purchase characters, costumes, and stages with real money. This does not mean that microtransactions themselves have been removed; Capcom will instead use the PlayStation Store (PlayStation 4) and Steam (PC) to carry out their real money transactions when the June update rolls around.
The free trial period for both Alex and Guile will end at this point, as well. The premium costumes for Ryu, Chun-Li, Cammy and M. Bison will also be made available for purchase.
For those interested in how costumes, stages, and the like will be priced, Harrison was kind enough to include the following chart in his post:
As for updates beyond June, Capcom will be refining the Daily Challenge system for a future release. This feature is now officially named “Targets,” and will allow players to earn money by completing specific challenges ala Hearthstone’s Daily Quests. Single-player modes like Versus CPU and the mysteriously named Extra Battle are also in the works, and will be elaborated upon as their completion comes nearer.
With EVO 2016 around the corner, it’s no wonder why Capcom is making a concerted effort to flesh out Street Fighter V’s auxilary modes. One would think that releasing this content earlier would have made for better public relations and higher player retention, but Capcom has not yet discussed why many of the game’s features have been delayed. For now, we can look forward to Street Fighter V’s Story Mode Expansion at the end of this June.