Arc System Works went all out for the Arc World Tour Finals this weekend, turning the tournament into a festival as top players competed. The developers even snuck in multiple Guilty Gear Strive announcements, confirming a fourth season of content and teasing one of the most requested characters as DLC.
Following the end of the Guilty Gear Strive grand finals, where Verix claimed the Arc World Tour 2023 title, various ArcSys devs took the stage to share some news about the future of the game. We already had the reveal and release date for one fan-favorite character, A.B.A. earlier in the event but the team wasn’t done, sharing a glimpse at how season three’s season pass will end—with the return of the vampiric gentleman, Slayer.
ArcSys did not confirm Slayer is the character featured in the silhouette teased at the event but the crowd reaction, including a duo cosplaying Slayer and his wife Sharon being cheered on as fans celebrated—or recoiled in fear—at the announcement should give you a pretty good hint at the assassin’s return from yet another retirement.
This isn’t a surprise seeing as Slayer was one of the top three characters fans voted on as wanting to see added in season three’s DLC lineup. Only A.B.A. and Elphelt Valentine received more votes across the eight regions featured in the poll, and both of them made it into the game already, leaving Slayer as the most highly requested character on the board. If the final S3 fighter is Slayer, then that would put Dizzy in the spot heading into season four—which the developers confirmed is in the works.
If GGST’s second and third seasons were anything to go off of, we will get A.B.A. and her update on March 26 and could see a full Slayer reveal in late April ahead of a May release—similar to Asuka’s launch in 2023. That would also line up perfectly for a season four trailer at Evo 2024 in July, which would likely include new mechanics and another four DLC characters with a reveal of who is coming first.
On top of Guilty Gear news, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising and Under Night In-Birth II [Sys:Celes] were confirmed for the Arc World Tour 2024 alongside GGST. Granblue also revealed Vane is joining the roster as DLC on April 2.
