'Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker' News: Producer Noriaki Niino Reveals Plans for Summer Open Beta, Teases Release Date Announcement
Open beta expected to start sometime in late July
"Naruto" fans in search of a new game to sink their teeth into can chew on some recently shared news by the folks from Bandai Namco.
After a few weeks and even months that featured hardly any new details about "Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker," the developers have shared some new information that should get fans excited.
In a new video, producer Noriaki Niino addresses the fans who have been looking forward to the aforementioned game.
First off, Niino thanked the fans who have been supporting the game and who also participated in the open beta which took place back in February. Niino revealed that they have used information provided by the players who participated in that open beta to apply improvements to the game.
The big announcement Niino shared is that there are plans for another open beta later this year. To be more specific, Niino announced that the next open beta is currently scheduled to begin sometime in late July, and it will run until early August.
If the next open beta will be similar to the one earlier that took place earlier this year, then it will likely remain live for a few days.
Additional details about that upcoming open beta — such as which characters and stages may be included — have not been provided yet, so interested fans will have to wait a bit longer for those bits of information.
Just before the end of the video, Niino included another tease of an announcement to come. According to the producer, they are getting ready to reveal the official release date for "Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker." The release date announcement is coming "soon," but that's the extent of the tease.
Once released, this new "Naruto" game will offer fans a kind of fighting game experience that is quite different from the ones they can have while playing the "Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm" titles.
In the upcoming game, players will group themselves into teams of four and battle on maps that feature greater verticality. Players will even be able to run up the walls and move along them horizontally during battles.
Stages that have been confirmed for the game include the Hidden Sand Village, Hidden Cloud Village, Hidden Leaf Forest and the Hidden Leaf Village, according to a recent report from Anime Games Online.
The art style is also different for "Shinobi Striker."
As interesting as those features may be, the one new addition that may really get fans on board with this title is the avatar creation.
"Naruto" fans will finally be able to create their own characters to use inside the game. Created characters can feature different styles — attack, defense, ranged and heal-types are among the ones that have already been confirmed — and they can also learn techniques from their mentors.
Players can even fight with the other familiar characters featured in the "Naruto" series using their created avatars.
Fans can check out some of the customization options that will be made available for the created avatars via the video embedded below.
More news about "Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker" should be made available soon.