With the large number of games being released each week, chances are that good ideas get buried because of the competition, simply, because they did not know how to advertise themselves. Luckily, this game is an example of small project sponsored by a big oneQuantic Dream (Heavy Rain), dentro de su new Spotlight stamp. Is about Lysfanga The Time Shift Warrior and will arrive on PC in 2023.
Is a action adventure with hack and slash mechanics that was born as an end-of-study project. The idea and execution were so good (as the work of Sand Door, a small team of 21 people), that Quantic Dream supported it to improve its production and testing values.
The game puts us in the shoes of Imë, a warrior with powers of a goddess. Of course, he knows how to distribute tow between the enemies with great skill, but his most particular ability is that of create temporary loops.
Every time a battle starts, we can move Imë to move, hit enemies or feint, but at the same time a kind of countdown will be running out. Before that happens, we have to touch a button to go back in time to the moment we started the attack.
When that happens, a “temporary clone” of ours will repeat exactly the same as we have done, but at the same time we will have control over our character (different from that clone) to go in another direction, attack other enemies…
Thus, while we carry out an action, the clone will carry out another in parallel, until disappear just at the moment when we first pressed the button to go back in time.
But, in turn, our main character will also have limited time, so we will have to press the back button again and return to the beginning, only that as a result this time we will have two clones instead of one and our character will be able to follow a third path where we tell him. This you can follow up with a third or even a fourth rewind in time.
The interface shows us how many enemies remain to be eliminated, how much time we have left and how many temporary setbacks we have.
The challenge of that area it ends when we have managed to eliminate all the enemies let there be If we succeed, all the temporary clones will disappear and we will continue advancing through the stage with Imë.
Sounds too weird, like Christopher Nolan designed the game? Do not worry, because once immersed in flour it is understood and assimilated just after a few seconds. In addition, we have infinite time to observe the stage before launching into battle, in the style of other strategic games like Mario + Rabbids and we can restart the challenge whenever we want.
This such an original mix of puzzle and hack and slash makes our attacking ability matter, yes, but above all our bogeyman when designing a strategy effective. There will not be a unique way to solve each challenge, but everything will depend to a large extent on our “strategic originality” when facing it.
In addition, the developers have wanted to emphasize that You will not need to level up or look for tools. All the challenges that we come across can be solved with what we have, it will depend solely on our being able to realize the best way to act in each case.
Even so, we can get new skills that help in the fightfrom fireballs to area attacks or even the possibility of starting the time loops at different times.
But of course, the challenges will also grow in difficulty. For example, there will be enemies that are connected to each other, in such a way that we must eliminate them at the same time (each one, with a clone of ours), or else they will heal each other.
Other enemies will have frontal shields, so we need to calculate that in a first time loop we will have to distract him from the front to prevent him from turning and use a second loop to attack him from behind. Are you getting the dynamic? Anticipate everything that we will have to execute in the different shifts it is crucial, like a game of chess.
When things get more complicated, it will be important to know not only what to do and in what order, but when, exactly, to carry out each task. For example, we will find doors that, when crossed, will close and open others. When we have several in a row, it will be key to think about whether our current actions are going to block or free the path to our future self.
The demo that we were able to try took us from a certain initial stupor to a very, very fun and satisfying experience, in which calculating the movements becomes almost instinctive. The last challenges already had more crumb and force the coconut to be squeezed well, but you always had the feeling that the challenge was fair and progressive.
Those who want to bite completely, may beat the record time marked in each challenge and, in addition, we will be able to touch some crystals to revive the challenges that we have already overcome. The goal is for the game to be accessible to anyone and for us not to worry about improving the character, but to overcome each challenge on its own.
Of course, that playable dynamic, with fast and comfortable control, is the key to everything, but I’m glad to see that the visual section is also carefulwith an aesthetic that draws from oriental iconography and mythology to create its own identity.
The view is usually very high and far away so that we can contemplate the greatest possible action and strategy (in that sense, it is impossible not to remember games like Hades) and this is combined with music that adds instruments to the melody as we do the same with our clones (or remnantsas the game says).
With what we have already been able to test, it looks like Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior It may become another one of those games that causes a sensation among the hardcore community, but its approach not based on leveling up or farming could separate it from other more “intimidating” exponents and appeal to a wider audience. There are good prospects, but checking it will be a matter of… time.
If you’ve missed any announcements from the first big summer event, check out our Summer Games Fest roundup for all the news, plus previews and in-depth looks at the following titles:
With the event over, what do you think of Summer Game Fest 2023? Have you missed any announcement?
