Like 5 Ultimate, a free-to-play version titled Dead or Alive 5 Last Round: Core Fighters, was released alongside the retail game on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows.

[9][10] In addition, Last Round adds four new characters, including bringing back the original Dead or Alive boss, Raidou, to life and introducing a new female fighter named Honoka, for a total of up to 36.

[21][22] Pre-ordering at Amazon.com, Best Buy and ShopTo rewarded access to exclusive costumes sets "Showstopper" (for Christie, Helena, Lisa and Tina) and "Beach Party" (for Kokoro, Leifang, Momiji and Rachel).

It includes the "core" content with only four characters (Ayane, Hayate, Kasumi and Ryu Hayabusa) with the option to purchase the rest as DLC.

[26] Jann Lee, Mila, Kokoro, Hitomi, Rig and Leifang have all been free of charge for limited periods at different points in time as each other.

[29] Originally intended to be released on February 17, 2015, it was delayed six weeks to March 30, with Steam users being given a Halloween 2013 costume pack free of charge.

Those who had already owned the full game prior the Core Fighters release received a free update on unlocking all characters, music, and the story mode.

Director Yosuke Hayashi said they plan on supporting Last Round long-term, including "adjustments to game balance and maybe even adding additional modes.

[44] Following the release of the Halloween Costume 2015, the update spaces on adding DLC for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 already reached their limits due to a file size problem on these versions.

Hardcore Gamer's Adam Beck endorsed Dead or Alive 5 Last Round for those "looking for a fun, over-the-top fighter with a lot of charm," even as he criticized it for how "the few new additions are far from compelling and there are some unfortunate bugs at launch.

"[55] Jeremy Duff from Gaming Nexus wrote the "jaw-droppingly gorgeous" Last Round "is an excellent ending point for this chapter of the series.

The highest difficulty of which granted the bots unrealistic advantages, including longer range, "100% mode" (which rendered players helpless to grabs and throws with no counterplay), and instant speed moves that came with "i-frames", which rarely could be responded to.