Virtua Fighter Crossroads is a sandbox RPG inspired by Watchmen and Detroit

It's been 20 years since the last new Virtua Fighter game. RGG Studio's Virtua Fighter Crossroads arrives as a narrative-driven action-adventure from the Yakuza developers, and it leans far more into story than the fighting community might expect. In a behind-closed-doors presentation led by producer Riichiro Yamada, the traditional versus mode appeared to be a sideshow to a larger, world-focused project.

Yamada framed the revival as an "open sandbox RPG" that marries Virtua Fighter's old-school mechanics with the robust storytelling RGG is known for. He noted that in Japan "fighting games are a pretty small niche, honestly," and that "there were a lot of people who were kind of against it." Combat is said to be more intricate and true to the Virtua Fighter legacy, while the narrative will follow multiple protagonists — one Cielo arc plays out like a "kung-fu movie," another is "very dark and gritty," and a separate thread leans into a noir-influenced detective story.

Japan

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