Guilty Gear Strive's Second Beta Starts May 13, Can Be Preloaded Now

Guilty Gear Strive's second open beta test goes live on May 13, and it will include the game's full roster of 15 characters, new balance changes, and multiple modes for players to try their hand at.

The beta will launch at precisely 8 PM PT/ 11 PM ET May 13 on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, with players being able to download the beta now. Players who still have the previous beta from earlier this year installed don't need to redownload a new client; it will simply update to the newest version. Cross-platform play will be enabled between PS4 and PS5 users. PlayStation Plus is not required to play the beta.

Players will be able to participate in online battles, go through the game's tutorial, practice in training mode, and battle against the CPU or another player in versus mode. A number of changes from Guilty Gear Strive's first open beta will be present in this test. Specifically, improvements have been made to the game's lobby system, which now includes a rematch function and the ability to join a queue for online battles.

Various characters have received balance changes, but there are also new balance changes to the game across the board. Opponents now fall to the ground faster after the same move is used a set number of times in a combo, jumps and air dashes now cover less distance, and there is now recovery time upon landing from jumps, air dashes, and aerial attacks.

Originally scheduled to release April 9, Guilty Gear Strive was delayed to June 11, with developer Arc System Works specifically citing having received "valuable feedback" from the game's first beta test. One common criticism fans had was the game's lobby system, a 2D, Tiny Tower-esque environment where player avatars ran about challenging each other to battles. It seems the lobby has undergone some improvements in the second beta, which points towards Arc System Works having taken player feedback to heart.