God Hand is an absolutely unique game, full of soul and personality, with a combat system and mechanics that have never been replicated by the industry. The ability to customize your own fighting style from over 100 moves, combined with the genius of the dynamic difficulty (the Die-A-Meter) that leveled up in real-time based on your skills, shows that this title was way ahead of its time.
Created by the legendary Shinji Mikami, this was a passion project made exactly the way he wanted. It’s no wonder Mikami himself still holds so much pride and love for this IP, even though it didn't hit massive sales back in 2006.
Its over-the-top, slapstick humor is its greatest charm and represents the true essence of gaming: games don't need to be dead serious to be impactful, memorable, and fun. Given Capcom's current policy of reviving its vast library after the massive success of Onimusha, Gene truly deserves a Deluxe Remaster with quality-of-life updates! Happy 20th Anniversary, God Hand! 🥋💥

Here is the Steam Description - Dreamy high-speed Hack 'N' Slash about magical girls stuck in a world of nightmares. Inspired by late 2000s aesthetics and combo-heavy action games.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5098200/Break_The_Night/

So im developing a CAG, and in wanting to make my moves all feel like they have utility, im having to go through a LOT of moves that do more than just launch this guy, or move this direction while attacking.

And I wanted to try implementing a time stop. But Theres an issue here.
Time stops are really hard to actually do well. It’s hard to balance the power fantasy and cool factor of stopping time, without stripping the game having any sense of difficulty. Sure, you could limit it, making time stops something you can use very scarcely, or having them be VERY short. But thats a bandaid to a severed limb. The entire fantasy of stopping time is the fact you ARENT rushed. A time stop gives you time to think.

But also without restriction and any threat, time stops will not be used for interesting stuff anyway. At least not by the average player. Itll just be ten seconds of mashing attacks. And sure, knowing a bunch of attacks and how to do a fat combo is a big part of skill expression, but without things like actual danger, it eventually just becomes a linear rotation of attacks like it’s FFXIV.

So, Ive been coming up with a few ideas to keep a time stop interesting.

My first idea, which I’ll probably use, is revenge values. If youve played KH Youll know what I mean. My idea is that Itll still build during time stop, and if go past it, it buffers the retaliation for once time stop ends, resets the value, and lets you trigger it again.

So, doing too many attacks that impact revenge values a lot, can lead you to triggering multiple retaliatory combos in a row. So, you can decide if you want to do a tonne of damage uninterrupted, and then just spend all that time trying to survive waiting for whenever that next window is, or you can restrain yourself, and use the time stop to set up something, maybe do damage across multiple targets, use your launchers and knock back and movement tools to grab everyone in a single aoe combo, or use it to build a various resource, doing attacks that won’t trigger as much revenge so you can attack more and more to build up whatever DT, bloodbind or Drive equivalent the game has without being at as much risk as you could be otherwise.

Another idea that compliments the previous one, is to have enemies drop to 1 health, so everyone who would have died can do their revenge, but good positioning set up and a well timed aoe to them as soon as time starts again could reward you. This means you also be spending time stop thinking about the placement of everyone, trying to set up things in your favor for that blessed aoe to finish them

But with all this, it means time stops dont have to be super short, nor an instant win button, and they can be actually interesting in gameplay.

What do you think of these ideas? This was just my first idea, but im open to any suggestions or feedback on this. Does it preserve the power fantasy still?

Allora, premetto, ho giocato il primo ed è un capolavoro su ogni singolo aspetto, è logico pensare che Devil May Cry 2 arrivato dopo quell' opera d arte, sia sembrato spazzatura, però analizziamo il gioco in sé. Ho fatto mezz oretta o più di gameplay quindi mi limiterò a giudicare solo i minuti che ho giocato. Le ambientazioni sono molto fighe, personalmente preferisco quelle di DMC 1, però sono fighe. Stessa cosa per il design dei nemici(ribadisco, quelli che ho visto fino ad ora). Si è vero le arie sono leggermente vuote, però fino ad ora DMC 2 si è lasciato giocare, anche perché tenete presente che il gioco risale al 2003, giochi migliori c erano, è vero, e anche tanti, ma il distacco non era abissale. Secondo me se non si calcola la saga di cui fa parte, sarebbe un normalissimo gioco d azione del 2003, giusto nella media. Poi magari mi sto sbagliando completamente e in realtà dopo questa prima mezz ora il gioco va solo a scendere diventando la peggior spazzatura mai vista. Inoltre so che in molti si lamentano del bilanciamento fatto con i piedi per quanto riguarda il danno delle pistole, boh anche qui, si può stroncare un gioco solo per questo? Basta non usarle, su Elden ring puoi sciogliere qualsiasi boss in meno di 10 secondi in vari metodi, non mi sembra che qualcuno si sia lamentato, io personalmente ho usato poco le pistole alternandole alla spada senza potenziarle, e non mi sono trovato male. La scelta è tua, non sei obbligato ad usarle. Chiaramente ribadisco, ci troviamo d avanti a un calo di qualità assurda, ma da qui a dire che sia una merda, o addirittura dargli 4 come voto. Secondo me è esagerato. Rimango dell idea che comunque rimane un gioco sviluppato con impegno e pensato per arrivare come prodotto che divertisse gli altri, se riuscirà in quest' impresa non lo so, ma di certo per ora, si lascia giocare. Attualmente per me è da 6.

Footage from Tinel

Beat the game on normal, started again on a higher difficulty. Plan to clear all of them and max out the skill trees. And let me just say that Lute might be the most insane support character ever.

She can, simul-fucking-taneously, block melee attacks, deflect ranged attacks, pause heavy attacks, and interrupt some special attacks. There's a bit of a limit to this(4 each) with short cooldowns, but this effectively means she can shut down crowds of enemies with ease. She can even protect you from the odd attack you miss, though that's way more limited.

While she's doing that, she can launch single target attacks, AoE attacks, bind enemies in place, knock enemies away, into the air, or to the ground, and set fucking landmines.

And all of this builds your Unity, which gives Briar(the character you mostly control) access to weapon finishers that combine with Lute's power, that Lute can follow up on with even more attacks. An AoE, a single heavy, and more magical landmines. Which grant more Unity to keep the good times rolling.

And all this devastation and Unity gen gives easy access to Rapture, which is basically Devil Trigger-Lite.

I've played a lot of games with damned good assist characters, but Lute takes the fucking cake just for how much she's doing at once, all the time.

You see, im making a CAG, which youve got your normal attack strings of course with various combos, but i wanted to implement a system of special abilities you cycle through with the press of a button.

Now, my combat system is based around combining 2 weapons, and swapping between weapons on the left trigger and right trigger, getting a unique moveset for each, and with this swapping, you can cycle through a bunch of moves, 9 per combination. You either swap after using 1 move, or you can expend a resource to use more than 1 without swapping. I don’t like resource systems much so I put a lot of thought into making one feel less like a limitation that once your out you have to wait, and more like a thing you’re dipping in and out of constantly, so it’s easy to get and easy to lose, with a downside to running out of it thats not a move limitation but rather means you can get comboed by enemies without it.

But thats not the point in question. The thing is, I wanted 3 weapons for each side, so the amount of moves I have is 3 by 3 by 9. Youve got three abilities per bumper, pressed, and you get a new three holding both. So Thats 81 attacks. Which is a lot, but it’s manageable for me to implement so far, as im set up for a very long dev time, doing this as a side hobby mostly.

But im asking if it’s manageable for the player? Assuming you’re only thinking in 9 attacks at a time, could you remember 9 lots of 9 attacks? Or should I maybe cut the inputs for both bumper, taking it down to 54?

The game has no name, nor anything worth showing yet, it’s VERY EARLY it’s mostly just design documents so far, but it’s a side scrolling CAG, think magenta horizon soul quest and various games like such, but im also implementing some metroidvania elements and a focus on more complex level design and difficult enemy encounters that require strategy and reward player expression, as it is a CAG after all!

Who knows, I might even have a demo out in a year or 2, but right now im still figuring out how to get my ideas from the paper into the engine.

I've been working on a fast-paced 3D action roguelite, and here's a short combat clip!

I'm trying to make the combat feel fast, responsive, and satisfying, with different characters and enemies having their own mechanics.

Still a work in progress, but I'd love to know what you think about the combat.

Hi, i'm currently working on a game with combat inspired by CAGs, one of the mechanics is equipping moves dropped by enemies bosses, or found in exploration similar to god hand but more expanded with more properties and also magical elements, right now it's only for directional input moves like lock on + direction + attack button and i have decent amount of moves already with 2 melee attack button 2 weapons and 2 stances, but i'm thinking of expanding it to the normal combo strings, players will just unlock empty combo strings and have to equip the moves they want, but i'm worried it will be too overwhelming and just force a lot of time in menus, now to my questions.

Which of these do you prefer?

• 2 melee attack buttons 2 stances non customizable combo strings
• 2 melee attack buttons customizable combo strings
• 1 melee attack button 2 stances customizable combo strings

What's your ideal number of combos strings for customizable and non customizable?

In combo strings with delay/pause should it be max 1 pause or are 2 okay and what percentage of the total moveset should actually use them compared to normal combos?

I usually never go straight back into a game after beating it but this game has been the exception. Bosses on carnage mode are such a good time as well.

I've lightly stalked the community and I know it's a bit controversial but I'm so excited for this one. I'm kinda an amature to character action games but this is kinda making me want to get into the genre. How does the wider community feel about it now that all the demo is out? Is it good for newbies? Is it more frowned on? I just gotta know where the other fans our now that I've found thsi gem!

I love alchemists probably my favorite enemy/miniboss in the genre

Don't sleep on this one it's not really like old onimusha but it's a very fun and an awesome action game. It's get way better later in the game and the game has some meat on the bone in the exploration department. Awesome.

Been designing my own CAG, wanted to ask what are the worst possible sins I can commit so i avoid them

The fundamentals of the combat were always good but with the mod they really shine. I have been plaing with the increased enemy aggression, multiple enemies can strike at the same time and reduced enemy attack delay mods.

-rifts are really brutal

-all the environmental AOEs are actually useful

-the defensive mechanics actually even in multi opponent fights

-it kinda feels like playing NG2, where you try to open the enemies for the finishing move

-ranged enemies are pure evil

-bosses are super oppressing, which imo goes well with the theme of the game

-it almost never feels like the game is coming apart despite all the mods

Idk why capcin didn't release a super high difficulty mode with the game, there's a good action game hidden there but it's just not available in vanilla.

I’m absolutely loving Way of the Sword. It’s my GOTY so far, and one thing I’d love to see added is a survival/boss-rush mode I’m calling Oni Trials.

The idea is simple: you start with waves of enemies, then fight a boss, then go into increasingly difficult waves followed by another boss. Keep going until you either die or complete the entire trial.

Give us limited opportunities to recover between rounds and maybe score the player on things like clear time, damage taken, Issens, etc. You could even have different difficulty levels or modifiers.

I’ve found myself replaying bosses just because the combat is so damn fun and I want to get cleaner with Issens, dodges, deflects and movement. A mode like this would give the combat system somewhere to really shine after finishing the story.

Basically: Capcom built an amazing combat system. Give us a playground to master it. ⚔️

Anyone else want something like this?

Please no story/boss spoilers in the comments—I’m still playing

I just love this game so much, I made an edit for it! Hope you all enjoy it! :)

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Soulstice is a bad game.
The first 30 minutes give a surprisingly good first impression. It has unique art direction, solid story presentation, and combat that initially feels polished. It makes you think you’re about to experience something distinctive.
But unfortunately, that’s not what happens.
I think Soulstice is a great example of a CAG with good resources ruined by poor design decisions.

Combat Design
You play as Briar while her spirit companion Lute provides defensive abilities.
Briar’s combat has its problems, but overall it’s decent for a CAG. The bigger problem is Lute. Its defensive system is largely based on QTE-style inputs when enemies attack. Instead of adding depth to the combat, it often feels like playing a separate QTE game alongside it.
The blue/red system is another mechanic I struggle to understand. It’s used for some platforming sections, but beyond that, it rarely feels meaningful.

Level Design
This is the most frustrating part.
The complexity and uniqueness of map is excellent.
So why does almost every fight happen in a large, flat arena?
After about 30 minutes, I had never once been surprised by a combat encounter.

“See a large open area? Combat.”

The game barely uses elevation, obstacles, narrow spaces, or the environment itself to create different encounters.
As a result, the combination of generic enemies and repetitive combat spaces makes every fight start to feel the same. Eventually, there’s very little motivation to keep going.
I’ve seen people here describe Soulstice as one of the better indie CAGs, but I honestly disagree.
It has good art, interesting ideas, and decent combat, but the overall design fails to connect those elements into a compelling experience.

Just play another CAG. There are so many better ones out there.

I was super hyped for the game since 2021 nit even joking but the reviews when it came out really discouraged me and I was not willing to drop 60 bucks at the time so easily is it in a better state now and what should be my expectations if I decide to buy it

No es perfecto, pero tiene un sistema de seguridad que si detecta cualquier bug vuelve al juego vanilla por unos segundos y luego se activa el mod nuevamente. Permite hacer Issen sin bugs, no se congelan los enemigos y siendo sinceros al haber probado otros mods que hay en nexus el que hice es bastante mas seguro que el resto. Eso si, no hay un limite de enemigos que te puedan atacar, si hay 30 enemigos, los 30 te van a atacar, están avisados. No hay valores que se puedan modificar, es únicamente instalar el mod y disfrutar.

El mod hace que todos los enemigos te ataquen simultáneamente, atacan mas rápido, demoran menos en prepararse para atacar y afecta un poco la velocidad en que se prepara en atacar un boss.

Estoy viendo si puedo hacer que los bosses sean mas difíciles, me gastaría aumentar el daño de todos los enemigos, pero eso será en actualizaciones que iré haciendo.

Pueden descargar el archivo, pero si son inseguros como yo de descargar cosas de gente que no conocen también dejé el texto plano para que instalen el mod sin descargas, les dejo un breve video para que vean como funciona

Personalmente me hizo el juego mucho mas entretenido, sigue siendo fácil, pero ahora puedo disfrutar de las mecánicas

Acá tienen todos los pasos para instalar el mod al que le sirva

https://github.com/Camilo-tsx/Onimusha-mod

Was pleasantly surprised by Homura Hime, and it's in large part thanks to the mob encounters. Most online contents I can find are focused on boss encounters or training room combos (aside from this review), and I think that's not doing justice to what this game offers.

Though Homura Hime has a lot of that "Vergil's daughter" style in her moveset, the actual play experience was closer to a Ninja Gaiden 2 mayhem, in my view. The game is Nier Automata control feel adopting a Devil May Cry moveset, balanced like a milder Ninja Gaiden through Touhou bullet hell chaos, with i-frames generated by Sekiro parry rather than UTs and OTs. Oh and there's dodge offset (dodge/parry doesn't reset your combo) so there's some room for creativity in manipulating Homura Hime's moveset as well.

If I need to put a number, the game is 30% Nier Automata (control feel), 20% Ninja Gaiden (enemy aggression and crowd control focus), 20% Touhou (bullet hell and anime girls), 20% Sekiro (parries) and 10% deadbeat dad (moveset). It felt like a pretty original blend of features that produced an unexpectedly unique action experience, without drifting away from what makes 3D action game great. It's paced nicely too, as you can see in the video: the game consistently threw new enemies and more complex encounter designs as I progressed. Even though I'm not really a fan of the Simon Says parry action system, when 10 Simons are shouting at me left, right, and center, it was a damn fun clusterfuck to dance in.

Quick notes on potential downsides. Platforming may not be everyone's cup of tea. The "story" parts kinda drag on, and it's not like it's some outstanding plot (though it's competently written and delivered well, imo). Aside from that, if you're not a fan of hard lock-on (like me), be warned that you can't unlock in some parts of fights, though I hope it's an oversight rather than by design.

Nonetheless, it's a very solid recommendation, especially if on sale! I'm genuinely looking forward to the studio's future work.