First released in 2019, Dead or Alive 6 is the latest entry in the Dead or Alive franchise. Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo built the game on a brand-new graphics engine, released tons of characters and outfits, and, most interestingly, sought to slightly tone down the sexualized nature of the game’s characters for competitive circuits. Originally receiving an aggregate score of around 74 on Metacritic, the game is now getting a new release with more characters in 2026. Here’s our review of Dead or Alive 6: Last Round.

Dead or Alive 6 Last Round features 29 characters, including the full original lineup and five characters released as DLC for the game. Those included characters are Nyotengu, Phase 4, Tamaki, Momiji, and Rachel. The title also includes costumes for Kasumi, Ayane, Marie Rose, Honoka, and NiCO. If those names mean nothing to you, and you really only know the fighting game series for its skimpy-dressed heroines, then you’re about where I am with the series. I’ve played a few of these games, and I do think a lot of the gameplay in Dead or Alive 6 Last Round stands among other modern 3D fighters.

Things like slow-motion moment knockouts, as well as a gauge system to build up major attacks or fatal rushes, feel and look great. There’s also a nice inclusion of blood effects and new violence physics that are player-adjustable, but add to the ferocity of the game. Other elements, such as a costume customization mode and sweat effects, do more for the game’s visuals than for the actual gameplay. Overall, however, it feels good to play. We all know visuals are a huge draw for the series, both in the graphics and in the design of the fighters.

That’s why it’s not shocking that the major update to this version of Dead or Alive 6 is a photo mode. The feature allows players to create dramatic action shots or capture intense moments from a variety of angles, and to adjust sweat, dirt, facial expressions, and more. I’m not really sure that a photo mode and some extra characters warrant a brand-new version of the game, but at $40, I guess it could be worse. The major issue here is going to be whether or not you already own Dead or Alive 6, and more importantly, its massive amount of costume DLC.

There are over 400 different pieces of DLC for Dead or Alive 6, including characters and costumes. These costumes do transfer to Dead or Alive 6 Last Round, save for the King of Fighters crossover collaboration. That will require a new purchase. All in all, you’re essentially getting a little spruced-up version of the 2019 game with a photo mode, five included DLC characters, and a few included costumes. Everything else persists as purchasable content.

With a tolerable story mode and the typical options like arcade, versus, and survival modes, there’s a lot to do in Dead or Alive 6 Last Round. The question will simply become whether or not the new version of the game is worth it if you own the original. If you’re not acclimated to the series, there’s a Dead or Alive 6 Last Round Core Fighters version of the game that is free and allows you to play as four characters to get a feel for the game.

I’m very much in the camp that the sexualization of the fighters in this game harms the perception of the series, because this truly is a good fighting game. I think not including costume DLC for a Last Round-style edition of the title is egregious, but you don’t have to buy the hundreds of schoolgirl outfits and swimwear to play the game, so it really is up to the player as to what they want to own and wear. At $25 USD for a package of Santa bikinis, or $45 USD for body suit sets, I’d highly recommend not rewarding the game for this pricing model with your hard-earned cash.

An Xbox Series X review copy of Dead or Alive 6: Last Round was provided by Koei Tecmo for this review.

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Dead or Alive 6 Last Round

39.99

6

Score

6.0/10

Pros

• New photo mode is added to the game
• 5 DLC characters included from base game

Cons

• Insanely expensive DLC for costumes is not included
• Very little has been updated from the 2019 experience
• Feels very much like a cash grab