As a fan of parry based games, this was meant for me. While it is on the easier and forgiving side with its indicators and generous parry window, it innovates more on crowd control which enhances its tone and appeal. The new enemy stamina meter compliments this new layer on managing enemies such as kicking them towards environmental hazards or other enemies to keep them away as well as weaken them to easily and safely damage them. Given its budget and scale, its linear combat arenas, light platforming and few stages makes the most sense; however, I do find it a bit short on content, variety and challenge to be a memorable experience.
At its low price point, it is a justifiably short experience consisting of four chapters/episodes left me underwhelmed. What made me truly lament about this game is its lost potential specially on how much fun I had on its arena or roguelike mode. The (potentially broken) positive and negative modifiers adds a strategic and tactical depth that I feel the main mode lacks or could emulate with its comedic tone. Beyond the arena, I find no real reason to replay or learn the game at a higher difficulty despite the challenge which is one of my key metrics for an action game.
As an action game, what holds this back is the zoomed in camera, unclear lock-on and messy object interactions that make the experience frustrating than rewarding. First, the camera is quite close to the character making it hard to see enemies approaching from behind. When backed to a wall or corner due to dodging or parrying, the camera goes behind a wall and obscures incoming attacks. Second, the lock-on feels so random or uncontrollable at times with clusters of enemies. It happens so many times that it breaks my immersion and flow. Third, so many objects on the ground can hinder movement both for the player and specially the enemies who get stuck. Tables in particular can cause dodges to be unintentional slides that can reset elite enemy meters. All these problems are not unique to this game, but it made combat a sloppy experience.
For smaller issues, I am not a fan of the humor and tone of this game although this may be the right approach for its short experience. Even if the corridors are linear, some tangible rewards such as costumes or cosmetics could be hidden instead of small notes or references. Better indicators for the exit and interactables would be nice because it is hard to know at times.
As for the Steam Deck, I really only have one issue which I mentioned in the demo: performance. Playing on the lowest graphical settings, I can play around a stable 45 FPS. The fight arenas are small and segregated by loading screens, so I am concerned why it is not hitting a stable 60 FPS or sometimes having hiccups. Perhaps some configuration can hit those numbers or perhaps Steam Deck verification is not intended; regardless, I do suggest playing on a stronger machine for a better experience.
It is still overall a good casual indie game and hoped to support it, but I hesitate to recommend this for players looking for a meaningful and rewarding challenge.
At its low price point, it is a justifiably short experience consisting of four chapters/episodes left me underwhelmed. What made me truly lament about this game is its lost potential specially on how much fun I had on its arena or roguelike mode. The (potentially broken) positive and negative modifiers adds a strategic and tactical depth that I feel the main mode lacks or could emulate with its comedic tone. Beyond the arena, I find no real reason to replay or learn the game at a higher difficulty despite the challenge which is one of my key metrics for an action game.
As an action game, what holds this back is the zoomed in camera, unclear lock-on and messy object interactions that make the experience frustrating than rewarding. First, the camera is quite close to the character making it hard to see enemies approaching from behind. When backed to a wall or corner due to dodging or parrying, the camera goes behind a wall and obscures incoming attacks. Second, the lock-on feels so random or uncontrollable at times with clusters of enemies. It happens so many times that it breaks my immersion and flow. Third, so many objects on the ground can hinder movement both for the player and specially the enemies who get stuck. Tables in particular can cause dodges to be unintentional slides that can reset elite enemy meters. All these problems are not unique to this game, but it made combat a sloppy experience.
For smaller issues, I am not a fan of the humor and tone of this game although this may be the right approach for its short experience. Even if the corridors are linear, some tangible rewards such as costumes or cosmetics could be hidden instead of small notes or references. Better indicators for the exit and interactables would be nice because it is hard to know at times.
As for the Steam Deck, I really only have one issue which I mentioned in the demo: performance. Playing on the lowest graphical settings, I can play around a stable 45 FPS. The fight arenas are small and segregated by loading screens, so I am concerned why it is not hitting a stable 60 FPS or sometimes having hiccups. Perhaps some configuration can hit those numbers or perhaps Steam Deck verification is not intended; regardless, I do suggest playing on a stronger machine for a better experience.
It is still overall a good casual indie game and hoped to support it, but I hesitate to recommend this for players looking for a meaningful and rewarding challenge.