u/Moto0Lux

No, I have not cleared this stage yet lol

Edit: Not isometric, it's top-down. lol

In other news, it's a fast-paced 2D action game focusing on aggressive crowd-control against enemies that want to kill you, with a risky but satisfying counter mechanic on top. Tons of contextual/environmental interactions too. There are so many mechanical designs in the game I appreciate (hidden in spoiler for those who want to discover them themselves).

>!Three complementary resources that make "stamina management" feel less like a restriction on player action, but a pool of fuel for an improvised pixelated carnage.!<

>!Contextual (guard breaks, grabs, status effects) and environmental (collision, wall slam, ring outs) interactions that can be caused by our moveset.!<

>!"Chain system" - a combo counter that registers every action as long as it is done with precision.!<

>!Diverse defensive options that don't pigeonhole my response to enemies. Clearly the Issen-like counter is the "best" choice, but I did not feel any loss doing a more positioning-centric playstyle, as can be seen here.!<

>!Aggressive enemies with fairly complex moveset and clear "roles" in encounters, complementing both the offensive and defensive tools we have. !<

>!Stellar bosses. I was surprised how open to being manipulated the bosses are, as you can see in the video. When done right, I can stunlock and wallslam them to death. Yet, most of my deaths in the game are from bosses. They really felt like fair fights between fantasy martial artists fighting on the same playing field.!<

>!Really thoughtful difficulty/accessibility options. I know "hardcore gamers" are quick to scoff at these features, but I wanted to shout out this game's implementation. Tweaking the strictness of input frames, adjusting aggressiveness of enemies just a bit, giving some help in comboing - these feel like features that a really good action gamer designed with "me when I was bad" in mind. Eases players in to the genre easier, without completely taking away the fun of "learning" an action system.!<

This video is me playing the highest difficulty in a fresh save - in other words, with the "default" stamina. Even then, I could do this much zipping and zapping, and me running out of stamina was almost always a result of playing sloppily.

This is (yet another) indie gem of a "CAG." Don't let the stamina bar deceive you into thinking this is a Souls-like, or even a Nioh-like. It's an NG-like experience expressed through a different architecture.