izigame.me

Hidden Variable, you passionate bastards! How do you keep topping yourselves with this?! I am not insulting you or anything. I am praising your commitment to quality and delivering your promises to the Skullgirls community.
Okay, with that out the way, yes, I know I'm months late and Black Dahlia is about to kill the competition but I did not have to get around to this until just now so... I wanna give my thoughts on Umbrella. Quick recap before that on my thoughts about Annie if missed my original review, I absolutely loved her and saw her as a fantastic start to the Hidden Variable era of Skullgirls.
Onto to Umbrella, let's start with the obvious. Her design is amazing. I know we met her ten years ago in Parasoul's story but even then, seeing Umbrella again is just a treat as she looks really cute and goofy with her raincoat. Adding onto this is her animations which are wild and extremely expressive which fits her childlike appearance and personality. And Hungern is just the weirdest thing I've seen in a good way.
The Broadwalk as a stage is a massive step up from Sound Stage 15 as I love the atmosphere and how colourful it is. Helping this is the new song, Ice Cream Headache. It's not the most catchiest song on first listen but it really grows on you as listen to it more. Ratio did a fantastic job making it fit Umbrella and for their only contribution to Skullgirls so far, it's actually kinda sad. Hidden Variable, please hire this guy again. They are crazy talented.
Briefly mentioning Umbrella's story without spoilers, it is excellent. From start to finish, I absolutely loved the dialogue and changes to Umbrella's character as apposed to her being a complete brat like in Parasoul's story 10 years prior. Absolutely commendable how Hidden Variable are fixing bad aspects of characters. That's all I'll say on her story without spoilers but please do play it if you own umbrella's dlc. You'll enjoy it.
Now, for the moveset and mechanics. Huge disclaimer... I DO NOT main Umbrella at all and I suck at her gameplay. She personally does not fit my style of play in fighting games. However, she is not bad by any means. She's just as good if not better than Annie. Umbrella being more difficult to master than Annie is a good thing as it adds a bigger focus on learning how she can combo. Her moveset is a very nice mix between melee attacks and short ranged attacks. Her mechanic this time is her living weapon Hungern. You gotta use grabs to feed him and keep him sustained. Depending on full he is, Umbrella's moveset is slightly different but not too much, adding a sense of ease to learning her combos. It sounds annoying but Hungerns hunger doesn't drop too fast which is a good thing.
Lastly, Umbrella's dlc packs in some nice bonus content and references to the series past. I won't spoil them but I will say the Umbrella Skullgirl colour variant is one of the most ingenious references I have ever seen. Lore fans will love that one.
Overall, This dlc was worth waiting so long for and is a perfect way to kick off the 10th anniversary of skullgirls. As with Annie, I still recommend the season 1 pass for the extra goodies and to support Autumn Games and showing them we love these extra goods. Let's see if Black Dahlia can top Umbrella and truly kill the competition like she said she will. And I'm months late with saying this but happy birthday Skullgirls. So happy you're still with us. Here's to another 10 years, old friend.