En Garde! Preview

In En Garde!, you will take control of Adalia de Volador as you fight against tyranny by challenging the cruel Count-Duke and defeating his army of soldiers. Justice prevails!

The short demo gives you access to two different modes: the Story Mode, which consists of the tutorial, including a boss, and the Arena Mode, where you will fight five waves of enemies in increasing levels of difficulty by using the environment to outwit them.

Starting with the Story Mode, I didn't really get much of a look at what the narrative will be like — we know that Adalia de Volador will be fighting against a tyrannical government, but more of the narrative is yet to be unfolded, as instead, the demo focuses on the game's forte — its swordplay.

Currently, there are four enemies you can fight against in the demo, each of which uses different fighting techniques and abilities to overcome you. By using a mixture of blocking, dodging, and parrying, you will need to fight through waves of several enemies at a time in order to win. But be wary, as ruthlessly swinging your sword isn't the type of finesse you will need to display in En Garde!, instead, you'll want to use your wits and environment to dwindle your enemies one by one.

I wanted to see if I could kill him with a table. I couldn't...

The fighting premise is simple: you can use whatever there is in the world around you to defeat the guards. From various crates scattered to weapon racks and even water, you will use a variety of kicks and hits to bring down their guard and ultimately execute them in a number of creative ways. Being overwhelmed is the single most deadly thing that can happen, but with various objects in the world around you, it's relatively simple to keep everyone down long enough to defeat them individually.

The spectacle fighting, the animations, and the world all work great together to create a well-rounded experience that isn't replicated elsewhere. Being creative is part of every combat encounter as you use unique approaches to battle and new ways to defeat your enemies with flair. Not being able to swing my blade like a mad woman was actually one of my favourite aspects, as it forced me to analyse the battlefield and kite my enemies around until I found a favourable approach to every encounter.

The harder the enemies, the more enjoyable En Garde!'s combat was, as trying to adapt and react according to every attack was much more enjoyable than repeated enemy patterns. However, it isn't necessarily a bad thing considering that the game focuses a lot on overwhelming you to force you into using your environment to come out on top. If every enemy had a complex kit of moves, it would definitely have bogged down the experience.

Every attack has a "right" reaction to it, like a rock-paper-scissors system. Parrying blue attacks allows you to riposte whilst red attacks must be dodged, and whenever you are fighting groups of enemies, whoever isn't your focus will use red attacks. You can't really fight them head-on because by doing so, your parrying and dodging animations will collide, forcing you to take a hit from one of your enemies.

The controls are very smooth, though En Garde! definitely plays much better on a gamepad. Thankfully, Fireplace Games acknowledges this and leaves a reminder at the start to use a controller over your standard mouse and keyboard setup. The quick access to various buttons makes sure that you can properly react on time, though it also meant I sometimes reacted too quickly and rolled into a red attack — oops! Thankfully, there are three levels of difficulty available, ensuring that everyone of every skill level can enjoy the combat! Death isn’t punished, as instead, you just go back to your latest encounter to try another approach, meaning you are encouraged to just experiment with the combat and environment without worrying about losing anything.

So far, the 25 minutes I got to play of En Garde! are very promising. From the enjoyable platforming sections, the smooth movement, and the quick-paced combat, there are a lot of things to look forward to in this game. I'm going to keep a close eye on this game and be the first to kick down the doors in fashion when it releases in August 2023! If you're interested, the demo is available on Steam to try out right away!