Under Night In-Birth

Under Night In-Birth (アンダーナイトインヴァース, Andā naito invāsu) is a visual novel and 2D fighting game co-developed by Ecole Software and French-Bread, known for the licensed fighting game, Type-Moon’s Melty Blood series. Since its initial arcade release in Japan, Under Night In-Birth has received numerous version updates, adjusting various system features and character attributes, and adding playable characters to the roster.

Under Night In-Birth
Developer(s)Arc System Works
French Bread
Ecole Software
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Nobuya Narita
Producer(s)Nobuya Narita
Toshimichi Mori
Artist(s)Seiichi Yoshihara
Composer(s)Raito
Platform(s)Arcade (RingEdge 2)
PlayStation 3
Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 4
PlayStation Vita
Nintendo Switch
Release
Genre(s)2D fighting game
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer
CabinetSega RingEdge 2

Plot

The game is set in a fictional modern-day setting some time in the 21st century. A phenomenon called the Hollow Night (虚ろの夜 utsuro no yoru) has enveloped particular regions of Japan once a month for several centuries. Each area engulfed in the Hollow Night is beset by shadow-like creatures called Voids (虚無 kyomu (Immortals (イモータル imōtaru) in Japan)). They utilize and feed upon a power known as "Existence", or EXS (イグジス igujisu). Humans cannot see or come into contact with Voids, but they have the potential to perceive them. Those who acquire the perception are targeted by Voids and risk either being consumed by them or losing their sanity. Under special circumstances, a person who maintains their sanity after being attacked by a Void can become a being known as an In-Birth (インヴァース invāsu). If a person or even an In-Birth becomes a fallen type of Void, their EXS transforms into FLS (ファルス farusu), the power source of the Voids and the man-made ancient being known as Autonomic Nerves (オートノミックナーヴ otomatiku neruvēsu), powered by Curse Commandment (呪戒 noroikai). While the status places a person into a sort of limbo where they are alive or dead, they gain the ability to control Existence.[10]

Many characters are involved with the phenomenon, and some of them are affiliated with particular organizations. Two main rival groups, the Nights Blade (夜刀 Yatō) and Licht Kreis, both serve to maintain order in areas affected by the Hollow Night but differ in their methods. The now disbanded Nights Blade primarily hunted Voids, while Licht Kreis uses the lawful order and hierarchy to protect normal civilians from In-Births. A third organization, Amnesia, is more chaotically structured and seeks to stop the influence of both the Nights Blade and Licht Kreis. A fourth faction known as Demon Society (万鬼会 Bankikai) used to exist and managed to catch the attention of both Amnesia and Licht Kreis. However, during the war against Amnesia, the faction is now disbanded after the death of their leader, Ogre. Due to an incident involving one of the higher ranking male members of Licht Kreis (including Waldstein) defecting and joining the Night Blade centuries ago, the group's leader, Adelheid, dismissed the members of Licht Kreis. They later created their own independent organization called Ritter Schild, which mainly specialized in investigating the mysteries behind the Hollow Night. The last organization is a student run organization known as the Existence Force Guardians, or EFG for short, which specialized on teaching new and young In-Births to control their EXS, but forbids them from abusing their abilities. As the artificial beings since the ancient time, the Autonomic Nerves units are programmed to watch over the Hollow Night, no matter whose master will be.

Gameplay

The gameplay is similar to Melty Blood, Guilty Gear and Blazblue, with additional gameplay systems introduced for the game. Following the standards of most 2D fighting games, the game focuses on 1v1 battles. The game works under a four-button layout with the four buttons being A- Light Attacks, B- Medium Attacks, C- Strong Attacks, and D- the universal mechanic button. The three normal attack buttons are able to cancel into each other (called "Passing Link") but these moves also retroactively can be cancelled with a technique called reverse beat; with reverse beat, moves with high amounts of recovery frames can be cancelled into a move with less recovery frames. Every character has their own unique special, input-based moves as well as character specifics Force Function move done by pressing B+C together that are character-specific. The A+D button combination is the universal throw technique and specific characters also have another ability tied to pressing A+B together while it is also another option to use a universal dash when held forward along with the button combination. The game does not have traditional "air-dashes" and instead has an angled hop that acts as the "double jump" of the game, barring certain characters. The super meter, referred to as the EXS gauge, fills up whenever a player lands an attack or is hit by an opponent. The special moves when used with the C-button without 50% of meter will use the B-version of the attack while when the meter is sufficient, a powered up EX version of the move will be used instead with extra properties or more damaging effects. When the super meter is at 100%, characters can utilize their Infinite Worths that are highly damaging techniques that are the strongest moves they possess. A stronger version can be utilized when their health is below 30% where pressing all four buttons will activate their Infinite Worth EXS which is the true highest damaging technique accessible to the character. Lastly, a technique called Veil Off can be utilized if a character has above 50% meter where, after a slight invulnerable state and blockable "burst" occurs, the character enters a powered up state where they are able to do more damage as well as utilize their rapidly draining super meter without limitations, aside from 30% health requirement for IWEXS.

The main feature is associated with the fourth D-Button correlates with the mechanic known as the Grind Grid that dictates the flow of the match. Situated in the bottom middle of the screen between the two players' super meters, the GrD Gauge is the "tug of war" mechanic that rewards both offensive and defensive play. As the circular timer on the GrD Gauge approaches a full revolution, the actions of the players influence the amount of GrD Blocks they obtain in a GrD cycle. Landing attacks, walking forward, landing throws, taking throws, and blocking the enemy's attacks will reward GrD Blocks while getting hit, walking backwards, whiffing throws, and getting grabbed will deplete GrD. At the end of the cycle, whichever player has the most GrD blocks will be granted with a temporary buff called Vorpal State. The character with Vorpal will glow blue, have a 10% damage buff, gain access to character specific Vorpal Traits, and be allowed to use an active cancel known as Chain Shift. Utilizing Chain Shift will consume the current Vorpal State buff, freeze the screen for a quick duration, and reset the character who used it back into a neutral state as well as converting any GrD Blocks into extra super meter charge. It is in the players' best interest to seize Vorpal State as often as possible to gain the most advantages it brings. From there, the D-button influences the GrD Gauge for the player's use in influencing the GrD Cycles. Holding down D will have the characters "Concentrate" which will rapidly accrue GrD Blocks in exchange for super meter, although it can be done without meter. Forward and D is an "Assault", a jumping forward air dash-like that gives a GrD Block and issue a command jump where its distance is calculated relative to the player's proximity to the opponent character leading into offensive pressure. "Ground Assaults" will never jump over the opponent while "Air Assaults" can. "Air Assault" can also be done via traditional Air Dash input, which is tap forward twice. Holding back and D activates "Shield" which is an advanced guard that is essentially the barrier block or push-block mechanic from other titles. There are two types of Shield techniques, one being the regular "Shield Block" and other being "Guard Shield". Both fulfil the same purpose in pushing away opponents who are mounting an offensive, gaining frame advantage after shielding an unsafe move, and granting GrD to the defending player but Guard Shield is utilized if the player presses D as they are blocking after an attack lands. While gaining GrD, Guard Shields costs meter to utilize and quick usages of Shield Blocking is generally more advantageous. Guard Shields are colored green while Shield blocking is colored blue. If the player gets hit or thrown while activating the Shield, they will enter "GrD Break Status" where they temporarily lose all previous abilities granted by the D-Button. The player has the option to "Guard Thrust" where they either utilize 50% of their meter and forcibly enter GrD Break status to launch a fully invincible attack to knock the opponent away to reset the pace of the match or expend their Vorpal State. GrD Breaking also applies if a character is hit with the burst from a Veil Off or if a character utilizes their IWEXS without Vorpal.

[st] added a new feature known as "Cross-Cast Veil Off" where if a character has more than 50% meter and Vorpal, they can cancel into an alternate version of Veil Off where they can chain together EX moves and utilize their IW/IWEXS should they meet the requirements.

Characters

While the game has the same playable characters on a few updates, Sion Eltnam Atlasia (Eltnum) in Melty Blood and Akatsukia in Akatsuki Blitzkampf made guest appearances. They were only played by Japanese voice actors.[11] The main characters later appeared in BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle with English dub voice actors.

  • Hyde Kido (城戸 灰都 (キド ハイド), Kido Haido): A high school student who survives the attack of the Void. He wields the dark magical sword Insulator.
  • Linne (リンネ, Rinne): A female child who is reincarnated from an ancient priestess, after she and her brother were experimented by the organization.
  • Waldstein (ワレンシュタイン, Warenshutain): A wise man and Linne's partner.
  • Carmine-Prime (カーマイン・プライム, Kāmain Puraimu): One of the students with a violent attitude attending the same school as Hyde.
  • Orie Ballardiae (オリエ・バラーディア, Orie Barādia): A leading member of Licht Kreis, whose parents were killed by Merkava.
  • Gordeau the Harvester (Harvester Gordeau (ハーベスター・ゴルドー, Hābesutā Gorudō) in Japan): One of the members for Amnesia and a grim reaper.
  • Merkava (メルカヴァ, Merukava): An anthropomorphic flying beast. He cannot remember the past he killed Orie's parents.
  • Vatista (バティスタ, Batisuta): An ancient magical girl who narrates the story for the game.
  • Seth the Assassin (Assassin Seth (アサシン・セト, Asashin Seto) in Japan): A male assassin attending the same school as Hyde.
  • Yuzuriha (ユズリハ): A feminist samurai, whose sister lost her powers.
  • Hilda the Paradox (Paradox Hilda (パラドクス・ヒルダ, Paradokusu Hiruda) in Japan): The leading founder of Amnesia.
  • Bloody Chaos (ブラッディ・ケイアス, Buraddi Keiasu): A monster summoner working for Amnesia.
  • Nanase (ナナセ): A middle school student who is attacked by the Void. She blames Hyde for rescuing her. She wields the air magical blade Zephyr.
  • Byakuya (ビャクヤ): An enigmatic student, whose sister, Strix, nicknamed Tsukuyomi.
  • Phonon the Chermeti (Chermeti Phonon (シュメティ・フォノン, Shumeti Fonon) in Japan): Nanase's best friend. She wields the magical serpent whip Muniel.
  • Mika Returna (ミカ・リターナ, Mika Ritāna): Orie's best friend with robotic cannon hands.
  • Gaien Enkidu (円鬼堂 凱庵 (エンキドゥ ガイエン), Enkidō Gaien): A martial artist working for Amnesia.
  • Miyashiro Erika Wagner (宮代 (ミヤシロ)・エリカ・ワーグナー, Miyashiro Erika Wāgunā): A member of Licht Kreis.
  • Londrekia Light (ロンドレキア・ライト, Rondorekia Raito): A member of Ritter Schild.

Development

The game began development in 2010. Nobuya Narita discussed how the project arose from the team's experiences working on Melty Blood. French-Bread originally planned to work on the high-definition title for Melty Blood, but development later stalled while Type-Moon went on to work on Mahōtsukai no Yoru. Early prototypes eventually provided the foundations for Under Night In-Birth. Narita particularly emphasized that they wanted to differentiate the game from Melty Blood, so the lore, visuals, systems and combat flow are much different from the previous work. It is also the team's first game to run in high definition and features hand-drawn high-resolution sprites.[12] In March 2013, Sega added support for its ALL.Net P-ras Multi service, a distribution network that allows multiple arcade owners to receive copies of the game without providing e a dedicated arcade cabinet for each copy. Other games that utilize this service include Arc System Works' Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R and Triangle Service's Game Center Love.[13]

Release

Sega released the arcade version in Japan on September 20, 2012. A major revision of the arcade version, entitled Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late (アンダーナイトインヴァースエクセレイト, Andā naito invāsu ekusereito), was released on September 9, 2013. It was announced that Arc System Works would release the game for PlayStation 3 on July 24, 2014 in Japan,[14] A 2015 release for North America and Europe was later announced.[15] The North American release date, which was set for March 31, 2015, was revealed on the GameStop website. However, Aksys Games revealed the true release date for Exe:Late, they said that the game will be releasing on February 24, 2015 for the PlayStation 3, as well as confirmed there wouldn't be an English dub in Western releases. Exe:Late was also released on Steam for Microsoft Windows systems on July 12, 2016.

A further update to the game entitled Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] (アンダーナイトインヴァースエクセレイトエスト, Andā naito invāsu ekusereito esuto) was announced on May 15, 2015.[16] Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] was released on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in Japan on July 20, 2017,[17] then in North America and Europe on February 9, 2018.[6] Exe:Late[st] was also released on Steam for Microsoft Windows systems on August 20, 2018. Exe:Late[st] is then re-titled to the update below, Exe:Late[cl-r], for those who owned PlayStation 4 and Windows versions.

Yet another revision of the game, entitled Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[cl-r] (アンダーナイトインヴァース エクセレイト クレア, Andā naito invāsu ekusereito kurea), was released for PlayStation 4 and Switch. It was announced at EVO 2019 for February 20, 2020 release, while Europe released the game on the next day after the release date in both Japan and North America.[18] Its PlayStation 4 version act as a straight update for those who owned PlayStation 4 version of Exe:Late[st], while PlayStation owners who purchased Exe:Late[st] PlayStation version which isn’t PlayStation 4 get a limited discount from its launch release date until April 30, 2020 in both Japan and North America, and April 31, 2020 on Europe. Also to the PlayStation 4 owners who owned Exe:Late[st] to update, contents which were added to Exe:Late[cl-r] update remains paid DLCs.[19] The Steam for Microsoft Windows release is planned to be released on March 27, 2020, and may share same straight update situations as PlayStation 4.[20]

Reception
Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
MetacriticPS3: 80/100[21]
PC: 81/100[22]
PS4: 78/100[23]
NS: 82/100[24]
PS4 (cl-r): 80/100[25]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Destructoid9/10[26]
Eurogamer8/10[27]
Famitsu29/40[28]
Hardcore Gamer4/5[29]
IGN8/10[30]

The PlayStation 3 version of Under Night In-Birth received a 29/40 from Famitsu.[28] Destructoid said that it was "an intelligent, tactical fighting game that I'll surely be playing for a long time to come." IGN said it was "One good fighting game. Maybe it's not as deep as previous Arc System Works games, but successfully achieves what it is aiming: to let the player enjoy it." Eurogamer concluded "an interesting 2d fighting game with a very unique fighting system. Just try it, and you'll be amazed."

See also

References
  1. "GAME". news-ex.tvasahi.jp.
  2. "■■速報＠保管庫(Alt)■■ : F1326: PS3「アンダーナイト インヴァース （＊＊）」AC対戦格闘ゲームがPS3で7/**発売". Blog.hokanko-alt.com. Retrieved 2015-04-05.
  3. "Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late Venturing to PlayStation 3 on July 25 with New Character Nanase". Shoryuke.comn. 2014-04-23. Retrieved 2015-04-05.
  4. Baltimore, Steve. "Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late Release Date Revealed - oprainfall". Operationrainfall.com. Retrieved 2015-04-05.
  5. "News: Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late Coming to Europe, Screens Released". Gamershell.com. Retrieved 2015-04-05.
  6. Subscribe (21 November 2017). "Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] Rice Exclusive Collector's Edition & Release Date Announced".
  7. "UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late[st] on Steam". store.steampowered.com.
  8. "Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[cl-r] opening movie". Gematsu. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  9. cite web|url=https://steamcommunity.com/games/801630/announcements/detail/1717499322297641858%7Ctitle=UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late[cl-r] on Steam|website=store.steampowered.com}}
  10. "Under Night In-Birth - Story". inbirth.info. Ecole, French-Bread. Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  11. "Behind The Voice Actors - Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late". Behind The Voice Actors. Inyxception Enterprises. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  12. ハメコ。 (November 3, 2012). "同人から商業にフィールドを移したフランスパンが，新作「アンダーナイト インヴァース」で目指したもの。代表・なりた氏に聞く，その思惑". 4gamer.net. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
  13. "ALL.Net P-ras MULTI". sega.jp. Sega. Retrieved 2014-09-10.
  14. "Under Night In-Birth coming to PS3 in Japan this July". Gematsu. Retrieved 2015-04-05.
  15. "VIDEO: "Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late" Busts Out a Debut Trailer". Crunchyroll. 2014-07-09. Retrieved 2015-04-05.
  16. "Under Night In-Birth Update Will Add New Character Phonon". GamesNosh. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  17. "【先出し週刊ファミ通】『アンダーナイト インヴァース エクセレイト エスト』アーケードの人気作が家庭用に！（2017年4月20日発売号）". ファミ通.com.
  18. https://gematsu.com/2019/05/under-night-in-birth-exelatecl-r-rated-for-ps4-switch-in-taiwan
  19. https://www.gematsu.com/2019/11/under-night-in-birth-exelatest-for-ps4-to-receive-under-night-in-birth-exelatecl-r-balance-update-dlc
  20. https://steamdb.info/app/801630/dlc/
  21. "Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late for PlayStation 3 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
  22. "Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  23. "Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  24. "Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[cl-r] for Switch Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  25. "Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[cl-r] for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  26. MacGregor, Kyle (February 20, 2015). "Review: Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late". Destructoid. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  27. Facchetti, Filippo (September 15, 2014). "Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late - review" (in Italian). Eurogamer.it. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  28. Romano, Sal (July 12, 2014). "Famitsu Review Scores: Issue 1336". gematsu.com. Gematsu. Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  29. Storm, Bradly (February 18, 2015). "Review: Under Night In-Birth". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  30. Ayora, Víctor (March 3, 2015). "Under Night: In-Birth Exe:Late - Análisis - Lucha de la buena" (in Spanish). IGN España. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
Under Night In-Birth
Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late
Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st]
Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[cl-r]
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