Sword Sage: Awakening Trial Shows a Counter-Focused Combat System
The game's rejection of Soulslike conventions in favor of a stance-based counter system rooted in Chinese swordsmanship offers a distinct action RPG approach worth watching.
Reporting from 1 sources: 4Gamer.net.
A trial session for the action RPG Sword Sage: Awakening was held at the Bilibili First Look event in Shanghai. The game, developed by Sword Panda Limited and published by 4Divinity, features a combat system called Evade Cyan, Strike Red, based on Chinese martial arts philosophy. It removes stamina and standard dodge actions, replacing them with directional defensive stances and counterattacks. The story draws from Chinese legends and is described as a bright, lighthearted cultivation tale with varied side stories.
A trial version of Sword Sage: Awakening, presented at the Bilibili First Look event in Shanghai, runs about three hours and splits into a tutorial chapter and a harder area with a hidden boss named Yuan Gong. The developer, Sam Wu, has a background in Chinese martial arts and swordsmanship, which directly shapes the combat. Instead of stamina or a dodge roll, the player uses a defensive stance mapped to the left bumper and the right stick to match enemy attack directions. A successful evade leaves a blue afterimage and opens a counter window marked by a red flash. Some enemy attacks display their direction as text, forcing precise input to avoid damage and trigger a special counter animation.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.