I am a huge fan of the 2D beatem up genre. I really enjoy games like Double Dragon Trilogy, Streets of Rage 4, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time, and Final Vendetta. I rather hate Way of the Passive Fist and would argue it has poor game design.

Way of the Passive Fist is not an original concept. There have already been 2D beatem ups with parry mechanics such as Super Double Dragon originally released in 1992 for the Super Nintendo. In Way of the Passive Fist your only option is to parry while in Super Double Dragon you still have standard attacks, and thus Super Double Dragon feels more complex and expressive because the parry is just one tool in your tool belt rather than your entire tool belt.

Way of the Passive Fist is all about learning parry timings of it's enemies. However, you don't need a parry mechanic in order to have enemies with specific timings in a 2D beatem up. Just look at the "Breaker" enemy in The Takeover. The "Breaker" enemy in The Takeover will block your attacks, but if you briefly pause the "Breaker" will lower his guard and give you an opening to start attacking, and once you land a hit on him you can land a combo before he will start guarding again. The Way of the Passive Fist is kinda like you are playing The Takeover if The Takeover only had "Breaker" enemy types, enemies only attacked you one at a time, and you could only get one hit in before the enemy started to block again. It just isn't fun.

Way of the Passive Fist's backgrounds lack detail and variety. Backgrounds are mostly static images that paralax scroll. The very few things that are animated, such as flags/banners, are done so at very low framerates that they stick out like a sore thumb more than anything.

The sound design is attrocious. Enemies will use the same attack over and over with the same exact audio queue every single time. So you will constantly hear the same sound effect ~4-6 times over and over throughout the entire game. This was done intentionally so you can use the audio queues to time your parries, and yes it does help you time your parries, but just because it helps you time your parries doesn't make it any less annoying to hear.

If Way of the Passive Fist wanted to keep it's parry-only combat, then it would have been a better game if it was designed as a rythm game where actions line up with the music similar to Hi-Fi RUSH, but Way of the Passive Fist needs much, much better background music. The background music is generic and boring, and you will notice the looping.

Way of the Passive Fist is the definition of repetitive. It makes you fight the same enemies over and over again. Fighting the same enemies over and over is fine in normal 2D beatem ups because normal 2D beatem ups are about routing/positioning, efficiency, and target-prioritization, but Way of the Passive Fist is not designed like a normal 2D beatem up. Enemies in Way of the Passive Fist intentionally only attack you one at a time. So, there is no reason to make the player fight the same enemies over and over. If it was going to keep it's one-on-one parry-only combat, Way of the Passive Fist would be better if it was just a boss rush game where you only fight every unique enemy type one time. That is what other games with significant parry mechanics do. For example, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a much better game because it has a bunch of unique enemy types with multiple attack patterns; it doesn't make you fight the same enemies one at a time over and over again.

I feel like the designer/developer of Way of the Passive Fist came up with the concept of an entirely parry based 2D beatem up and went about making the game, but never asked the question, "How do I make it fun?" Way of the Passive Fist just isn't fun, uniquely challenging, or worth playing. I personally wouldn't even put this game in the "2D Beatem up" genre, but if I had to, then it would be the worst 2D beatem up I have ever played from a game design perspective.