Bandai Namco shared more about Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet today, introducing a new character named Basalt Joe, and also the Gun & Sword weapon type which Kirito used in the anime. [Thanks, 4gamer!]

Basalt Joe (CV: Rikiya Koyama)

A GGO high rank player who challenges the protagonist multiple times for their ArFA-sys. He’s a courageous person who’s popular in his squadron. While he persistently will hound somebody until he finally wins, he shows good sportsmanship with the results of a match.

Avatar customization

There are many different ways to customize your player avatar, such as the screenshots below.

Gun & Sword weapon type

After clearing a certain event with Kirito, the player character will be able to use the Gun & Sword weapon type that Kirito used in the Sword Art Online anime. The weapon type is a jack-of-all-trade, being able to handle both CQB and ranged fights. There are also some weapon-specific skills for the Gun & Sword.

Online aspects

In the online part of the game, players can choose to fight against other players or work together to take down boss enemies. These modes can reward you with materials to upgrade weapons at Lisbeth’s, or make new outfits by completing quests for Asuna.

In online versus, players are split into Alpha and Bravo teams and thrown into a team deathmatch. Players need to fight against both enemy players as well as enemy faction monsters and robots.

Players can also work together to play co-op missions. The missions are hard, but very rewarding in terms of rare materials and items.

Finally, Bandai Namco shared a CG screenshot of the pillow talk event with Argo, as well as the βeater‘s Player beta that can be accessed starting today by pre-purchasing a digital copy of the game. The βeater‘s Player beta will allow players to try out two dungeons in the game, the “Old Civilization Research Facility Ruins”, and the “Control Facility Ruins”.

Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet releases in Japan on February 8, 2018 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A PC version releases alongside the Western release on February 24, 2018.