Street Fighter V will gain a “cinematic” story mode, which will be released as a free downloadable update in June, publisher Capcom announced Monday. The story mode, which will feature more than an hour of cutscenes, will be animated with the same engine used to make the game, and reportedly adds “several hours” of gameplay.
“We’ve never done anything like this before in terms of the type of presentation, ambience, the type of look we’re doing in story mode,” producer Yoshinori Ono told Engadget. “We want people to see that we’ve really worked very hard to provide story content that fans have been asking for and that everyone will enjoy.”
The story told in the new mode bridge the gap between the events of Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter III, which takes place later in the overarching Street Fighter saga. The game will also feature some narrative-driven single-player content out of the box, including illustrated stories focused on individual fighters, as drawn by Capcom artist Bengus, who has created iconic character art for past entries in the series.
More generally, Capcom said it will take a new approach to releasing additional content for Street Fighter V. Rather than charging for re-balanced editions of the game every couple of years, Capcom plans to push balance updates and other content for free to Street Fighter V players, with the hopes of fostering a larger, more unified community. Capcom will charge for some content, like new characters, but players will be able to buy paid DLC with cash or “fight money,” an in-game currency. Capcom said players who complete the story mode, for example, should earn enough “fight money,” an in-game currency, to purchase a DLC character.
Street Fighter V will come to PS4 and PC February 16.
