If you could make games with AI, the On Guard! it would be: Assassin’s Creed with Souls-like elements inspired by the three musketeers, with a very badass protagonist.
Developer / Publisher: Fireplace Games / Fireplace Games Prezzo: ND Location: Absent Multiplayer: Absent GO: ND Available on: Steam Exit date: August 2023
Imagine a mysterious and fearsome swordswomanof easy speech, whose tongue cuts as much as the sword, which expresses itself in that hilarious Spanglish slang made famous by Puss in Boots interpreted by Antonio Banderas in the original edition and by Massimo Rossi – I unlock a memory, Terence’s voice in the anime Candy Candy – for Italian distribution.
A female Guybrush Threepwood, dueling taunting opponents. I only briefly took on the role of Adalia de Volador, given the brevity of the version demo that they made available to me, but I’ve already fallen in love with the protagonist of En Garde!hack and slash game set in the 17th century, developed and distributed by Fireplace Games.
EN GARDE! – FROM SCHOOL DESKS TO MONITOR
The genesis of En Garde! begins among the benches of the prestigious Rubika institute, a school famous all over the world for churning out insiders in the world of video games. Conceived by a group of students initially as a student projectgradually evolved to the creation of Fireplace Games and subsequent publication of the game, with the support of Kowloon Nights, which has already financed indie pearls such as Sifu, Tchia and Scorn. We don’t know much about the plot of En Garde!, except that it takes up famous swashbuckling films with their light-hearted way of combining action, comedy and romance, such as The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan, The mask of Zorro and , why not, Pirates of the Caribbean.
The genesis of En Garde! begins among the benches of the prestigious Rubika institute, a school famous all over the world for churning out insiders in the world of video games
Sword in hand, boots on her feet, and hat on, the protagonist must put an end to Count-Duke’s tyranny, but obviously first she must prove she is up to such an arduous task, by passing a series of tests that act as a tutorial . And this is where the fun begins. On the heels of a skilled swordsman called El Vigilante, it’s time to assert ourselves, even if this is unfortunately the only mission available, as well as a survival mode in which we just have to resist as much as possible to constant attacks from enemies.
The main actions are almost always accompanied by a joke from Adalia.
In En Garde! you almost always fight, and when you’re not busy dueling it’s because you’re going to the area that will be the scene of the next fight. But slashing right and left leads nowhere, if not when loading the last savegame, because the enemies are certainly not taking them passively, and are as skilled as we are. If we score a couple of hits, they will try to get out of our range, dodge or parry and then counterattack.
In En Garde! you almost always fight, and when you are not busy dueling it is because you are going to the area that will be the scene of the next fight
Strengthened by numerical superiority and a generous amount of life points, which in some situations regenerate, they can put an end to our boldness within a few seconds, above all because they know how to cooperate and always try to surround us or shut us up in some corner. How to survive then? Putting aside button mashing and starting a deadly dance against our opponents.
I FLY LIKE A MARIPOSA, I BIT LIKE A CALABRON
The first technique to learn is the parry. Parrying an attack breaks the opponent’s guard and opens the way for a response. Understanding if we are the target of a single shot or a combo is essential, and with a little practice we will learn to know our enemies. Or we can dodge. Adalia’s agility allows her, with the right timing on our part, to fail any offensive. And let’s remember that we are not fighting in a deserted parking lot, but along city streets, in crowded markets or inside courtyards and villas, all environments full of opportunities to harm our adversaries.
Parat… ehm quasi.
This is where En Garde! gives its best, making our deeds worthy of an action movie. Crates, barrels, weapon racks, but even simple pots, if used correctly, become lethal weapons. On one occasion I was grappling with three opponents, I dodged an attack, picked up a pot and threw it at one of the enemies’ head, then kicked another one into a brazier, leapt onto a fishing net that acted as a springboard for me, landing behind the last unharmed swordsman and catching him by surprise. Then, calmly, I went to the first victim, still stunned by the pot, finishing it gracefully. Throwing soldiers into the sea or off rooftops also contributes to the decrease of the hostile population. Marvelous.
PARKOUR, SPECIAL ATTACKS, AND PLUMES
As a good action game, En Garde! promises not to miss crazy races between the roofs of buildings as we have been used to seeing in the Assassin’s Creed saga. In the demo this section wasn’t very in-depth, but I still got to climb, sprint and jump, and at least as far as physics and animations are concerned, there are no doubts about the potential of the game, even if the final word will go to the level design.
There are also special abilities subject to cooldowns, and the panache bar has been introduced, literally “plume”, just like the one worn by Henry IV
There are also special abilities subject to cooldowns, and the panache bar has been introduced, literally “plume”, just like the one worn by Henry IV, a hallmark of courage and recklessness, which charges up as we perform combos correctly. It is none other than the “special” or “rage” indicator, depending on the video games in which it is encountered, once filled, deadly blows can be unleashed, but even this small detail on the choice of the name is an indication of how much care has been lavished in the creation of the game.
Come, I have some for you too.
Graphically En Garde! it is very detailed despite not having a large number of polygons on the screen, with saturated colors and a look appropriate to the atmosphere of the game. There are however, at the moment, some inaccuracies in the movements of the camera, which above all when Adalia is cornered they tend to frame the action from less than optimal points of view. I noticed this defect more in survival mode, as the presence of numerous opponents forced me to have to retreat continuously. Nothing that can’t be fixed, let’s remember that it’s only a demo, so this problem hasn’t affected my hype in the slightest.
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