Buying fighting games in the UK

The shape of the bill

Every game on our card is sold the same basic way on Steam: a base game with a starting roster, then extra fighters sold one at a time or in a pass. A pass usually covers one year or one season of new characters, and the publisher announces the next one once the last fighter of the current pass is out. Outfits, colours, stages and announcer voices are sold separately on top, and none of them change how a fighter plays.

That gives a simple order to spend in. Buy the base game. Play it for a couple of weeks and find the fighter you keep picking. Only then look at passes, and only the pass that holds a character you want. Every game here is playable online against people who own passes when you do not; you can fight against a DLC character without buying them.

None of the twelve games we review sells random rewards for money. Where a game sells anything, the shop shows you exactly what you get before you pay. We checked each game's store and its PEGI and ESRB labels before it went on the card.

All twelve, base game against full roster

The full-roster price is the base game plus every character pass and single fighter on sale today, at the normal Steam UK price. It leaves out outfits and soundtracks. Prices read from Steam UK on 4 November 2026.