From developer French Bread and Aksys games comes Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st], an updated version of the PS3 title Under Night In-Birth. Once more, fans of 2D fighters can get lost in fast 2D fighting gameplay but with several new additions exclusive to Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st]. Now, players can enjoy several new characters to play as and even a deeper story mode to better explain the lore behind Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st]. Play against your friends or take your fight online to see who’s the true best fighter in Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st]. Those who love 2D sprites and 2D fighting mechanics are about to fall in love with Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st].

Once more, fans of the 2D fighter Under Night In-Birth can enjoy an updated version with Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st]. 4 new characters have been added to boost the character roster from 16 to now 20. Also added to Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] is a larger focus on narrative with the addition of Chronicle Mode. Now, you’ll get to experience various characters and their experiences during the Hollow Night. Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] also has updated visuals to make the sprite character look even sharper on the PS4 console. With several new additions, more character but the same amazing 2D fighting gameplay that only Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] can deliver.

Unbeknownst to normal humans, one a month a special event called the Hollow Night plagues Japan. Those who are able to function in this alternate reality are targets of powerful creatures called Voids who wish to devour their power dubbed Existence. However, some humans in the Hollow Night can actually harness a powerful ability allowing them to become In-Birth and fight against the Voids. Hyde is one of these In-Birth and will soon be thrown into a war between those who abuse the Hollow Night’s existence and those who wish to destroy it. Who will become the next survivor of the Hollow Night? Find out in Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st].

Back in 2015, developer French Bread alongside Aksys Games released Under In-Birth an old school 2D fighter with impressive sprite characters and solid 2D fighting gameplay in the west. Meanwhile, in Japan, Under Night In-Birth continued to get updates to its arcade version. Now in 2018, the US finally gets this updated version now titled Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st]. Here at Honey’s Anime, we got a copy of Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] and have put some time into this updated fighter so we could spread our thoughts out to you folks on the internet. Let us see how this 2D fighter stands up in our review of Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] for the PS4.

Now, if you’re new to Under Night In-Birth, don’t worry about playing the original version. Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] requires no prior knowledge to play. In fact, thanks to several updated features to Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st]—which we will explain in our review—we’d actually advise you all to avoid playing Under Night In-Birth if you own a PS4. The older version doesn’t have nearly the same amount of content though they do share some common features. Now with that little bit of information explained, let us begin our review of Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] properly. First, we’re going to talk about gameplay.

Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] plays like most 2D fighters. Choose from one of 20 fighters—4 more than the original Under Night In-Birth—and beat the crap out of your opponent. Like most fighters, Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] contains an arcade mode, survival mode, online multiplayer, local versus, training and a new mode exclusive to Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] called Chronicle Mode. The Chronicle Mode is basically a visual novel game that allows you to see various characters of Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] as they deal with the Hollow Night and their own agendas. It’s confusing—in terms of narrative—but it does offer more of the story not seen in Under Night In-Birth which is a positive thing to say the least.

Now many gamers who love the fighting genre don’t care about stories presented. What these gamers care about is how the game handles the fighting gameplay. That’s where Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] shines brightest. Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] feels silky smooth as you land combos, use various attacks—normal fighting game mechanics like medium attacks and heavy attacks—and pull off special EXS attacks which give each character a slew of super stylish combos and moves. Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] doesn’t reinvent the fighting game genre but it adheres to the best elements closely making it a capable fighter. Combos work well and the game runs quite well no matter what’s flying on the screen.

We also mentioned that Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] contains 4 new characters to the roster. You have Phonon, a whip wielding girl, Mika who is a loli with huge gauntlets, Enkidu who reminds us of Akira from Virtua Fighter but slightly faster, and Wagner who cuts her enemies down with a sword and shield combo. These 4 new fighters actually are incredibly diverse making them fun to master outside the original 16 playable characters. Mika and Enkidu are our personal favorites as they hit hard and hit fast, but we can see Wagner being a ton of fun to master, as well as Phonon. Plus, each of these 4 new characters has an arcade mode story meaning you can see how they fit into Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st]’s lore.

Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] plays well and has tons of content, that much we have established. However, Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] also has some incredible music and animation. Honestly, we love the soundtrack of Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] though aren’t surprised seeing that Aksys Games rarely ever produces a game without solid music. Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st]’s graphics are also something to behold with each character’s sprites looking details and smooth even on the PS4 as well as having backdrops that are impressive to look at. There are some moments where you can see some sprites look a bit blurry or choppy—especially on the character cards for your player icon—but it’s not a hindrance and doesn’t make Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] look anything less than awesome.

Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] is a solid 2D fighter showing once more the skills of developers French Bread and Aksys Games. While the story for Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] is still just as confusing as it was in the original PS3 version, the new Chronicle Mode does help to make it more understandable in some ways. Is Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] the best 2D fighter we’ve played here at Honey’s Anime? The short answer is no, but it’s dang near perfect when it comes to the actual gameplay and amazing sprite animations. Even if you played the original Under Night In-Birth, Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] is worth buying for the updated visuals, lengthy chronicle mode and amazing 2D gameplay. We here at Honey’s Anime fully recommend picking up Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] if you consider yourself a true fan of the 2D fighting genre.

Akysys Games is well known for their BlazBlue series and various other fighters but it’s a shame not more know of Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st]. With solid fighting mechanics and a lengthy roster of unique warriors, Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] offers some nearly perfect 2D fighting gameplay. The story in Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] will still cause a lot of question to be asked and even with the Chronicle Mode don’t expect much to be revealed but at least now we can wrap our heads more around the story. Though to be honest a fighting game should never be judged for its story but for its fighting mechanics. That’s why we say Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] is great because the 2D fighting works extremely well and is a ton of fun to play. Have you been looking forward to Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st]? Comment below to let us know and if you’re now even more hyped for it. Remember folks, for all your gaming reviews and news articles be sure to keep stuck to our hive here at Honey’s Anime.