Guilty Gear has been described by many as a series of incredible rock and metal albums, each of which come with a neat little videogame on the side. I appreciate how the series is built up as a total celebration of the music genre, with its totally unorthodox characters and worldbuilding, gritty aesthetics and presentation, and of course the countless visual and musical nods to rock and pop legends themselves. Gameplay-wise, Guilty Gear also features some of the most extreme character asymmetry in fighting games, which is an equally big draw. From I-No’s dash-jumps giving her completely unique ways to pressure opponents, to Happy Chaos having a revolver he can shoot at any point between his other attacks, to Jack-O managing Real-Time-Strategy bases and perks while she fights – it’s a series which has consistently broken the mold in ways which shouldn’t work, yet sometimes inexplicably do. Mechanically, it is one of my biggest videogame inspirations.
Guilty Gear XX is the first title that I played, and Holy Orders is possibly my favorite song in the series overall – but not to discount many other songs through the series that are equally deserving. I could elaborate about its serious tone and how it lines up with Ky Kiske’s character and responsibilities, but really I just like its riffs and instrument choice a lot. If you haven’t yet heard what Guilty Gear has to offer musically, I would recommend giving both the XX and Strive soundtracks a listen.
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