Really enjoyed this!
The quickest description I could give is this is if Insomniac Games made a fencing game right after watching Road to El Delrado.
The Insomniac vibes are from the cute and colorful world and characters. It has very Saturday morning cartoon vibes, every character and plot beat is a trope but it's all charming.
It's a very pure fencing game, as in there is nothing to the experience outside of combat and light platforming. But the combat is really great! Parries feel great, and you get a sliver of slo-mo for perfect dodges too, which feels amazing. There is a good variety of enemies as well, and the game is short enough that they don't get boring. And even when enemies are too squirrely or armored to take direct damage, you can build up their stun bar with environmental attacks.
The platforming is pretty automatic and requires very little skill, but it is pretty smooth to play. The only skill you could apply to navigation is that there are some secret areas and collectibles to find, only a few of which I found in my playthrough.
What really takes this game up a notch is the environmental interactions during combat. Remember how games like Sleeping Dogs and Rise to Honor would let you bring enemies to certain locations in a level to trigger certain finisher animations? Well, this game is way more dynamic than that. Different items and hazards do different things. Hitting an enemy with a pitcher off the table will open them up for a kick or a string of strikes. Hitting an enemy with a lantern will do the same, but using it on a nearby cannon or box of gunpowder will cause a massive explosion that'll nock several enemies back. Or use a bucket to blind an enemy and keep him occupied when you focus on others. And my favorite interaction is using a bomb on a cauldron, which not only explodes like the connon I mentioned earlier but eventually, the massive kettle comes back down on top of a random enemy.
The environmental actions really inject even more cartoon comedy into the game, and that's not to mention the versatility of the kick. There's a brief status element called "Suprise" that you can cause to enemies that see you do a cool stunt of use and environmental interaction. It only lasts a second, but in that second, it opens all non-starter enemies up to a kick. This means you can kick enemies into other enemies, off of cliffs, off of small ledges for a stunning effect, down staircases for a stun, or into other hazards like pedestals holding vases and firepits.
All of those elements make combat feel super improvisational and, therefore, every victory in the game feels very earned and satisfying. The only aspects that feel slightly annoying are one specific enemy type that forces you to respond in one specific way to its attacks. Normally, you dodge heavy attacks and parry light attacks, but you can always just dodge light attacks as well with no penalty. For these enemies, if you don't parry/dodge when you are supposed to, their stun bar will fill back up. These enemies can only be hurt when their stun bar is emptied, so they can be a pain, especially in groups. I'll counter this pet peeve with the fact that this made me dive way deeper into environmental interactions, which I love, so it's really not that bad. If anything, they came as a bit of a surprise when most of the rest of the game feels so easy.
Can't recommend this game enough. I will say, this is definitely an indie game, which means that the $20 asking price will get you a 4-ish hour game, and despite the great artstyle and fully voiced dialogue, there are no animations in cutscenes, and their absence is noticeable. But you unlock an arena mode halfway through the game that can give you a bit more gameplay. But honestly, the game is worth that price with the campaign alone. This was such a refreshingly unique, satisfyingly challenging, and delightfully cute game that it'll likely be one of my favorites of the year, and I hope Fireplace Games gets a chance to make a more polished and deeper sequel.
The quickest description I could give is this is if Insomniac Games made a fencing game right after watching Road to El Delrado.
The Insomniac vibes are from the cute and colorful world and characters. It has very Saturday morning cartoon vibes, every character and plot beat is a trope but it's all charming.
It's a very pure fencing game, as in there is nothing to the experience outside of combat and light platforming. But the combat is really great! Parries feel great, and you get a sliver of slo-mo for perfect dodges too, which feels amazing. There is a good variety of enemies as well, and the game is short enough that they don't get boring. And even when enemies are too squirrely or armored to take direct damage, you can build up their stun bar with environmental attacks.
The platforming is pretty automatic and requires very little skill, but it is pretty smooth to play. The only skill you could apply to navigation is that there are some secret areas and collectibles to find, only a few of which I found in my playthrough.
What really takes this game up a notch is the environmental interactions during combat. Remember how games like Sleeping Dogs and Rise to Honor would let you bring enemies to certain locations in a level to trigger certain finisher animations? Well, this game is way more dynamic than that. Different items and hazards do different things. Hitting an enemy with a pitcher off the table will open them up for a kick or a string of strikes. Hitting an enemy with a lantern will do the same, but using it on a nearby cannon or box of gunpowder will cause a massive explosion that'll nock several enemies back. Or use a bucket to blind an enemy and keep him occupied when you focus on others. And my favorite interaction is using a bomb on a cauldron, which not only explodes like the connon I mentioned earlier but eventually, the massive kettle comes back down on top of a random enemy.
The environmental actions really inject even more cartoon comedy into the game, and that's not to mention the versatility of the kick. There's a brief status element called "Suprise" that you can cause to enemies that see you do a cool stunt of use and environmental interaction. It only lasts a second, but in that second, it opens all non-starter enemies up to a kick. This means you can kick enemies into other enemies, off of cliffs, off of small ledges for a stunning effect, down staircases for a stun, or into other hazards like pedestals holding vases and firepits.
All of those elements make combat feel super improvisational and, therefore, every victory in the game feels very earned and satisfying. The only aspects that feel slightly annoying are one specific enemy type that forces you to respond in one specific way to its attacks. Normally, you dodge heavy attacks and parry light attacks, but you can always just dodge light attacks as well with no penalty. For these enemies, if you don't parry/dodge when you are supposed to, their stun bar will fill back up. These enemies can only be hurt when their stun bar is emptied, so they can be a pain, especially in groups. I'll counter this pet peeve with the fact that this made me dive way deeper into environmental interactions, which I love, so it's really not that bad. If anything, they came as a bit of a surprise when most of the rest of the game feels so easy.
Can't recommend this game enough. I will say, this is definitely an indie game, which means that the $20 asking price will get you a 4-ish hour game, and despite the great artstyle and fully voiced dialogue, there are no animations in cutscenes, and their absence is noticeable. But you unlock an arena mode halfway through the game that can give you a bit more gameplay. But honestly, the game is worth that price with the campaign alone. This was such a refreshingly unique, satisfyingly challenging, and delightfully cute game that it'll likely be one of my favorites of the year, and I hope Fireplace Games gets a chance to make a more polished and deeper sequel.