En Garde! - Full Game, No Deaths (Hard Mode)
173En Garde! is a new "swashbuckler action game," according to the developers, Fireplace Games. Its closest comparison is probably Sifu, which is one of the all time great action games, so it's not a bad one to draw from! But rather than kung fu, En Garde goes for more of a Zorro, or perhaps a Puss in Boots vibe. It has fast-paced sword fighting with some platforming in between, and it's set in a cartoony world that doesn't take itself too seriously.
The combat is simple, but the way you have to balance offense and defense and make use of the environment makes it fun to play. You have to either parry or dodge enemy attacks (there's no block button), then counter with your own sword attacks, or hit them with a kick to push them away and get some space. Enemies are aggressive, and when you're fighting a group, any nearby enemy you're not attacking will try to hit you with an unblockable attack the moment you make a move. This makes it essential to separate the groups, either by using the weapons and objects around your, or using your kick as a counterattack to push enemies away. Both are very effective, and absolutely essential to make use of. The careful balance between all of your combat options and the enemies' aggressiveness is what makes this game fun to play.
This is a full playthrough of the game on the Hard difficulty. I didn't notice a difference between Normal and Hard besides your health bar - you have 4 HP on Hard, and 6 on Normal I believe. It's not a big change, but that little bit of extra breathing room can make a noticeable difference. This game isn't terribly difficult either way, although the last mission has a few tricky fights. I almost died on more than one occasion - it gets pretty sloppy at points, but regrouping and playing very safe got me through it.
As you can see, the game is relatively short. It's also very replayable, and it has some extra content in the form of collectibles, secret areas, and Arenas. The regular price for this game is $19.99 on Steam, but you can find it a little cheaper on sites like Green Man Gaming, Fanatical, Gamersgate, etc. I've enjoyed this game quite a bit and I think it's easily worth the price.
I compared this to Sifu earlier, but I don't want that to mislead anyone. This just isn't as good; it isn't nearly as deep, polished, or challenging, but if you go in expecting maybe a Sifu Lite, you'll have a good time. But who knows, Sifu had a lot of very substantial updates, maybe En Garde will get the same treatment. I'd be happy if it did!
PS. My biggest gripe with this is all the tutorial stuff in the first level. I hope they'll update it to either let you disable all the prompts that pause the action, or replace that stuff with more interesting fights in Hard mode. Normal can keep all the tutorial stuff. A scoring system would also be good.
Chapters
0:00 Episode 1
18:23 Episode 2
42:06 Episode 3
1:07:43 Episode 4
1:42:17 Ending & Credits
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Beat 'em Ups (e.g. Final Fight): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfI6IYca_kvMhpG1GR9sk8OYiWQMZZTgl
2D Action (e.g. Metal Slug): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfI6IYca_kvNFjpnJ59Th6N0IU1PSpD3d
STG/Shmups (e.g. Dodonpachi): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFE6B3779BE759F71