Street Fighter V’s Final DLC Character Released

Ever since its release back in 2016, Street Fighter V has been a rollercoaster ride. There were issues like a criticized launch, complaints about the netcode, and constant comparison to the iconic Street Fighter IV entry. There has been a lot of unique characters being added throughout, support from fighting game tournaments, and a wonderful display of transparency and passion for the final seasons of the game. There has been a lot of ups and downs.

All rides have to come to an end at some point though. All of the previous characters and changes made for the final season of Street Fighter V have been well received. Now the release of the final character, Luke, marks the end of a very long chapter in the series.

Luke is an aggressive character that’s meant to keep pressure on your opponent. He does this with strong combos and energy punch projectiles that seem to have fallen straight out of an anime. Every aspect of his move-list reflects this aggressive playstyle with even his normal punches moving him forward to ensure there’s no space left between him and his opponent.

His V-Triggers also manage to stand out while lending to his aggressive style. Both of them turn into V-Timers when activated, which decrease as he takes damage or performs V-Trigger moves. Interestingly though, they fill both in neutral and when he does damage.

Many were expecting an older returning character, maybe a crossover character from another Capcom game, or even another fighting game entirely to take the last spot (although not to the extent of Tekken 7 guest characters). Though, it was instead given to a newcomer, Luke. Ending on a new character after almost an entire season of popular characters from previous Street Fighter and Capcom fighting games does sound like a bizarre choice.

However, there is a great reason for this. Luke is meant to be an important character featured in the next Street Fighter entry. Whether he’ll be the face of that entry or if his playstyle will be indicative of how the series will play in the future remains to be seen. However, it’s clear that he is meant to represent the ending of one chapter in the series and the beginning of another.

As long as whatever game that Luke appears in next is made with the same passion that Street Fighter V saw near the end, there’s good reason to be excited. The game really found itself after a few stumbling blocks. The final two seasons showed a great understanding and respect for the series.

We may be a long time from being able to play a new Street Fighter title, although the constant reaffirming that the development team has information to share “soon” does leave me to hope that we might see at least an announcement trailer in the upcoming year. Aside from that, I hope people do enjoy playing Luke and find themselves excited to see where his story may take him next. Street Fighter V eventually managed to sell well and form a bigger community, but it would be nice to see a Capcom fighting game hit it out of the park from the start, as so many of their other titles have been doing.