Game has a lot of potential. I didn't see anything in the intro tips about how to sidestep or lunge forward or backward. I discovered it on accident. However it is very inconsistent. The most consistent way to do it is to hit spacebar and the direction you want to lunge, though even this feels a bit wonky at times. You can also double tap the direction keys, or hold a direction and double tap shift. These overlayered ways of doing this make it easy to do on accident when you don't want to.