An heart on his sleeves, swashbuckling action adventure that is fun from start to finish. The simple combat system is elevated by putting the focus on arena design and the use of environmental hazard, instead of one on one duels. This creates a back and forth between using the environment to crowd control and isolate enemies, and then engaging with the remaining ones with a parry and dodge system similar to the Arkham games.
Arenas are generally well thought out, offering boxes to push into enemies, buckets to throw on their heads and chandelier waiting to be dropped.
The enemy roster is a bit lacking but what is there works well, with weak harassers, bomb throwing area controller and aggressive melee enemies and "elites".
Bosses are not an hoghlight, being simple hit and dodge affairs. Though the fact that they almost always are accompanied by adds, at least reinforces the focus on crowd controls.
The main campaign is short and to the point, with level secrets and challenges that incentivize replaying. There are some pacing issues however, with basic platforming session that, especially in stage 2, drag down the level design and don't offer anything substantial. It almost feels that they were put in out of an obligation to have breather section between combat encounter, without thinking abou the overall pacing.
Where the game really shines however is in the Arena Mode. Here enemy compositions and crowd control options are at their best, and positive and negative modifiers push you to experiment and try different approaches. The last encounter of the higher difficulty arena being an highlight.
The game isn't the deepest action title and it has been clearly made on a budget. A better focus on pacing would have made the campaign more interesting to replay, a couple more enemies would have improved the enemy roster and some more varied hit reaction would have made the crowd control system even more engaging.
With that said what is here is solid and creates a game that delivers on his premise and is a ton of fun to play. And sometimes that is all you need.
Arenas are generally well thought out, offering boxes to push into enemies, buckets to throw on their heads and chandelier waiting to be dropped.
The enemy roster is a bit lacking but what is there works well, with weak harassers, bomb throwing area controller and aggressive melee enemies and "elites".
Bosses are not an hoghlight, being simple hit and dodge affairs. Though the fact that they almost always are accompanied by adds, at least reinforces the focus on crowd controls.
The main campaign is short and to the point, with level secrets and challenges that incentivize replaying. There are some pacing issues however, with basic platforming session that, especially in stage 2, drag down the level design and don't offer anything substantial. It almost feels that they were put in out of an obligation to have breather section between combat encounter, without thinking abou the overall pacing.
Where the game really shines however is in the Arena Mode. Here enemy compositions and crowd control options are at their best, and positive and negative modifiers push you to experiment and try different approaches. The last encounter of the higher difficulty arena being an highlight.
The game isn't the deepest action title and it has been clearly made on a budget. A better focus on pacing would have made the campaign more interesting to replay, a couple more enemies would have improved the enemy roster and some more varied hit reaction would have made the crowd control system even more engaging.
With that said what is here is solid and creates a game that delivers on his premise and is a ton of fun to play. And sometimes that is all you need.
3 Comments
@TripleSMoon
Sifu is for sure on another level. The intricacies and granurality of the various moves and the enemy and boss design is incredible. That game is seriously lightning in a bottle.
While En Garde is influenced by Sifu tho, I think they have different goals so I feel they can coexist pretty well.
Sifu is for sure on another level. The intricacies and granurality of the various moves and the enemy and boss design is incredible. That game is seriously lightning in a bottle.
While En Garde is influenced by Sifu tho, I think they have different goals so I feel they can coexist pretty well.
@TaiTsurugi Yeah, for sure. En Garde's emphasis on environmental interactions really sets it apart. At least, environmental interactions don't SEEM nearly as big a deal in Sifu, so far.
I do wish the game had more content. Some more granular arena modifiers or a custom mode where you could choose your buffs and debuffs could've been real cool.
I do wish the game had more content. Some more granular arena modifiers or a custom mode where you could choose your buffs and debuffs could've been real cool.
JulietStMoon
7 months ago