One of the biggest issues with fighting games these days is that so many of the titles are just retreads of the exact same thing we’ve been playing for decades. A lot of times it’s all based on attacks, blocks, combos, juggles and specials. What we don’t oftentimes see is a meta-game centered around block-parries, counter-parries, counter-breaks, and technical-counters. Well, within the span of just a single minute, Bandai Namco managed to showcase all of the above for the long-rumored Soul Calibur VI.

The trailer features Sophitia and Misturugi duking it out in a gorgeously rendered set of ruins in Greece.

Much like Namco’s other outing this past year, Tekken 7, the upcoming Soul Calibur VI is running on the Unreal Engine 4 from Epic Games. You can see it in action below.

So a couple of things… first of all you’ll note that blocked attacks feature animations relative to where the character is being attacked, which is fantastic and helps give the fight a more dynamic and smooth-flowing visual experience.

Next up, if you notice that when you block, the attacker does not have their frame state pushed backward. Usually, if you block or land an attack, there’s a small scoot back from the attacker. In this case, the opposite happens, and we see that Mitsurugi scoots back a step when he blocks the low attack and lifts his right leg to avoid the attack, readjusting his footing in the process.

We then see that a counter-break can be used to break up an opponent’s incessant attacks. This not only stops a combo, but it also creates separation between both fighters, a useful tactic to employ to establish a bit of breathing room during a constant onslaught of combos or a barrage of neutrals.

One of the more impressive bits comes shortly thereafter, where we see that Mitsurugi goes for a downward slash right in front of him, but Sophitia moves to her left in a spinning parry.

But what’s even more amazing is that attacks that would have otherwise been punishable due to a parry, you can actually utilize counter-parries.

We see that Mitsurugi’s missed attack wasn’t the end of the skirmish. He follows up his missed attack by quickly reversing his momentum with an attack aimed in the opposite direction, and then follows that up with a mid-ranged neutral.

There is a beautiful display of counter-combo setups, parry-transitions, and an exquisite display of combat flow. If for nothing else, at least each bout should be well worth watching in the e-sports scene.

Also, Namco seems to have really perfected the subtlety of the boob physics. It’s always nice to know that some devs never pass up the opportunity to really push the boundaries on next-gen jiggling, especially with some devs going out of their way to censor jiggle physics.

Soul Calibur VI is due to drop for the Xbox One, PS4 and PC in 2018.