It’s harder to swallow Tira’s ‘Day One DLC’ gimmick when she’s live in the Soulcalibur VI beta today

I know she’s supposed to be a tease but…

How are you guys ‘n’ gals finding the Soulcalibur VI open beta? The online free-for-all, currently live on PS4 and Xbox One right now has, to be honest, been kicking my ass. To be fair I’m quite out-of-touch with Soulcalibur, but it also doesn’t help when I’m dropping all of my parries due to some pretty shaky connection issues.

It’s taking me quite a while to find opponents and for matches to connect. When they do, they’re rarely smooth as ice, which is pretty important in any fighter, but especially in a game where counter-attack timing is life and death. Still, I’m not being a big ol’ downer here. Having played Soulcalibur VI offline in the past, I already know that the game itself is solid, and although there may be some online issues right now, this is why we have betas.

A little weirder is seeing troublesome hula-hopper Tira good-to-go on the character select screen. It has been made clear to us in the past that Tira was a “late addition” to the roster, added purely as a favour to the the fans, thus her paid DLC status. Yet there she is, late-90s hair colour and dangerous flirtations intact. She’s good to go right now, but not included should you buy the game in October for sixty bucks?

Obviously I can see how the DLC costs can be explained as covering the developer working overtime. But it can’t be denied that lately, when it comes to day one DLC characters, the “attractive alterna-girl” fan-favourite has been the one chopped out for side-sales. For your consideration: Eliza in Tekken 7, Nyotengu in Dead or Alive 6, Juri in the first wave of DLC for Street Fighter V. Them Goth gals pay off.

Whatever the reasoning, Tira is in the Soulcalibur VI roster right now. You can check her, Geralt, Mitsurugi, Taki and the rest of the crew out as soon as you’re done reading this. It just gets a little hard to swallow the already bitter pill of Day One DLC when it’s presented to us in teasingly free fashion beforehand. Ehh… My heart lies with Seong Mi-na anyhow.

Soulcalibur VI launches on PS4, PC and Xbox One October 19. The open beta is live on PS4 and Xbox One now and runs until tomorrow evening. Let us know how you’re getting on with it below.