This one is a solid seven out of ten! The gameplay itself is straightforward and simple. No upgrade shenanigans just raw skill and some swordplay (we'll get to that in a minute). How this game differs compared to like Sifu in that this game does not focus on parrying. Enemies will flood you with interrupting attacks ensuring that you cannot go on a parrying roll! I can see many will get frustrated here, I did too early on, but we shouldn't expect everygame to just mimic successful systems. En Garde! wants players to break the flow of combat by utilising the environment as your main methods of dealing with the bulk of the enemies. The environment inflicts stuns, damage, knockdowns, and KOs. Swordplay is reserved for isolating singular or a few enemies at a time if you have developed the skill. I grew to respect this game's system even though I do think it can make combat quite slow and protracted at times. There is also the odd duels during the story mode that does involve executing a chain of parries and dodges perfectly in order to whittle down the enemies guard and fatigue. I enjoyed the challenge here and did not find it to be too difficult. The game has a charming artsyle, has a good arena mode with modifiers, and honestlythe team has built a fantastic foundation. Shame it is a one off. Bravo!

This game honestly is not very good. There are some interesting ideas, but there are too many flaws. There is very little enemy variety (only 5 or 6 enemies), so instead of providing more variety, the game just throws like 10 enemies at a time at you. It is not fun; it is just annoying. I discovered this because I saw it in a list of games that are supposedly like Sekiro, but this is not really like Sekiro. I wanted a parrying-focused game, but this game is not about parrying; it's about dodging the 10 enemies running toward you at the same time. And the enemies have too many unblockable (red) attacks, meaning there is very little incentive to parry. It's a shame, because the art style and the world design are unique, and the music is fun. But the story is just a pointless backdrop, and the dialogue is very cheesy.

Very nice artstyle, funny story sadly presented in very static scenes (cutscenes are literally still). Combat is very interesting and responsive... but sadly very quickly gets old. Game is very short yet at the end it became a chore. I think main problem are enemies... having duelists regaining full "health" with one mistake is just grueling, especially if there is even one more enemy around. Duelist does parrable attack but some other enemy forces you to doge? Well duelsit is in full health. With tweaked enemies, either in number or strengts would make this game super fun. I really look foward to next project of these creators