Nice Work!! Happy to know that you kept trying and beat the demo.
I know it can be frustrating at first but once you get the rhythm, it clicks!
Note that Level 5 Boss is really challenging, love to hear how you feel about other bosses.
:D
It took a while, but I beat bosses 3, for and 5.
Boss 3 was tricky because his animations had to be countered with very accurate timing, so it was a bit of a struggle.
Boss 4 kept hitting me with an unblockable attack, and the tip about attacking instead of parrying didn't register until later, so I ending up blocking his dash attack, dashing, attacking twice, and then dashing away before he struck back. There was also a slight delay after his unblockable attack that allowed me to get some damage in.
Boss 5 honestly felt easier than Boss 4. All of his attack patterns had clean animations with clear windows for parrying and attacking (double sword slice, triple axe swing, overhead spin attack, quick dash), even the ranged attack (it was a deterrent for approaching at first, but even that can be parried for an opening). More importantly, his triple axe swing always used a special third hit, and it was very fun to attack during that last hit to gain another opening.
Overall, this was a very challenging and very fun game. I can certainly see the similarities to Hollow Knight.
I'd be interested in any projects you have in store after this one.
Boss3: I assume you are talking about the close range attack. I guess the reason is the participation frames is not noticeable. Gonna redraw the animation later.
Boss4: Actually boss 4 is easier than boss 5 becuz there was plenty of delay state for player to attack. I was hoping the player can get the basic of the new parry mechanic and thus better prepared for boss 5.
Boss5: I put hours in drawing the animation for this boss. I was getting better in the pixel art animation after drawing other4 bosses. I was thinking the triple axe attack can present a rhythm based sword fighting feel. Glad you like the opening when player perfectly parried a combo attack.
I am thinking about adding more bosses to the game (free update for those who already purchased the game ) and further polish the game. The goal is releasing the game on steam.
Thx for your review on the bosses :D
I think I know what you mean about Boss 3, with the close range jab that seems to required slightly quicker timing for counters.
I was found of Boss 5's reaction whenever you parried his special attack. On a side node, I'd like to mention that his ranged attack where he holds his sword up and summons projectiles has a change to glitch out where the projectiles spawn infinitely and he disappears from the level, requiring a level reset.
I'd be happy to see more bosses along with a Steam release.
I took another look at Boss 4, and the reason why I struggled so much is two-fold.
First, Boss 4 has a three-to-four hit combo where the last hit is unblockable, requiring an attack parry rather than a regular parry. But the thing is, there is very little room to figure out how many swings he is going to use, while Boss 5 will always use two axe swings before an unblockable attack.
In addition, Boss 5 has visual feedback when you successfully parry his third axe swing, while the feedback for parrying Boss 4's attack is present but far more subtle.