Double Dragon Revive Hands-On Preview: Reinventing a Classic

The Double Dragon series hasn’t had a mainline entry since 2017, with Double Dragon IV releasing to less-than-stellar critical reception. The iconic sidescrolling beat ’em up is long overdue for a modernized entry. Arc System Works aims to achieve that with Double Dragon Revive. Originally announced this summer, we were treated to a new trailer and release date announcement during the Game Awards. Before the show, Temple of Geek went hands-on in a behind-closed-doors preview to check out the game and interview Project Leader Hiroshi Nagaki.

Reviving a Genre

We got around 30 minutes of hands-on gameplay, which included two full stages and a boss fight. There are four playable characters, each with their unique designs and set of attacks based on your playstyle. First up were Billy and Jimmy, series veterans who let loose flurries of kicks and punches. New to Revive, however, is a meter you can build by attacking, taking damage, or engaging in Gimmicks, which are special attacks or actions. Gimmicks will charge your meter faster. Once you have enough meter built up, you can unleash an awesome cinematic attack that deals tremendous damage. There are enough modern changes with Revive to entice newcomers, like the Gimmick system, but Nagaki did emphasize that they want to “preserve the sidescrolling elements and stick to the original as much as possible, while redefining the it for a younger audience”.

Our demo came with a bit of a difficulty curve – timing your dodge and parries well are imperative for gaining the upper hand, especially on larger guys who can tank hits. Once I figured out the timing windows for these moves, parrying a quick attack or dodging a grab became extremely satisfying, and I found this to be my main strategy.

There are no healing items, but the developers did confirm that checkpoints will be generous. If you’re low on health, it may be a good strategy to avoid enemy attacks and attack from afar – do this by picking up knives or bats and hurling them, or kicking basketball into their faces. It’s hilarious and very satisfying when this takes someone out.

Beat ’em Up With Friends

Double Dragon Revive will feature both online and local multiplayer, but only up to two players can join the fray at a time. We were curious if they had plans to release more characters in the future, and Nagaki explained that “depending on how the game performs, it isn’t entirely off the table”. Additionally, we asked if certain combinations of characters will give them extra boosts or abilities when playing multiplayer, but that also isn’t in the cards for the time being.

Nagaki confirmed there will be a handful of modes: the main campaign, which should run between four and six hours depending on skill level, and an online leaderboard for score and speed tracking, with more to come.

Double Dragon Revive sports great visuals with no real performance issues, but the sidescrolling beat ’em up formula plays it safe. While there are fun and engaging modern quality of life features like the Gimmick system and extensive environmental interaction, our roughly 30 minutes with the game indicates that this will be a seemingly good entry into a dormant franchise that won’t break any barriers. We’ll find out for certain when the game launches October 23, 2025 on all major platforms.

All quotes are paraphrased through translation.

All images courtesy of Arc System Works.

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