Soulcalibur: Lost Swords Goes Free-to-Play This Winter

The next Soul Calibur is a single-player, free-to-play PS3-exclusive.

Publisher Namco Bandai unveiled the next Soulcalibur at the Tokyo Game Show today, but it’s the not the game you’d expect. Soulcalibur Lost Swords is a single-player, free-to-play fighting game. Oh yeah, and it’s a PS3 exclusive.

To complement the game’s free-to-play format, Lost Swords adds an item “discovery and foraging” system, allowing players to pick up weapons and materials off of fallen foes. (Presumably there will be a crafting system, to go with it.) In addition to crafting new equipment, players can now imbue their weapons with elemental properties like fire and wind. Lost Swords also features the series’ standard character customization options.

Soulcalibur Lost Swords will be available in Japan “soon,” and will come to western PS3s “by winter 2013.”