Last week, news on a new Melty Blood game surfaced, catching many TYPE-MOON and fighting game fans off-guard. TYPE-MOON, best known in the United States for the mobile game Fate / Stay Night spinoff, Fate / Grand Order, first developed the visual novel, Tsukihime, over two decades ago. Fighting game developer French Bread created a fighting game spin-off based on Tsukihime's story, using its characters and original characters, titled Melty Blood in 2002.
After several arcade releases and follow-up games within the series, Melty Blood Actress Again was the first time the series was officially released in the west. During this time, French Bread had already begun development for its next fighting game, Under Night In-Birth. Using a similar engine to Melty Blood, Under Night In-Birth was more polished than its predecessor, becoming a hit among anime fighters.
First announced in TYPE-MOON's game magazine, Melty Blood: Type Lumina received a gameplay trailer, showing snippets of what fans can expect as the game releases later this year. The game promises intimate interactions between the fighters, with every fight having personal intros varied from each of the fighters. Of the fighters revealed, the protagonist Shiki Tohno, and the heroines, Arcueid Brunestud, Akiha Tohno, and Ciel are featured in the gameplay trailer.
What's most impressive about the trailer is the hand-drawn characters, a stark contrast to the classic sprites of the original Melty Blood. Each character shows their emotion behind every attack and animations, showcasing the growth of French Bread as a developer over the past two decades with their longest-running series.
It is also confirmed that Type Lumina will be a companion title to the Tsukihime remake that will release around the same time. Though there is no word on a PC version, it would be surprising if it were excluded, as the series debuted on the PC.
Melty Blood: Type Lumina will release in 2021 on PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.