[E-7]COMING SOON

Get ready for Dead or Alive 5 Last Round! This guide covers pre-release info, new characters like Honoka and Raidou, the Soft Engine, and release details for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Pre-release

Alright, so before Dead or Alive 5 Last Round officially dropped, there was a bit of buzz building up. It was first announced back on August 31st, 2014, in Japan at an event called the "Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Arcade Fighting Carnival." They dropped a trailer that showed off a few cool things: the return of Crimson from Dead or Alive 2, the classic Danger Zone stage from the very first Dead or Alive, some slick new tag intros, a fresh costume for Eliot and Marie Rose, and even some new hairstyles for characters like Kasumi, Kokoro, Rachel, Hitomi, and Tina. The Japanese trailer also hinted at a crossover with Marvelous' game, Senran Kagura Estival Versus.

Later, at Tokyo Game Show 2014, players got a hands-on look. You might have noticed two empty slots on the character select screen back then – those were for the new faces! The official website then revealed the "Soft Engine" for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions, which was designed to make character skin look a bit softer. Around the same time, Famitsu confirmed that two brand-new characters, one male and one female, would be joining the roster. By October 23rd, we got the official release window: February 2015. They also spilled the beans on a free-to-play Core Fighters version for PS4 and Xbox One, plus some fancy Collector's Editions for Japan.

Things got even more exciting on November 20th when it was announced that Raidou would be making a comeback as one of those two "new" characters. And finally, the other new fighter, Honoka, made her debut. She was first teased in Weekly Famitsu on January 13th, 2015, with the full official reveal happening the very next day.