This would have been a decent free student project. Unfortunately, this isn't a free student project.

The Initial is a spectacle fighter with somewhat clunky controls, somewhat frustrating combat, and bosses that have way too much health. At first it feels okay, if rather low budget. But elements of the game gradually start to annoy, and the simple truth is that there are many other better action games available for purchase on Steam.

You have a few basic combos, with a few more strings that can be purchased as you accrue money. Attacks lack a feel of impact, and some enemies will simply tank through your attacks with their own. Some attacks will send you dashing towards a specific enemy, but sometimes the game will send you off towards an unexpected target, which can both send you away from an enemy you were prioritizing as well as sending you into damage that you otherwise would have avoided. There are a few aerial strings (most of which need to be purchased) and a basic Dynasty Warriors launcher, but only some enemies can be launched and you can only launch one at a time. Some enemies default to a block stance, which can only be broken by your strong attacks, but your strong attack string is short and they'll recover from a guard break before you can switch to other strings. Running seems to require hitting the sprint button after you've already held a direction on the analog stick, but some actions also apparently eat the input for pressing the sprint button, which can leave you walking instead of performing the run you expected.

There are a few canned "assassination" attacks that can be performed when you put human enemies into a particular vulnerable state; these feel not quite polished. The battle continues as you perform these attacks, but you appear to be invulnerable for the duration, meaning you can try to use them to dodge other attacks. But even though other enemies remain active an on-screen, I think they are also invulnerable even if it looks like your attack should hit them? The attack you get also seems to be random, which could I guess potentially could see some animations put you in a worse state than others? Also, triggering these attacks can seem a bit janky. You only have to press the Strong attack button while "out of combat", but sometimes these can trigger during your combos (if you happen to press Y after the point your combo puts them into the trigger state) and sometimes they won't. And sometimes you can get hit before you can trigger the assassination.

Some design decisions make no sense. You have a hold-button-to-charge move, but it is so slow to charge that any enemy that poses any form of threat will hit you before you can fully charge the attack. You can "conveniently" purchase a skill upgrade that lets you spend 30% of your special gauge to skip the charge period, but even with this I was still getting hit out of the attack. This is a spectacle fighter where dodging, even perfect dodging (which the game acknowledges with a special visual effect), sends you out of counter-attack range and inflicts enough recovery time to prevent you from counter-attacking. Instead, you can "conveniently" purchase a skill that lets you perform a counter-attack after perfect dodging, and this is one of the most expensive skills available. (You also have to purchase the ability to counter-attack after a perfect block.)

While the stages are generally large open rectangles, there are spots where the camera will get blocked by scenery. This is particularly annoying as the devs seemed to have avoided some pitfalls but forgot about others. For example, if you get near the stage when fighting the first big robot miniboss, the camera view can become completely blocked by the stage curtains.

Bosses have a ton of health and seem to tank all your attacks? Even your super move (which requires your entire special gauge) may barely inflict a flesh wound. I stopped playing when facing the second stage boss, whose gimmick seems to be blocking all your attacks. Even when you hit him, he barely takes damage, and his own attacks are annoying to deal with.

Even if I'm being overly critical, the price tag kills this game. As I said, there are plenty of much better experiences available on Steam. Even on sale, you'd be better off putting in a few extra dollars to buy something else. Maybe the sequel improves upon this game; I don't know and I don't intend to find out.

This would have been a decent free student project. Unfortunately, this isn't a free student project. The Initial is a spectacle fighter with somewhat clunky controls, somewhat frustrating combat, and bosses that have way too much health. At first it feels okay, if rather low budget. But elements of the game gradually start to annoy, and the simple truth is that there are many other better action games available for purchase on Steam. You have a few basic combos, with a few more strings that can be purchased as you accrue money. Attacks lack a feel of impact, and some enemies will simply tank through your attacks with their own. Some attacks will send you dashing towards a specific enemy, but sometimes the game will send you off towards an unexpected target, which can both send you away from an enemy you were prioritizing as well as sending you into damage that you otherwise would have avoided. There are a few aerial strings (most of which need to be purchased) and a basic Dynasty Warriors launcher, but only some enemies can be launched and you can only launch one at a time. Some enemies default to a block stance, which can only be broken by your strong attacks, but your strong attack string is short and they'll recover from a guard break before you can switch to other strings. Running seems to require hitting the sprint button after you've already held a direction on the analog stick, but some actions also apparently eat the input for pressing the sprint button, which can leave you walking instead of performing the run you expected. There are a few canned "assassination" attacks that can be performed when you put human enemies into a particular vulnerable state; these feel not quite polished. The battle continues as you perform these attacks, but you appear to be invulnerable for the duration, meaning you can try to use them to dodge other attacks. But even though other enemies remain active an on-screen, I think they are also invulnerable even if it looks like your attack should hit them? The attack you get also seems to be random, which could I guess potentially could see some animations put you in a worse state than others? Also, triggering these attacks can seem a bit janky. You only have to press the Strong attack button while "out of combat", but sometimes these can trigger during your combos (if you happen to press Y after the point your combo puts them into the trigger state) and sometimes they won't. And sometimes you can get hit before you can trigger the assassination. Some design decisions make no sense. You have a hold-button-to-charge move, but it is so slow to charge that any enemy that poses any form of threat will hit you before you can fully charge the attack. You can "conveniently" purchase a skill upgrade that lets you spend 30% of your special gauge to skip the charge period, but even with this I was still getting hit out of the attack. This is a spectacle fighter where dodging, even perfect dodging (which the game acknowledges with a special visual effect), sends you out of counter-attack range and inflicts enough recovery time to prevent you from counter-attacking. Instead, you can "conveniently" purchase a skill that lets you perform a counter-attack after perfect dodging, and this is one of the most expensive skills available. (You also have to purchase the ability to counter-attack after a perfect block.) While the stages are generally large open rectangles, there are spots where the camera will get blocked by scenery. This is particularly annoying as the devs seemed to have avoided some pitfalls but forgot about others. For example, if you get near the stage when fighting the first big robot miniboss, the camera view can become completely blocked by the stage curtains. Bosses have a ton of health and seem to tank all your attacks? Even your super move (which requires your entire special gauge) may barely inflict a flesh wound. I stopped playing when facing the second stage boss, whose gimmick seems to be blocking all your attacks. Even when you hit him, he barely takes damage, and his own attacks are annoying to deal with. Even if I'm being overly critical, the price tag kills this game. As I said, there are plenty of much better experiences available on Steam. Even on sale, you'd be better off putting in a few extra dollars to buy something else. Maybe the sequel improves upon this game; I don't know and I don't intend to find out.