Appreciating Under Night In-Birth

 

Back on May 31st 2018, Blazblue Cross Tag Battle released in the US. The game was notable as it was a crossover between 4 different series: Blazblue, Persona 4 Arena, RWBY, and the topic of today's post, Under Night In-Birth (abbreviated as UNI). I had caught wind of the game due to my fondness for Persona 4. I was aware that Persona was a game series at this point, and while I had never touched P4A myself, the mere presence of the Investigation Team in the game was enough for me to keep my eye on it. At the time of release, I was just wrapping up my freshman year of high school and had no job, so I couldn’t pick the game up for myself. But that didn’t stop me from looking into things like the game's various story modes and character interactions, all of which oozed charm and humor. As I did, I found myself becoming more interested in the characters that stemmed from Under Night In-Birth. Something about them just appealed to me. The designs were simple yet effective, with just enough personalization to each outfit to make them standout in subtle but unique ways. Plus, I loved how each character’s astral finish came with an animated cut-in. It was such a cool way to differentiate their finishers from their other supers. All of that combined led me to dig deeper into what UNI had to offer, and what I discovered would end up becoming one of my favorite fighting games.

Cover Art for Under Night In-Birth 2, the latest entry as of this post

Under Night In-Birth was created by Soft-Circle French Bread in 2013, a company previously known for their work on the Melty Blood series. The general idea of the series focuses on the Hollow Night, a phenomenon unknown to the general public that occurs once a month where reality shifts in a certain area and those caught in the shift are transferred to a different realm. Creatures called voids normally prey on and kill people who are taken by the Night, but those who survive being bitten by a Void gain the ability to control EXS and become an In-Birth. I love this set-up for a number of reasons. The main one is how it allows French Bread to play around with the “Night” aesthetic. UNI is far from the first fighting game to have fights that take place at night, but considering the entire game’s framework is based around the Night they really get creative with having every aspect of the game compliment that framework. Character designs, UI elements, stages, and even aspects of the soundtrack all play into it. There’s a real mystifying feeling to UNI’s presentation. The emphasis on the fact that these fights are occurring at a time and place where the average person would likely not be around feels so unique. The game's most iconic intro song is titled “Unknown Actor” also leaning into this mystique. 

UNI isn’t just its aesthetics however, even the core gameplay feels really well thought-out and fun. The game is a traditional 1 vs 1 2D fighter that shines with the system mechanics each player engages with every match, mainly the GRD (Grid) system. At the bottom of the screen there's a bar that’ll increase or decrease on either player's side depending on the actions taken while the ring in the middle fills to completion. Once the ring is filled, it’ll reset and the person with more GRD will enter Vorpal state where they receive a number of small buffs while the next GRD cycle occurs. The buffs provided by Vorpal state are small but impactful, and that leads to a tug of war players must be conscious of mid match. Being proactive generally grants the player more GRD, though if their attacks are getting blocked constantly then the opponent will be the one gaining GRD. The balancing act at play, especially when watching high level matches, is awe inspiring to behold. UNI wants you to get engaged with its general system mechanics, though this would only get the game so far. Characters are arguably the most pivotal aspect of any fighting game, and luckily UNI has got a stellar cast to its name.

A small look at your options

All of UNI’s characters are fun and unique in their own ways, from their designs to their playstyles and kits. Many of them fit into the archetypes people would generally expect to see in a fighting game, but they often have a distinct trait that makes them unique in an effective way. For example, Carmine’s gameplan relies on setting up dissolve combos, which are a pool of his own blood that he sets up when performing a special. Since dissolve is literally his own blood, using these moves causes the player to sacrifice some of their health. Carmine requires players to be aggressive but also aware of their health pool, as wasting health could mean that a potential counter attack is game ending. Almost everyone in the game has something similar, a unique aspect to their gameplay that learning to embrace will only benefit a player in the long run. Hyde’s chip damage normals, Eltnum’s air throw and bullets, Yuzuriha’s stance; they all give players something extra to strive for and take advantage of in order to truly tap into what these characters are capable of doing. Don’t think this means that you need to have an in-depth understanding of how everyone and everything works to truly have fun. I’m as casual and bad as they come, and I still have fun picking up the game just to play around with for a bit. UNI has the traditional arcade, score attack, and single player vs. modes; so if you prefer to keep to yourself there’s still something for you here.

Izumi with her install active. Her install summons Elefee (the fish) and enhances some of her moves

The game's absolutely killer soundtrack with main composer Raito at the helm also helps to sell the game a lot. Many people have likely encountered songs such as “Gather Under Night…”, “Night Walker”, and “Blood Drain -Again-”, and those are just a fraction of the stellar music on display. Many different genre's are touched upon such as rock, industrial, and jazz; so each match has it's own flavor to offer to the ears while two people are going at it. My personal favorites are probably the aforementioned “Night Walker” as well as “Scraper Sky High”. The songs capture their associated characters (Linne and Hyde) so well and are just great pieces to listen to at any given time. Please give the full OST a listen if you have the time, there’s bound to be one song that truly captures you.

Under Night In-Birth has so much love poured into every aspect of its identity, and in turn myself and many others love the game back. The characters, the music, the gameplay, and the presentation all come together to make a fighting game that’s able to stand tall as one of the most thrilling ones to play and watch. UNI2 has made many appearances at tournaments like Combo Breaker, CEO, Climax of Night, and Frosty Faustings; and whenever I see someone talking about watching UNI2 at a tournament they’re always gushing about how fun it looks to play. And that’s because UNI is fun to play, casually with friends or competitively at locals or large scale tournaments. Even if I’m not a hardcore player, I love the game with all my heart and hope that it and French Bread continue to grow and flourish as time continues on. The series is phenomenal, and deserves all of the love and attention it can receive.