Street Fighter fans got their first real look at the sixth installment of the series at Sony's State of Play. The trailer showed off a couple of new fighters, some gameplay, and a look at a new single-player option called World Tour mode. Fans got a look at World Tour's gameplay in addition to the regular fighting mode, and it had a striking resemblance to Mortal Kombat: Deception's single-player mode, Konquest.
Mortal Kombat: Deception was one of the better 3D MK games. It featured some of the best combat of the series, and it boasted a variety of other modes on top of the fighting game staples, including Puzzle Kombat, Chess Kombat, and Konquest. Konquest was a single-player, open-world adventure that served as the game's story mode. Taking on the role of Shujinko, players wandered around collecting items, training with other MK characters, and completing side-quests. This mode might inadvertently hint at what Street Fighter 6's World Tour mode might be like.
The gameplay of World Tour mode showed the player character traveling through various cities and interacting with people in various ways. Despite their obvious graphical differences, it is easy to see the similarities between the two games. Konquest has players training with and learning the moves of several MK characters. It isn't a stretch to say that something similar could take place in World Tour mode. Searching out characters like Chun-Li, Ken, or Ryu and learning their techniques would bring an interesting spin to Street Fighter. It would also give players a way to make their own custom moveset and unique character.
Wandering around the open world was a massive addition when it was included in Deception, and that was a PS2 game. Street Fighter 6 could do so much more with the idea. Konquest allowed players to take on small side-quests and fight NPCs, but with next-gen technology, players could fully explore the city, take on side-quests that have completely different gameplay styles, or even customize a hub room. The side-quests could branch out from fighting other people. Some segments could be done in a beat-em-up style while others could be fetch quests. The World Tour could allow Street Fighter to add more depth to fighting game story campaigns.
Konquest mode also had a lot of collectibles and characters to find and unlock. The most famous of these was Zombie Liu Kang, but there was a multitude of hidden secrets and bonuses. That is something Street Fighter 6 should capitalize on. While there is no tangible player benefit, having collectibles or unlockables gives the player a sense of joy and victory. This is especially true in a world where more and more cosmetic items are being shuffled into microtransactions. It would be nice to give players the chance to unlock new costumes for their favorite characters, re-outfitting their character throughout the story, which is something with which the more recent Mortal Kombat games have flirted.
The single-player campaigns and stories of fighting games have never been fantastic. Street Fighter has always been one of the most popular fighting series, so it is time it steps up and starts remedying some of the obvious problems fighting games have. It is wonderful that Capcom appears to be looking back at older fighting games to get ideas on how to improve. While it is likely World Tour mode won't be an exact replica of Konquest mode, Capcom does appear to be borrowing heavily from it. By combining Konquest mode with the modern technology at their disposal, Capcom has the opportunity to change the fighting game genre once again.