Are Guilty Gear and Blazblue set in the Same Universe?

[pelletboy]

Are Guilty Gear and Blazblue set in the same universe?

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

Technically no.  But the multiverse is an existing concept in BB, so there's always a chance universes can collide...  

[Kjam]

On 10/6/2018 at 1:47 AM, pelletboy said:

Are Guilty Gear and Blazblue set in the same universe?

Just stumbled upon this thread 8 years later. Shockingly, as of 2026, technically they are. Of all games that could have clarified it, it was Damon and Baby.
 

Spoiler

Damon and Baby confirms that all "universes" take place within one single information field. D+B takes place in one, GG takes place in one (refers to the field as the Backyard), and BB takes place in one (refers to the field as the Boundary).

The game also explicitly states that the Tome of Origin (Asuka/That Man's book) and the Azure Grimoire (Ragna's source of power) are copies of the same book, scattered across universes. On top of that, there are five Blades (a set of revolvers); Happy Chaos holds the Crescent Blade in GGST (and D+B since he exists there too) and Damon holds the Coin Blade in D+B. It's heavily implied that the I-No in D+B and the Ragna in D+B are the same iterations of the characters from GGST and BBCF respectively albeit with amnesia due to hopping universes. It's also heavily implied in the end credits scene that much of the multiverse nonsense in these games is caused by Chaos himself. 

Funny enough, even the GGST 2.0 theme Master of your own soul has a lyric referring to the GG world as an "info-prison" as a fresh reminder (official lyrics were sent by Naoki, it can be hard to decipher in-game lol). BlazBlue Entropy Effect X, which was officially written by ASW's in-house writers and dropped 2026 as well, canonicaly reaffirms this about the BBCF reality in its story mode. It's funny how hard they are actively pushing this now

So to answer your question, yes and no. They exist alongside one another but are independent universes within a shared reality. Really wack but that's how it is.

[mAc Chaos]

1 hour ago, Kjam said:

Just stumbled upon this thread 8 years later. Shockingly, as of 2026, technically they are. Of all games that could have clarified it, it was Damon and Baby.
 

  Hide contents

Damon and Baby confirms that all "universes" take place within one single information field. D+B takes place in one, GG takes place in one (refers to the field as the Backyard), and BB takes place in one (refers to the field as the Boundary).

The game also explicitly states that the Tome of Origin (Asuka/That Man's book) and the Azure Grimoire (Ragna's source of power) are copies of the same book, scattered across universes. On top of that, there are five Blades (a set of revolvers); Happy Chaos holds the Crescent Blade in GGST (and D+B since he exists there too) and Damon holds the Coin Blade in D+B. It's heavily implied that the I-No in D+B and the Ragna in D+B are the same iterations of the characters from GGST and BBCF respectively albeit with amnesia due to hopping universes. It's also heavily implied in the end credits scene that much of the multiverse nonsense in these games is caused by Chaos himself. 

Funny enough, even the GGST 2.0 theme Master of your own soul has a lyric referring to the GG world as an "info-prison" as a fresh reminder (official lyrics were sent by Naoki, it can be hard to decipher in-game lol). BlazBlue Entropy Effect X, which was officially written by ASW's in-house writers and dropped 2026 as well, canonicaly reaffirms this about the BBCF reality in its story mode. It's funny how hard they are actively pushing this now

So to answer your question, yes and no. They exist alongside one another but are independent universes within a shared reality. Really wack but that's how it is.

Does that mean they could cross over through the Boundary or something?

[Kjam]

4 hours ago, mAc Chaos said:

Does that mean they could cross over through the Boundary or something?

Pretty much, by whatever means the writers want, they can have characters hop between the game universes and have a "canon" explanation (just look at Lucy in Strive). I wouldn't be surprised if the next mainline ASW fighting game after Strive and Tokon is a BlazBlue/Guilty Gear crossover game based on that premise.

[Bossobee]

37 minutes ago, Kjam said:

Pretty much, by whatever means the writers want, they can have characters hop between the game universes and have a "canon" explanation (just look at Lucy in Strive). I wouldn't be surprised if the next mainline ASW fighting game after Strive and Tokon is a BlazBlue/Guilty Gear crossover game based on that premise.

How did the Lucy stuff work, anyway? Her arcade mode depicts her hooking herself up to her Netrunner interface, then… having the Netrunner mental image get sucked into Strive somehow? If she can access the “computer” of the Backyard by Netrunning, does that imply you can access it through any computer interface in any universe? Does someone just have the entire ArcSys Expanded Universe sitting on a flash drive somewhere in Night City? Is it a special Netrunner thing or can just anybody accidentally fall into GGST while checking their email?

[Kjam]

7 minutes ago, Bossobee said:

How did the Lucy stuff work, anyway? Her arcade mode depicts her hooking herself up to her Netrunner interface, then… having the Netrunner mental image get sucked into Strive somehow? If she can access the “computer” of the Backyard by Netrunning, does that imply you can access it through any computer interface in any universe? Does someone just have the entire ArcSys Expanded Universe sitting on a flash drive somewhere in Night City? Is it a special Netrunner thing or can just anybody accidentally fall into GGST while checking their email?

I think from Lucy/Cyberpunk's perspective, it was played off as a dream. From the GG perspective, it was just another Backyard anomaly that Asuka intervened with. Both are plausible for their respective universes, which is how I think it was intended to be perceived. It's one-way canon.

[Bossobee]

6 minutes ago, Kjam said:

I think from Lucy/Cyberpunk's perspective, it was played off as a dream. From the GG perspective, it was just another Backyard anomaly that Asuka intervened with. Both are plausible for their respective universes, which is how I think it was intended to be perceived. It's one-way canon.

That's definitely the INTENTION, but I'm just wondering how far they can extrapolate this (i.e. if the "Lucy Clause" will be used to justify future crossovers going forward or if they're just gonna keep introducing one-offs like this). With all the ArcSys Expanded Universe business in D&B / BBEEX I'm kinda primed to wonder what is and isn't establishing future stuff atp.

[gEasS_53]

8 hours ago, Bossobee said:

How did the Lucy stuff work, anyway? Her arcade mode depicts her hooking herself up to her Netrunner interface, then… having the Netrunner mental image get sucked into Strive somehow? If she can access the “computer” of the Backyard by Netrunning, does that imply you can access it through any computer interface in any universe? Does someone just have the entire ArcSys Expanded Universe sitting on a flash drive somewhere in Night City? Is it a special Netrunner thing or can just anybody accidentally fall into GGST while checking their email?

 

It mostly worked by connecting 2 pieces of worldbuilding lore.

Minor(? Major?) spoilers:

 

Guilty Gear has the Backyard, basically referenced to death in the story modes at this point, being the "source" of the world.

 

Cyberpunk has the Blackwall, Cyberpunk's version of the "looming apocalypse" plot device every TTRPG has. A quarantine against the "old net", an abandoned wild west of deadly AIs, virtual landscapes, sought after data, etc. Exactly as vague and non-specific as this kind of global cornerstone plot device usually gets, basically letting storytellers do as they want with it.

 

Lucy's arcade mode put the 2 together and let the player's imagination see just how well those puzzle pieces connect.

 

For what it's worth Lucy isn't exactly an average Netrunner so I don't think people will just randomly stumble on it.