Insanely good game that does a great job at really making you FEEL badass and powerful - not because the game keeps telling you that, not because you're shown cool cutscenes with the player character being all badass - no, because you actually ARE being badass - sliding under sword swings and arrows, jumping high in the air and nailing enemies with powerful arrow shots, launching someone in the air, throwing your sword at him only to dash to the weapon and come back down with a powerful downward strike that shakes the earth and sends enemies flying, throwing enemies around like ragdolls and then grabbing them with the chain before they fall off the arena so you can continue the smackdown - all in a constant, hypnotising flow accompanied by the dynamic music picking up and becoming more euthusiastic as you style on your foes - then you get too cocky, suddenly get bitten by a spider in the ass, the music quietens down and your rank goes from SSS all the way down to A. You're pissed off, you're angry, you're seething - but you keep going and do even better than before. Because the game is just that awesome.
Probably the best "combat sandbox" I've played in a long time - you start each level only with a jump, kick, slide, ability to dash to weapons in short range, slow time briefly by pressing the focus key and the star of the game - the KUNAI WITH CHAIN that has quite a number of uses. While this may not seem like much, you already have a large selection of various tricks and moves you can pull off, such as hitting enemies with a powerful body tackle or grabbing them with the chain dagger not only to pull them towards you, but also to launch yourself towards them with a powerful dropkick or - if they're in the air - slam them back down. And that's just some of the things you can do while unarmed - the possibilities only extend when you get your hands on a weapon. The various mechanics with with each other just so smoothly, and parkouring all over the arena while improvising and coming up with all kinds of creative ways to dispatch your enemies never stops being fun.
Shady Knight also deserves extra points for being a genuine GAME - there's no epic story here, artistic statements, long pages of lore or cinematic walking and talking segments - the story is only here as a simple motivation for you to keep going and give a little bit of context to whats happening here, but that's it, nothing more is necesary. The game is just a skill-based, gameplay focused experience and that's something we definitely need more of these days.
On a final note, shout-outs to the developer as well - they are not only pretty nice and good at finding even extremely obscure and rare bugs to fix, but they also rebalance things that are too obnoxious or break the feel of the game and ALSO actually add new mechanics that make the game even more complex - such as throw cancelling with a little animation, parrying in the air or being able to launch yourself up when you chain-dropkick an enemy instead of being knocked back on impact. Very nice!
Btw, a message to a guy in one review saying the music is "lacking" and fails to properly capture the heat of the moment - bro get a higher rank than A lol.

Insanely good game that does a great job at really making you FEEL badass and powerful - not because the game keeps telling you that, not because you're shown cool cutscenes with the player character being all badass - no, because you actually ARE being badass - sliding under sword swings and arrows, jumping high in the air and nailing enemies with powerful arrow shots, launching someone in the air, throwing your sword at him only to dash to the weapon and come back down with a powerful downward strike that shakes the earth and sends enemies flying, throwing enemies around like ragdolls and then grabbing them with the chain before they fall off the arena so you can continue the smackdown - all in a constant, hypnotising flow accompanied by the dynamic music picking up and becoming more euthusiastic as you style on your foes - then you get too cocky, suddenly get bitten by a spider in the ass, the music quietens down and your rank goes from SSS all the way down to A. You're pissed off, you're angry, you're seething - but you keep going and do even better than before. Because the game is just that awesome. Probably the best "combat sandbox" I've played in a long time - you start each level only with a jump, kick, slide, ability to dash to weapons in short range, slow time briefly by pressing the focus key and the star of the game - the KUNAI WITH CHAIN that has quite a number of uses. While this may not seem like much, you already have a large selection of various tricks and moves you can pull off, such as hitting enemies with a powerful body tackle or grabbing them with the chain dagger not only to pull them towards you, but also to launch yourself towards them with a powerful dropkick or - if they're in the air - slam them back down. And that's just some of the things you can do while unarmed - the possibilities only extend when you get your hands on a weapon. The various mechanics with with each other just so smoothly, and parkouring all over the arena while improvising and coming up with all kinds of creative ways to dispatch your enemies never stops being fun. Shady Knight also deserves extra points for being a genuine GAME - there's no epic story here, artistic statements, long pages of lore or cinematic walking and talking segments - the story is only here as a simple motivation for you to keep going and give a little bit of context to whats happening here, but that's it, nothing more is necesary. The game is just a skill-based, gameplay focused experience and that's something we definitely need more of these days. On a final note, shout-outs to the developer as well - they are not only pretty nice and good at finding even extremely obscure and rare bugs to fix, but they also rebalance things that are too obnoxious or break the feel of the game and ALSO actually add new mechanics that make the game even more complex - such as throw cancelling with a little animation, parrying in the air or being able to launch yourself up when you chain-dropkick an enemy instead of being knocked back on impact. Very nice! Btw, a message to a guy in one review saying the music is "lacking" and fails to properly capture the heat of the moment - bro get a higher rank than A lol.