4 people found this review helpful
Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 9.4 hrs on record (6.9 hrs at review time)
Posted: May 3, 2016 @ 6:44am

A difficult, technical side-scrolling dungeon crawler with a refreshingly lighthearted tone. Your main character is not a chosen hero on a quest to save the world; she's an adventurous girl who wants to get an elemental stone so she can practice magic with her classmates.

The game's combat seems very strange at first - I immediately noticed that jamming the attack button did not perform any kind of combo; rather I just kept swinging my sword in the same way. To combo, you actually have to use different attacks via directional inputs plus the attack button and chain them together. The fact that each attack differs widely in terms of attack radius, range, and speed means that every attack is useful in some respect, and makes properly performing combos and using them in the right circumstances somewhat of an art.

This is a really cool system that makes even the simplest fights enjoyable, and that's without even considering the enemies and their behaviors.

Enemies are tough. The first slimes I fought posed a challenge, as rather than flopping around at snail-speeds and waiting five seconds before striking, they actually moved quite quickly, performed several types of attacks, and seemed quite adept at jumping to avoid my sloppy strikes. The game does not hold your hand in combat, and rather than coaching you through every aspect, it expects you to pay attention and learn. Yes, this game actually respects your intelligence as a human being - thank heavens for that.

Within half an hour or so, I had learned to be patient while fighting. To block, to dodge, to poke quickly at enemies with fast attacks and retreat, and to counter aerial attacks with well-timed uppercuts. It's quite rewarding to see your efforts to learn the combat system come to fruition, let me tell you.

I haven't played enough of the game to give full impressions just yet, but I'm already having an absolute blast with the combat, and as someone who's rather picky about combat in games, that's saying something.
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