Street Fighter 6's director recently talked about the game's open-world mode, aptly called World Tour. And what he revealed was pretty juicy, more so for long-time fans of the franchise.
street fighter 6
As reported by GameRant, director Takayuki Nakayama mentioned how Street Fighter 6's World Tour mode took a few cues from the cult classic game Shenmue when it comes to overall design. While the cues weren't too direct and major, Nakayama said that the team had its inspiration "in the back of their minds" while they worked on the upcoming Street Fighter game.
However, Shenmue did have a big impact on Nakayama himself personally. And this definitely did find its way into Street Fighter 6's World Tour mode. For the unaware, Shenmue was one of the earliest (if not the earliest) games to feature a seamless mix of open-world exploration and combat mechanics you only see in dedicated fighting games.
With World Tour, SF6 does feature the same gameplay mix. But unlike Shenmue, the game will task players with making their custom character. This character can then be used to explore different locations with the Street Fighter universe. Among these locations include Metro City, which Capcom based on New York and has been the main setting for the long-running fighting game franchise for decades.
As for the other locales, Nakayama didn't exactly elaborate on them. In a Video Games Chronicle report, however, it was revealed that a Japanese-looking setting featuring Ryu and Chun-Li was among the potential locations. Aside from that, Metro City is the only one confirmed so far.
But he did say this too about the open-world areas accessible within Street Fighter 6's World Tour mode:
"Well, it's the WORLD Tour. I can't say for sure yet, but I hope you will look forward to hearing more about it. I'm working on something that will allow you to travel the world and ex[erience how it feels to be strong."
Street Fighter 6 is scheduled to release next year for both current-gen and last-gen consoles, as well as PC.
Read also: Street Fighter 6 Crossplay, Rollback Netcode Confirmed At Launch
What's The Purpose Of Street Fighter 6's World Tour Mode?
Much of the World Tour mode is still shrouded in mystery, as Capcom seems to be focusing on the actual fighting mechanics in SF6. It is, after all, a fighting game. But a few more details about the open-world-ish roaming mode has been revealed in recent times.
Digital Trends reports that a certain press release for the game described the mode as follows: a "single player immersive story mode that pushes the boundaries of what a fighting game is and allows players to leave their own legacy with their player avatar." If taken at face value, this description means the game's single-player campaign will be heavily intertwined with World Tour as a whole.
With the mode, Nakayama and the development team hopes that SF6 will be able to reach out to more players that aren't already fans of the genre or the franchise. But how that works remains to be seen until next year.
Related: Street Fighter 6's Faceoff Screen Will Let You Change Your Character's Facial Expressions
