What the fuck kind of name is this even? Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] is not only a mouthful to say, but it’s confusing and terrible to even think about. The FGC (Fighting Game Community) has lovingly nicknamed this game UNIST (which I will be using to refer to the name of this game from this point forward), because it’s not only easier to say but is far less obscene to look at when someone tweets about it. That said, in spite of the plethora of things this game has going against it, it has earned a spot on the 2019 EVO roster – and for damn good reasons. This is one of the best low budget, yet extremely solid fighters I’ve ever played and yes, I’m aware that this game came out in 2018 as what would essentially be a “complete” version of Under Night In-Birth from 2012.
When you think of anime fighters, most immediately gravitate towards BlazBlue, Guilty Gear, or possibly even Dragon Ball FighterZ. UNIST has a lot in common with the rest of these Arc Systems Works games, but it feels like the depth lands somewhere in between. While BlazBlue is, in my opinion, the more hardcore of the aforementioned fighters, UNIST feels more like if Guilty Gear had an easy mode option. The combos are straight forward, and it’s pretty easy to land manual attacks to extend combos even where they should be dropped. I found myself regularly landing 10-15 hit combos based on my experience with other Arc System Works titles from the past, and this is likely what lead to that moment where this game “clicked” for me.
If you’ve ever read my work or follow me on Twitter, you’ll know I’m definitely not an anime guy. When they announced UNIST would be on EVO this year, I was curious to find out what in the seventh layer of weeb hell was going on. Apparently these games are all spawned from some visual novel/fighter named Melty Blood, which is a far less obnoxious name than UNIST, but since it’s not really my thing I didn’t do the research – I simply wanted to get my hands on the game to find out what the fuss was about. At it’s heart, UNIST is exactly what you’d expect based on my previous mention of Melty Blood.
UNIST has a full visual novel that also tells stories as you progress through single character fight ladders in arcade mode, and there’s a bunch of other story elements to peruse and delve into. It’s impressive for fans of that genre, but I fully admit that I paid little attention to any of it aside from laughing at the strangely placed curse words and what-not based on the quick transition screens I skimmed through while I checked out the content that UNIST has to offer. It’s fairly impressive just how much content is here considering how little content other considerably larger games have launched with over the past few years, particularly Street Fighter V.
Where UNIST really caught my attention wasn’t the PS3 era graphics or the lengthy anime stuff, it was the struggle meter (GRD bar) that plays a part in the matches. While you fight and deal with your meter for stronger skills, there’s a tug of war game going along at the bottom of the screen which has you manually charging or essentially stealing essence from the opponent to keep the bar higher in your favor which then allows one to quickly turn the tide and provides higher damage output, making unwinnable situations into contests of skill.
This mechanic made some of my fights far more interesting as I’d get my ass handed to me only to turn the tables and come back with just a sliver of HP remaining. I also appreciate that while UNIST has lots of advanced skills, mastery never feels required in order to just have fun playing. I’d also like to note that UNIST has the absolute greatest tutorial of all time, which was an achievement I thought Skullgirls would have owned forever.
UNIST’s characters aren’t all that different than what you’d find in Arc System Works fighters, but they all have a certain appeal to them which made them a little more endearing to me than I would have expected. Carmine attacks with blood that lingers on the floor, which can be commanded to add additional damage and combos seemingly out of nowhere, but at the cost of losing HP for using it. Wagner reminds me of Sophitia from Soul Calibur, but plays more like Ky Kiske from Guilty Gear. Chaos commands a dragon thing to fight for him, and Phonon has ridiculous whip attacks that can hit from anywhere, while Enkidu is both the best and worst character in the game depending on who you ask.
Perhaps the biggest reason I even decided to look at this game is still the most important: UNIST probably had a total budget for this game that was less than whatever Namco paid to have Negan from The Walking Dead put into Tekken 7. The fact that these quality fighters exist is a testament to their respective developers’ passion for the genre. UNIST is not only a lot of fun to play, but it’s surprisingly fun to watch, and I know I’ll be looking out for it in the EVO broadcast this year.
Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] was played on the PlayStation 4 and was provided for review by Aksys Games.
For more information on Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st], check out the PS Store listing.
