opinion: A new action game has appeared on Steam that has the potential to be an insider tip and takes me far back into my childhood.
What I miss most about my childhood? That I could run through the forest armed with a stick and fight friends or invisible enemies without having the police called on me immediately.
What I miss most about my childhood?
What fun I had back then! Sometimes I was a knight, sometimes I was a Jedi and sometimes I was a swashbuckling hero with cloak and dagger. Especially films or stories about the Three Musketeers, Caribbean pirates or Zorro always made me want to let my swords ring in an adventurous way myself!
Now, during the Steam Next Fest, I tried out the (demo of En Garde!) and felt directly transported back to my childhood.
With cloak and dagger
En Garde! will not be released until August 2023, but has a much longer history. In fact, it began as a study project, (which even had a trailer in 2018). Now the development is almost complete and it could turn into a little insider tip
As described above, En Garde! thrives on the classic cloak and dagger fantasy, the likes of which have never been seen in a video game before. The focus here is clearly on the fun of sabre-rattling, and you’ll be unleashed on an interactive world full of rowdy hat wearers with your swordswoman Adalia de Volador.
Here you are not only to send your enemies to the boards with a swift blade, you must also use your wits. For Adalia can use the surroundings to her own ends, and thus even out the superior numbers. Sometimes a rogue is knocked over by a barrel, then his trailing crony is sunk into the river with a kick, before the third hooligan takes a jug to the face.
This game is more bar brawl than swordplay.
How does it play?
So far, I’ve only played the campaign tutorial mission from the Steam demo myself and I was quite entertained for the duration. Very important: En Garde! is by no means a highly complex sword fighting simulation like Sekiro or a kind of Sifu with an epee.
The basic combat options with the sword are limited to simple strikes, short ripostes, dodges and environmental interactions. Enemies are easily outwitted even when outnumbered.
But in En Garde! it’s not so much a matter of getting every enemy out of the way as efficiently and skilfully as possible. You should get creative and use the environment as often as possible! Have fun fighting and in sometimes absurd situations, because purely in terms of gameplay, En Garde! does not have the sharpest blade.
In the demo, the environment interactions could have been a little more varied. But the vision is clear! And who knows what the finished game will have to offer. I can already see myself swinging from a chandelier.
What do you think of En Garde! Have you already tried the demo or are you planning to do so? Are you a fan of such cinematic combat interludes, in which not only fists and blades fly around? Is there anything about En Garde! that you don’t like as much, or do you know of a better alternative? Write it in the comments!
