AUTOMATON China recently got hands-on time with Sword Panda’s upcoming soulslike action RPG Sword Sage: Awakening at the BiliBili Game First Look in Shanghai, and was able to interview game and art director Sam Wu. While this title’s mechanics share common points with other games in the genre, such as spells and weapons with ultimate abilities, the way it handles dodging is a bit different.
Sword Sage: Awakening’s combat uses an “Evade Cyan, Strike Red” counter system, which was inspired by a technique from the real Chinese Emei Swordsmanship style. It involves evading high, middle, or low attacks (color-coded cyan) while simultaneously striking your opponent’s body (color-coded red). While pressing the evade button at the right time allows you to dodge, you can only counterattack if you choose the correct height of the incoming attack. When faced against certain powerful attacks, like those from a boss, you must input the correct height, otherwise the evade will fail and you will take damage.
Wu says his team didn’t want the game to have a traditional dodge input as it would detract players from learning the stand-and-fight nature of the system. While initial gameplay feedback was positive, play testers consistently pointed out that they would often be surrounded by enemies with no way out.
Rather than providing an easy out by adding a dodge input, Sword Sage’s level progression, items, and abilities will help players grow accustomed to gameplay.
Unlike the demo AUTOMATON China played, the early stages of the full game will rarely put you in situations where you are surrounded. This gradually changes as you progress, and you’ll find yourself fighting several enemies at once by the mid to late game.
Sword Sage also includes powerful items and abilities that will help you escape tight situations. These boons activate instantly without long animations or recovery times, but are tied to cooldowns to prevent abusing them.
If those mechanics aren’t helpful enough, the game introduces two pieces of equipment after three deaths. The first piece of equipment allows you to ignore the high/mid/low directional inputs and focus solely on evading and attacking. The second piece is even more forgiving, and automates evades and attacks by pressing the guard input. While Sword Sage is meant to be a challenging experience, the devs want to make sure that anyone can finish it.
Sword Sage: Awakening’s story is rooted in Xianxia, a Chinese fantasy genre inspired by Taoism, Chinese mythology, and martial arts. As novice disciple Pei Sanniang, you face supernatural threats released by the drunken Supreme White Gibbon Sage. Armed with several weapons, artifacts, and Taoist spells, you fight to restore peace to the land of Guannandao.
Sword Sage: Awakening is currently in development for Windows (Steam). You can find more information on the game on its official webpage.
