Yeah apparently Sony waived the 3 month exclusivity window so it’s a month early!
Nabbed it. So this has iframes in rolls?
Yes, definitely. There are a few delayed boss attacks Where you can use them to your advantage if you like to play up close without a shield.
I chose the guy with the whip and crossbow to start – perhaps not the most noob-friendly, but I’m a glutton.
Whip is fun, just lacks some of the combos of other weapons. You can always change later.
This game is so cool. I’m completely in awe at how well they managed to replicate the Souls formula in a 2D game. And I don’t mean just the mechanics and game rules, the tight tuning of difficulty, varied movesets, getting punished for the same mistakes as in Souls, plinking away at bosses and dodging after 1 to 2 hits, pushing to the next bonfire and dying and then losing souls because you’re rushing to your ghost, etc. It’s all there, down to the obscure quests and npcs with their vaguely written lines. And I love how fast and responsive the gameplay is. So far I’ve completed half of the game with two different characters - one is dagger + gun and the other uses a heavy 2h mace - and I had a good chuckle because even the weapon (im)balance is the same as in Souls. Even the long jump button combo causes accidental falls - just like in Souls!
I wonder if the devs ever got into trouble for so blatantly copying the Souls formula. Not that I mind, this little gem of a game basically showed me that I’ll likely never get tired of the Souls formula - provided it’s well executed.
Phew, platforming sections in the last few levels are no joke. I had to pull off quite a few trick moves, sometimes several in a row, just to get to the next checkpoint, never mind the harder to get loot!
In any case, I finished the game with a heavy armor and greataxe/maces build (loved the Obsidian mace, used it for most of the game) and in the classic Souls spirit I’ll probably do a few more runs with other builds.
Excellent game, would totally recommend it to Souls fans.
I’m glad you enjoyed it.
This .gif of a shotgun build in NG+ almost had me ready to dive back in. Splat!
One if my favorite releases this year.
I found using guns a bit awkward when I tried - it’s probably easier with a mouse but I had trouble aiming with the right stick on the pad.
This is $12.05 in the Steam sale. After reading through the thread again, that sounds like a good deal.
It is a tremendous deal.
So… that first boss. Eeeep. But it’s okay, because now I’m in a tutorial area that’s teaching me moves. But then, another boss. Eeeep!! This certainly seems impossible. I got a message to concentrate on slashing and fire damage. So I guess the next time I fire this up, I need to look through my inventory at what I’ve picked up so far and if I have anything as a Knight that does that type of damage.
So far they’ve certainly captured the essence of the Souls game in 2D pretty well. Including going up against a giant boss that at first seems impossible to kill.
This first boss presents a very interesting tactical challenge. He has an electrical attack. You can’t block it with the shield. You can’t dodge it. And you can’t interrupt him by attacking while he’s getting it ready. So you just take the damage, right? Well, you run out of potions and die, and have to start from a long way away from the boss. So there must be something I’m missing.
Once I got lucky and he didn’t constantly do the electrical attack. Instead he used his sword, which I can block. I got him down to half health that time. But most of the time he just does the electrical attack that’s unblockable.
Jump over it.
I was intrigued by this comment, since I’ve never been able to jump over this enemy (but he can jump over me).
So I went to the battle again, and this time I noticed that the electricity is traveling along the ground! Nice! Thanks for the hint. I got through it once I knew that.
But now I’m stuck on the Bronze Knight. It seems like I don’t have enough stamina to block more than one hit, and he usually hits me multiple times. I suspect I might have to come back here later when I have more stamina. Or maybe I can dodge all this hits or something.
I wonder if you can parry in this game?
There’s probably a bottle message about it right nearby.
The answer is yes.
And dammit now I want to replay it…and I got too many games going at the moment already.
After a few attempts, I actually got respectably close to beating the Sodden Knight, but I accidentally hit the wrong button and popped up the box to leave a message, and was hit and killed before I could cancel out of it.
I’ll take a break for a bit and come back. I’m enjoying it so far, but I’m still not entirely comfortable with the movement and actions. It’s hard to tell sometimes just how long I’m committed to an action after hitting the button.
I’m finding this game to be far more bullshit than any of the Dark Souls. After killing Sodden after 15 attempts, a skellington is kicking my shit in at the beginning of the next area. Guy’s got a shield and seemingly infinite HP and poise.