Wasted Potential
The Dead or Alive series has mostly been a fighting franchise more known for its female combatants than its deeper fighting mechanics or additional aspects of its core design. The series is up to its 6th main entry, with various spin-offs and re-releases having seen the franchise dig deep into its sexualization and used its cast for a few rounds of bikini-clad volleyball and some pool-side antics. While the industry has largely moved away from overly sexualized characters, to a certain degree, Dead or Alive 6 has made small adjustments here to accommodate that change while still retaining what the series has been known and celebrated for.
Let’s jump right in; Dead or Alive 6: Last Round is a re-release of 2019’s newest installment. While a 7th main entry is on the horizon, Last Round follows in Dead or Alive 5: Last Round’s footsteps of producing a more complete version. However, unlike Dead or Alive 5: Last Round, there is no upgrade path for existing users, and lacks much new to really justify an entirely new purchase. There is also the lack of two characters who were part of DOA 6’s post launch DLC that are not only not here, but I couldn’t find a way to rebuy them, despite them staring me in the face on the character select screen.
Dead or Alive 6: Last Round features the full story campaign, a challenge-based quest mode, and your typical versus, arcade, time attack, and survival modes. It also features a basic ranked online versus mode but lacks crossplay, both between other platforms and the previous version of the game, as well as any inclusion of rollback netcode, meaning if you were not impressed with the online offerings seven years ago, then you won’t be impressed now.
Featuring 29 characters, Dead or Alive 6: Last Round sees the return of many of the series notable fighters while introducing just a few new faces to the series. Favorites like Tina, Kasumi, Hayate, Ryu Hayabusa, Ayane, Bass, and more all return with only two new faces to the lineup; Nico and Diego. Nico is a blue haired scientist who is behind much of the main story, and features a fleshed out story arc to really develop who she is, while Diego is featured only in the short scenario’s built around the tournament and isn’t really given much to offer other than he has a sick mother. It’s also a shame that some of the new characters introduced in Venus Vacation are not included, but new fighters will find their way into the game through future paid downloadable content.
Included in Last Round are the five DLC characters who were released post launch for DOA 6. Included are Nyotengu, Phase 4, Momiji, Rachel, and Ramaki. However, not making the cut, or even available to purchase at the time of this review are Mai Shiranui and Kula Diamond, two of my favorite characters from the post launch support of DOA 6. Yup, even if you own them from before, they are not accessible.
Dead or Alive 6 features a story mode that can feel all over the place, mainly due to the fact of how it is presented. While there is a main narrative to follow, one that can have their missions done back to back, there are several character based stories that can also be done, in any order you want. This method of unlocking more of these short and sometimes self contained segments can feel random and cause much of their impact to feel wasteful. One of the new characters, Diego, gets the short end of the stick and doesn’t feature into the main story at all. While he has some content here regarding his inclusion into the Dead or Alive tournament, it’s the other new character, Nico, that is front and center in the main plot. Dead or Alive 6’s main story is centered around Nico perfecting a science experiment that requires the abilities of two main DOA characters to do so. This main story is mostly told through just a few characters out of the whole roster, so its variety is somewhat limited.
Meanwhile, Zack and Helena are attempting to put on the 6th annual DOA tournament, a subplot that is regulated to the remaining cast, and a narrative that feels largely wasted. These character subplots would have been better served as content for the arcade mode, which doesn’t feature any sort of story or ending when you complete it. There are moments of specialized dialogue, but overall, arcade mode is nothing more than a versus mode that just goes on for a few random matches. Apart from story mode, arcade, and versus, you also have your standard time attack and survival mode, which I don’t see anyone really putting any substantial time into. Sadly, Tag Team mode, which was last seen in DOA5, isn’t here and was one feature fans were hopeful that DOA 6: Last Round would implement, since it was a feature that didn’t make the original release and was a major fan criticism some seven years ago.
It’s safe to say that most of your time will be spent completing the numerous challenges in Quest mode. This great addition to the game features just over a 100 missions, which vary from completing a match in a certain time frame, executing certain combo attacks, or defeating enemies with specific moves. There is a ton of challenge here depending on your skill level. It’s also here where you’ll tend to unlock most of the outfits and earning coin that you will use to purchase new hairstyles, background music, and title cards for your online profile, which are still a thing I guess?
Each mission has three objectives to complete to reap the rewards while also leveling up your own personal level. Each mission is character specific and the rules and opponents are fixed. Even working through a few dozen challenges, I’ve actually learned more about the fighting mechanics here than through its tutorial modes, mainly because it’s presented in a fun and interesting way. The tutorials present are functional, but typical of the genre in how they are presented.
Taking the battles online has been a very different story from the enjoyment I’ve had offline as while the offerings here are extremely basic, the lag and stuttering made several victories very difficult. I’ve had clear wins taken away from me after lag allowed my opponent to pull off a last second upset. While sure, most of my losses were due to my lack of skill, the lag is very apparent to the point where I no longer wish to invest much time in this mode until substantial infrastructure improvements have been made. That said, it’s been seven years and I don’t see Last Round adding in rollback netcode if they were not going to include it at launch anyway. Any sort of lag in a fighting game is about the worst problem you can have as input speed is crucial to the entire experience.
Dead or Alive 6 still features your traditional low and high attacks, holds, throws, four-way directional movement and the use of combo’s to put the rapid back to back hurt towards your opponent. Perimeter attacks and ground smashes still have the characters explode off of them, making some wins truly explosive, literally. Dead or Alive is also a game about anticipating your opponent, performing a parry at just the right moment to turn the tide and take advantage of an opening and capitalizing on it. Where Dead or Alive 6 adds to its tried and true combat design is in its new Fatal Rush system. This system is fairly simple as it consists of mainly 4 rapid attacks performed by tapping the right shoulder button in quick succession, performing what will start out as a high attack and then end with launching your opponent clear across the field.
As you perform certain moves, you will trigger Fatal Stun, which prevents the fighter from striking, guarding, or holding for a brief few seconds. Some characters have different moves that cause this stun such as Diego, who can use a kicking strike, whereas other characters can use crouching counters or crouching hi-counters well. As you perform Fatal Rush or deal or take damage, your Break Gauge will fill up to where you can pull off a Break Blow attack that deals some crushing hits and damage along with it. Apart from the new Fatal Rush system, you have your traditional sidestepping, guard breaking, and recoveries to flesh out the robust, but simple, combat system.
While I’ve enjoyed the Dead or Alive games before, Dead or Alive 6 just feels refreshing to play, even if it can, at times, not feel as robust as Dead or Alive 5. Combat feels energetic and decently balanced than before and something about the new Katana engine just translates to a far better experience. I’ve been able to pull off counters, having my character duck low and get in a few punches as my opponent hits high, causing a smile to appear on my face as I pull off a quick upset. Still, Dead or Alive 6 is still a joy to play from a hand to hand combat perspective, despite several characters having a sword attached to their back, only pulling it out during cutscenes.
Featuring an all new engine, Dead or Alive 6 leaves the Soft Engine behind and it’s drastically better for it. Thanks to the Katana Engine, characters are better detailed, feature far cleaner textures, and contain much improved movements and physics. While the women of the series still feature a bit of the DOA jiggle, it is designed to be less exaggerated and meant to convey a more realistic sense of movement and frankly, it only enhances their sex appeal. Sure, some characters like Tina, Honoka. or Hitomi still have a bit too much bounce to convey the realism they are going for, but it is a pretty big difference from how the series first started. Adding to that, the costume designs are far more conservative than the more revealing gear the series is known for, but several characters still feature many of those styles of outfits to unlock or access through its paid content packs.
Prior to release, a few things were stated about this new version. One, the official website stated “new gameplay improvements”, but that has since been removed as no one has been able to figure out what those improvements were. Two, the new “Oboro” lighting engine was touted as being a game-changer for visuals, making stages have far better detail and reflections. Currently, only one stage uses this with additional stages being updated later to incorporate this new addition. While only one stage at launch sounds ridiculous, at least we are aware of what the future will hold for it, as the one stage here is incredibly gorgeous.
Lastly, DLC. While it has been made clear that previous DLC will work, there are conflicting reports whether ALL DLC will work. Now, some of what may not work could be related to Mai and Kula, but it’s hard to say. We do get five new outfits for Kasumi, Ayana, Marie Rose, Honoka, and Nico. It’s a shame the entire roster didn’t get the same treatment. It’s also unfortunate that for a brand new version of the game, especially one that doesn’t have an upgrade path, that at least some of the outfit DLC from the original wasn’t included. Given the pricey season pass history of the system and Last Round being touted as a more “Complete” version, it is bizarre to not really pack content in here.
DOA 6: Last Round also features a fairly decent photo mode that allows you to really take the combatant's poses to a whole new level for taking some fantastic screenshots. There are plenty of features to use and tinker around with. And, as was the case with DOA 5: Last Round, there is a free to play CORE FIGHTERS version that allows players to see if DOA 6 is for them. This allows you to play as Kasumi, Marie Rose, Honoka, and Nico, across all modes, except for the story mode. While you can purchase the game outright, there are story mode and character keys to purchase, in case you want to tailor your experience to what you want from it.
Dead or Alive is coming back with a 7th new entry, and Last Round could have been the version of DOA 6 that fans wanted seven years ago. However, while there are some notable inclusions here, DOA 5 Last Round had an upgrade path and offered considerably more. I can see new fans getting their money's worth here, but fans who have already invested time and money into DOA 6 may not see the benefits of buying it all over again, especially with no improvements to its online features. Sure, the game does look better, and the new lighting to the Lost Paradise map is stunning, but Last Round needed to be better, to make up for the series’ absence and over-priced DLC.
Fans deserved better.
I have reached out to PR for more clarification on the new lighting system, as well as what those “new gameplay improvements” entailed. I will update the review should anything contradict what is said here.
Developer - Team Ninja.
Publisher - Koei Tecmo.
Released - June 25th, 2026.
Available On - Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC.
Rated - (M) - Blood, Suggestive Themes, Violence.
Platform Reviewed - Xbox Series X.
Review Access - A review code for Dead or Alive 6: Last Round was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
Jeff is the original founder of Analog Stick Gaming. His favorite games include The Witcher III, the Mass Effect Trilogy, Hi-Fi Rush, Stellar Blade, Hellbade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and the Legend of Heroes series, especially Trails of Cold Steel III & IV.