Skullgirls has been viewed as a lot of things within the gaming world. From an initial success story of a developer's passion for fighting games to fans still supporting the title even years after its release, Skullgirls deserves the mantle of "the little fighting game that could." Now nearing ten years after Skullgirls launched to high praise, the game will be getting its biggest update yet.

The new Season pass, a first for the independent fighting game, will feature four new playable characters as well as new stages and color palettes. The first character to join Skullgirls as part of the Season Pass is Annie, who was announced back in August 2020. Outside of just the announcement of new characters, developer Autumn Games also confirms that Skullgirls will also receive a Story Mode as part of the package. The Season Pass will cost $30 with each character costing $10 should buyers choose to purchase them individually.

RELATED: Former Skullgirls Developers Form New Studio

What many fans have made astute notice of is that the Season Pass is numbered. Since this is Skullgirls first foray into an extended character release plan, the Season Pass is followed by a "1." Many fans have taken this to mean that there is likely a lot more to come to Skullgirls in the future. While Skullgirls had single DLC characters release throughout the last decade, this is the first planned package of additional characters. When Annie was officially revealed in late January with a short gameplay showcase, the Skullgirls trailer ended with a tease for another new character.

Unlike previous DLC releases for Skullgirls, the remaining three Season Pass characters won't be selected via a vote. Skullgirls famously left the choice of the next downloadable character up to fans by providing a bracket of options. Ultimately, the first character to win the nomination was Eliza, who was followed by the release of Big Band and Beowulf.

While Skullgirls has long been a fan favorite within the fighting game community, the game has always been a victim of circumstance. The news of this upcoming character pass follows sexual misconduct accusations against the original Skullgirls lead designer Mike "Z" Zaimont. The accusations effectively caused the dissolvement of the original Skullgirls developer Lab Zero Games as the entire staff was laid off. Thus, the development of Skullgirls going forward as well as this Season Pass will be done by Autumn Games, the Skullgirls IP holder, and Skullgirls Mobile developer Hidden Variable.

While the news of Skullgirls Season Pass 1 has taken most of the interest, Autumn Games did provide some important updates for upcoming releases. The developer provided a rough timeline of when Annie and extra content will release. Currently, Annie is expected to launch in Early Access on Steam come March, with a full release in May on both PlayStation systems and PC. The May update will also feature the introduction of the Skullgirls Story Mode.

Skullgirls is currently available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Mobile Devices.

MORE: Skullgirls Mobile Developer and IP Holder Sever Ties With Lab Zero Games

Source: Steam