Whenever a Guilty Gear update arrives, the experience is usually a richer one. We get rebalanced characters, more characters, and other features that make it worth going through the game again. Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 is no exception. What is really nice here is how some new and returning characters get their due in their Episodes. While they were around for Guilty Gear Xrd: Revelator, here it feels like they have more time to themselves, making them feel as though they matter more.
Some of these are incredibly important. Kum Haehyun is one of them. This is a major player in the Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 storyline, yet she didn’t have an enlightening Episode experience. Now, she does. We see the master tuner heading to the Colony to investigate an incident that we already knew she helped resolve. We see her heal people and interact with characters like Johnny and Faust to set things right. It gives us a better idea of her dedication. It sets up future interactions in the Colony.
Raven’s Arcade storyline is equally important, though for different reasons. With him, we learn more about I-No and Jack-O’. We see the preparations he and his allies need to take. It also helps us appreciate how capable he is. We see the lengths he goes to to find I-No. We watch him reach a resolution. It sets the stage in a different way, giving us insight into characters whose motivations have occasionally been more mysterious.
Not every newly added Episode is great. I’m rather disappointed in Dizzy’s. Rather than giving us a better idea of what is happening in Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 and helping us see the role she plays in the plot, it is more of a retrospective. She’s always with Ky, thinking back on her past, before pummeling him in the future. It does make sense, of course not everyone will be active and involved in each entry’s events, but it feels more subdued compared to others’ storylines.
Of all the expanded tales, Jam’s Episode is my favorite. It basically acts as a callback to her original motivations. She doesn’t have money or a restaurant. Instead, she is left going through Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 in search of more funding by hunting bounties. She ends up working with Jack-O’. We not only get to see her devotion, but also see her expertise as a Ki master. We see her help someone else, and in so doing relieve herself of frustration. Even though it may not be as exciting or impactful as someone more involved in the main plot, we can see how Jam’s influence on Jack-O’ is important.
There are many ways in which Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 feels like a fuller, richer version of Guilty Gear Xrd: Revelator. But for me, having an expanded story mode and arcade lines devoted to Dizzy, Jam, Kum, and Raven are what really drives that point home. Instead of feeling like characters that were just thrown in for the sake of having them and expanding the roster, it really feels like they belong. Even ones that aren’t as robust, like Dizzy’s, are more than welcome and makes the game feel more complete.
Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 is available for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC.
