New Indie Fighting Game Captures the Vibe of SoulCalibur In 2D

The season of cool new indie fighters continues with a new Early Access release on Steam.

Starkheim Tournament is a 2D, weapons-based fighting game with simplified controls. Now, core fighting game audience tends to be pretty cautious about "simplified controls" but if you take a closer look at the game it makes a lot of sense.

As some of the positive reviews already point out, Starkheim Tournament feels like it was strongly inspired by SoulCalibur, and feels like a 2D version of the classic Bandai Namco title. Down to having a block button, although it's optional here.

The game currently has 4 characters and 3 stages, but plans to expand that to 13-14 fighters and 9-10 stages by the time it releases in late 2027. In terms of game modes, you have local VS and training mode, which is an important caveat here.

There is no multiplayer and no arcade mode, so if this looks interested, make sure you have a buddy to play with, which you should eventually be able to do through Steam's own Remote Play feature.