Soulcalibur V

Overview

Soulcalibur V is a 2012 weapon based 3D fighting game developed by Project Soul and published by Namco Bandai Games. It is the sixth main game in the Soulcalibur series and came out on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Players use high and low, vertical and horizontal attacks, and can block or parry. The Critical Edge system lets you fill a meter and unleash a powerful special attack. Story Mode follows Patroklos and supporting characters across 20 episodes, and not every character is playable in it. Arcade Mode lets you pick any fighter and face six opponents in time trial matches. Quick Battle unlocks titles for your online profile, and there are Legendary Souls and multiplayer modes. Character creation from earlier games returns.

The story is set in 1607, 17 years after Soulcalibur IV, and centres on the children of Sophitia. Patroklos serves Graf Dumas, who is secretly tied to Soul Edge, while searching for his sister Pyrrha. Dumas turns out to be the vessel for Nightmare, and Pyrrha has been corrupted by Tira. Patroklos kills Pyrrha with Soul Calibur, then travels through a mental realm to save her. He and Pyrrha seal away both swords.

The roster has 28 characters, 11 of them new to the series, including two versions each of Patroklos and Pyrrha, Z.W.E.I., Viola, Natsu, Yan Leixia, Xiba, Elysium and Edge Master. Ezio Auditore da Firenze from Assassin's Creed is a guest character. Dampierre, from Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny, was a pre-order bonus and was later sold as DLC. Story Mode was outsourced to CyberConnect2, the developers of Asura's Wrath, and was originally planned to be four times longer before time and staffing forced cuts.

Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada responded to a Facebook petition from fans. Director Daishi Odashima teased the project in 2010, and Namco Bandai announced it on May 11, 2011. It came out in North America on January 31, 2012, in Japan on February 2 and in Europe on February 3.

The Xbox 360 version has a Metascore of 77, and the PS3 version has 81. Reviewers praised the gameplay, atmosphere and character creation, and criticised the story mode, the new characters and the absence of long standing fighters such as Sophitia, Talim, Cassandra, Xianghua, Taki and Seong Mi-na. It was nominated for Fighting Game of the Year at the 16th D.I.C.E. Awards.

It sold 1.38 million copies worldwide in its first eight months, fewer than Soulcalibur IV's 2.3 million over the same period. It closes the original Soul series timeline, and Soulcalibur VI followed in 2018.

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Fighting

Developer

Project Soul

Publisher

Namco Bandai Games

Series

Soulcalibur

Composers

Junichi Nakatsuru, Hiroki Kikuta, Inon Zur, Andrew Aversa, Cris Velasco, Jesper Kyd

Producers

Hisaharu Tago, Yoshito Higuchi

Directors

Daishi Odashima, Haruki Suzaki

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

2

Online multiplayer

2

Release dates

Editions

Check out the store

Achievements

Achievements50 (1,000G)

Total

50

Gamerscore

1000

• History Repeats Battled in SOULCALIBUR V for the first time (excluding training and VS battle). 5G 98.78% of players
• A Soul Coalesces Edited a player license. 5G 55.96% of players
• Beginning of Destiny Registered 3 rivals. 5G 19.03% of players
• Proof of a Fighter Won consecutive matches on Xbox LIVE. 15G Needs online 30.56% of players
• Mercenary of War Fought 30 times on Xbox LIVE. 20G Needs online 23.06% of players
• Strategist of War Fought 75 times on Xbox LIVE. 25G Needs online 16.5% of players
• Hero Carved in History Fought 100 times on Xbox LIVE. 50G Needs online 14.81% of players
• Carry Out Your Beliefs Won 5 times in one style on Xbox LIVE. 10G Needs online 23.31% of players
• Courageous Warrior Won 20 times on Xbox LIVE. 25G Needs online 18.58% of players
• Conqueror of the Arena Won 50 times on Xbox LIVE. 100G Needs online 13.49% of players
• Synchronize DNA Used Ezio in a player match. 5G Needs online 27.1% of players
• Awakened to Violence Reached E4 rank in ranked match. 10G Needs online 19.63% of players
• Reason to Fight For Reached E1 rank in ranked match. 20G Needs online 12.53% of players
• First Step of a Legend Reached D1 rank in ranked match. 30G Needs online 7.75% of players
• Sings Own Praise Uploaded a replay of your win. 10G Needs online 14.43% of players
• Notes on Rivals Play backed another player's replay. 5G Needs online 18.32% of players
• Path to Glory Quick Battle: defeated 50 warriors. 10G 16.23% of players
• Road to the Duel Quick Battle: defeated 150 warriors. 20G 8.3% of players
• Sudden Temptation Quick Battle: defeated all warriors. 40G 4.84% of players
• Perfect Trainee Arcade: cleared Asia route. 20G 31.23% of players
• Purge of the Holy Story: cleared episode 1. 10G 86.15% of players
• Shields Come Together Story: cleared episode 8. 20G 70.73% of players
• Resurrection of Order Story: cleared episode 16. 30G 62.15% of players
• Home is Faraway Story: cleared final episode. 80G 55.78% of players
• War Veteran Arcade: cleared any route with difficulty set on hard. 40G 11.84% of players
• Mask Another's Memory Arcade: cleared a leaderboard route with a record better than your rival. 20G 10.3% of players
• Usurped True Name Quick Battle: won against 10 players with titles and used the obtained title on the player license. 20G 20.13% of players
• Pursuit of Obsession Quick Battle: defeated Harada TEKKEN. 15G 11.35% of players
• No-hitter Ranked Match: won 10 times with Ezio. 30G Needs online 7.75% of players
• Skills for Duels Legendary Souls: won with brave edge. 50G 6.96% of players
• Passionate Artist Creation: created a character with full-on coordination (used everything except for height). 20G 55.78% of players
• Colorful Illusion Creation: took a thumbnail by manually setting a decoration frame and background. 10G 52.69% of players
• Fetal Soul Player level reached 5. 5G 62.49% of players
• Throbbing Soul Player level reached 50. 15G 12.58% of players
• Soul Fulfilled Player level reached maximum. 30G 6.31% of players
• Stalwart Barbarian Performed a wall hit 50 times. 10G 16.93% of players
• Adored by Heaven Performed 20 grapple breaks. 10G 32% of players
• Like a Flowing Stream Successfully performed a just guard 5 times. 10G 8.28% of players
• Momentary Pleasure Successfully performed an impact 100 times. 15G 7.45% of players
• Black Sword of Death K.O. with critical edge 30 times. 10G 19.18% of players
• Hands of the Abyss Won by ring out 50 times. 10G 20.35% of players
• Parrier of Swords Perfect won 50 times. 20G 21.84% of players
• Wind of Battle Reached over 87,600 m in total movement distance in battle. 10G 3.83% of players
• Alluring Kaleidoscope Landed brave edge 100 times. 10G 11.95% of players
• Gale Forces K.O. the opponent 25 times with an attack after a quick move. 20G 13.97% of players
• Never Ending Effort Landed an attack 20,000 times. 10G 14.53% of players
• Footprints of Soldiers Defeated 100 male characters. 10G 19.69% of players
• Give in to Temptation Defeated 100 female characters. 10G 13.98% of players
• Fancy of a Mad King Guard bursted 30 times. 15G 12% of players
• Lively Pub Changed the BGM in options. 5G 35.34% of players

DLC

Namco Bandai sold customization packs with music from earlier Soulcalibur games, plus the character Dampierre. With the Xbox 360 Store closed, new purchases are no longer possible there.

Items

Name	Adds	Obtainable today	Date
Dampierre	Playable character from Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny. A pre-order bonus, later sold as DLC.	no
Launch Day pack	Customization items and music from Soul Edge and Soulcalibur	no
Valentine's Day pack	Customization items and music from Soulcalibur II and III	no	2012-02-14
February 28 pack	Customization items and music from Soulcalibur IV and Broken Destiny	no	2012-02-28

Playable today

Online

Online battles and ranked matches ran through Xbox Live. The Xbox 360 Store closed on July 29, 2024.

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale
Metacritic	Xbox 360	77	100
Metacritic	PS3	81	100

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
Computer and Video Games	8.9	10
Electronic Gaming Monthly	6	10
Eurogamer	8	10
G4	4	5
Game Informer	8.5	10
GameRevolution	4	5
GameSpot	7.5	10
GamesRadar+	9	10
GamesTM	8	10
GameTrailers	8.7	10
IGN	7.5	10
Official Xbox Magazine (UK)	7	10
Official Xbox Magazine (US)	8	10
PALGN	8	10
TeamXbox	7.5	10

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Director	Daishi Odashima
Director	Haruki Suzaki
Producer	Hisaharu Tago
Producer	Yoshito Higuchi
Programmer	Masaaki Hoshino
Programmer	Tomoko Imura
Artist	Hideo Yoshie
Artist	Sei Nakatani

Notes for collectors

• Ezio Auditore from Assassin's Creed is a guest fighter, and two achievements are about him: Synchronize DNA and No-hitter.
• Story Mode was planned to be four times longer. Time and staffing cut it down.
• Dampierre was a pre-order bonus and was later sold as DLC.
• The Collector's Edition has a soundtrack CD, an art book, a making of DVD and White Knight and Dark Knight creation DLC.
• The Xbox 360 list has 50 achievements worth 1,000 gamerscore. Fourteen of them need online play.
• Long standing fighters such as Sophitia, Talim, Cassandra, Xianghua, Taki and Seong Mi-na are not in the roster.

Credits

Region

US

Time to beat

about 2.5 hours