North Americans will be able to experience Aksys Games and Arc System Works’ Blazblue: Central Fiction this upcoming winter.

The HD, hand-drawn fighting game will see many of the returning cast and some brand new characters joining the roster to duke it out in the sci-fi-fantasy fighting game.

The news for the release window was made over on the official PlayStation Blog by Aksys Games’ sales and marketing manager, Danny Miscevich.

Miscevich explains how Arc System Works added even more layers to the combos and special attacks with two new combat modes that players can exercise with some of the characters, he notes on the PlayStation Blog…

“Players have even more strategic possibilities for combat with the additions of Exceed Accel and Active Flow. Exceed Accel is activated during an Overdrive and unleashes a chaotic attack that deals massive damage to the opponent. Active Flow utilizes the Heat Gauge and once activated, boosts your attack power as well as your Exceed Accel damage.”

It may sound a little confusing but it all makes sense in the actual game. In fact, you can check out a gameplay video below featuring the newly playable Nine from BlazBlue: Central Fiction, executing some mean specials in a brief promotional video, courtesy of Niche Gamer.

I love the way BlazBlue looks and I think the animations and backgrounds were all put together superbly in the series, along with having tightly fitting music to round it all out, but it seemed like the games were slightly imbalanced to favor certain characters. It was pretty easy blazing through the game as certain characters and seemingly impossible to do it with others. Then again, Guilty Gear is guilty of the same thing.

Nevertheless, if you’re heavy into action-oriented fighting games where flashy special moves and explosive supers are the order of the day, you’ll likely enjoy BlazBlue: Central Fiction when it launches this winter for the PS3 and PS4 in North America and Europe.