FocuSlash by ThatANoNoWord

[raw]
made by ThatANoNoWord for Ludum Dare 51 (JAM)

Against mechanical opponents of many types, victory requires careful movement and risk taking.

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Whilst you are moving with WASD, you can also block in any direction with Right Mouse Button. Block attacks, or simply wait, in order to fill the circle at the center of the screen. Once full, you can dash towards the cursor and attack with Left Mouse Button.

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Your strikes defeat foes in one blow, but their attacks defeat you in three blows. Can you fight through room after room of enemies to win?

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Here's an itch link if the web browser doesn't work. https://thatanonoword.itch.io/focuslash

Thank you VGComposer for the Background music.

Ratings

Overall 844th 3.25⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Fun 797th 3.141⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 847th 3.016⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Theme 599th 3.625⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1080th 2.453⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Audio 674th 2.875⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Given 26🗳️ 47🗨️

Feedback

Chaseplays
03. Oct 2022 · 05:54 UTC
Really fun and satisfying to play! I do think it could really really benefit from checkpoints. I played quite a few times and eventually gave up when I died right after picking a direction. Especially for a game that's mostly based around the same mechanics and enemies with the additional 10 second delay, it gets pretty tiring replaying through the early levels over and over. If you can add that, I'd definitely replay to the end since, again, the core controls and mechanics feel very very smooth and satisfying and I'd love to play the whole game. I'll make sure to check back just in case you make any changes but awesome job either way!
Jibberwocky
03. Oct 2022 · 06:06 UTC
Lots of nice little visuals going on with all the enemy animations and the sword slash and block really feels satisfying and impactful with some fairly minimal sprites.
I feel like something more explicit to acknowledge you've hit multiple enemies could be a nice way to keep the player engaged, even if it's just a little visual popup, I felt like I spent a lot of time trying to line up two for one shots.
LDJam user 302729
03. Oct 2022 · 06:13 UTC
I Really enjoyed that game loop of parry to gain your charge attack but the game is a little bit too hard without checkpoints in my opinion. i feel extremely punished for trying to parry for 2 reason: 1 because i start ALL the way back if i die.2 i have to wait 10 seconds.Eventually i just cheesed the agro range and stop trying to do the most fun thing. still had fun in a "souls-like" kind of way.
Slush
03. Oct 2022 · 21:29 UTC
Fun and action packed!! I enjoy the concept of having to block to charge.
Aetheir
03. Oct 2022 · 21:30 UTC
Very fun, great game loop and a really cool method of encouraging a more aggressive use of defensive tools through blocking charging attacks. A lot of folks have pointed out checkpoints as a good quality of life change and I would also suggest making your sword charge faster out of combat or when entering a new room. As is, its pretty much the best play to always enter a room with a sword charge and waiting in the hallway is free, but it does burn a lot of time doing nothing.
fermingimpel
03. Oct 2022 · 22:54 UTC
i like the game, but is a bit hard to see the attack timer in your body in the beginning
Roroto Sic
03. Oct 2022 · 23:16 UTC
il like the cloud strife vide of the blade attack (if it make sense)^^
nice gameplay mechanic ! The timer for the attack is a bit hard to see, and the game is a bit to hard without checkpoint, or i always die before to reach them
Eugenik
04. Oct 2022 · 14:56 UTC
Great Art!.
LDJam user 261538
04. Oct 2022 · 20:04 UTC
the slash attack effect is cool~ and the game is fun. Nice work!
WizZzLe
05. Oct 2022 · 01:43 UTC
Very nice
William Baker
05. Oct 2022 · 04:27 UTC
really nice job on action part
Skel3ton
05. Oct 2022 · 16:38 UTC
very cool game. I liked the implementation of the tutorial. I would have appreciated a little better enemy intelligence. Movement, attacks and defense are all controlled to perfection. Definitely a great job
rEaX
05. Oct 2022 · 16:40 UTC
Interesting game concept with different levels etc. Very playable. Waiting for an attack to recharge felt a bit long as you couldn't do much in between. Dodging enemies felt too easy, I'd suggest that they try to hunt the player down.
Euler Moises
06. Oct 2022 · 19:39 UTC
interesting game. It has a lot of potential.

I loved the soundtrack, a pity it doesn't match the game.

The mechanics are very easy to understand and the battles are very smooth.


Congratulations!
PureImprov
06. Oct 2022 · 23:19 UTC
Fantastic tutorial! One little detail would be having the attack timer refill if you die, had fun with the few rooms I got through (:
oozer
09. Oct 2022 · 19:10 UTC
very cool concept had me playing for many games and try to beat every room
Geckoo1337
14. Oct 2022 · 13:41 UTC
Cool slash game with a minimalist aesthetic. The main gameplay fits with the theme. The soundtrack is really well done - some arabic melody. I would like to see an info about the attack time to know when the slash is again available. A solid entry. Thank you. I wish you the best ++
b3b0
21. Oct 2022 · 18:23 UTC
Nice gameplay! I was pretty surprised. This is very impressive for a solo jam, keep it up!!!