Slowly but surely, the roster for the free-to-play SoulCalibur: Lost Swords is growing larger and larger. As of today, the mouthful of a namesake "Princess Hildegard von Krone," or simply Hilde if you wanna get monosyllabic about it, is now playable.
Princess Hildegard von Krone is back!" read a press release. "As the heir to the King of Wolfkrone, Hilde showed an ability to rule and gather people at an early age. After her father's insanity, our heroin had to show to her people that a true leader remains within the Kingdom: the quest to destroy Soul Edge was depending on her now...Years after winning the war, the "Rebuilder of her Motherland" is back and ready for a new quest in SOULCALIBUR LOST SWORDS!"
Hilde first appeared in SoulCalibur IV as a warrior princess character who fought against Nightmare. Despite a small size, she's not terribly fast as you might think, but her weapons allow her to considerably strong attacks. Alternating attacks between her short sword and lance can keep enemies on their toes. The lengthy lance works extremely well for keeping enemies at bay, while the short sword is always there if the fight gets up close and personal.
Chaining her combos together can be difficult, but skilled players with the ability to do so caused gamers a lot of frustration, so much so that a number of SoulCalibur tournaments actually banned the character from competitive play. It'll be interesting to see how the addition of such a controversial character will play out in the long term.
Hilde's addition brings the total number of playable characters up to 8, with at least 8 more expected.
Already out in Japan, the game is slated to hit Europe in the Spring. Still no word on a North American release date.
The format is similar to Tekken Revolution, with players alotted a certain amount of time to play the game. Once time is exceeded, more time can be purchased using tokens, which can be purchased via microtransactions. SoulCalibur V players will get a handle on it quickly, as that's the game it's based on, with slight modifications.
Modeling it after that game makes sense, as it's the game most players will be most familiar with, but it had mixed reviews upon arrival. Joystiq, for example, said it's "simultaneously one of the best SoulCalibur games ever made, as well as the worst Soul Calibur game ever made."
Still, it has managed to sell close to a million and a half copies since June. Even before the game arrived, it was the subject of a bit of controversy for its...well..."eye catching" advertisements.
