Weighty Steel and Tight Dodges
The sticks feel heavy the moment you step outside. Capcom tuned movement with real inertia, so your character does not pivot on a single pixel like in an arcade brawler. When you commit to a sword swing, your boots dig into the dirt and you have to ride out the recovery frames before you can roll clear. That might scare off players used to instant animation canceling, but to me it sets an honest baseline. You hit the button, you accept the commitment, and you live with the opening you leave behind.
That deliberate pace makes the actual hit feel fantastic. When steel cuts into flesh or bounces off a hard carapace, the hitstop registers immediately and you feel the weight of the blow in your hands. Dodging works on tight timing rather than generous invulnerability buffers, so if you misjudge an enemy swing, you take the full brunt of the impact. Having full English voice acting and text on PC means callouts during messy skirmishes are easy to track without pulling your eyes off the enemy's shoulders.
Scrambling Across Monster Hide
Monsters do not stand around waiting for turn-based trades. You push past their guard, look for a foothold, and latch straight onto their fur or scales while they thrash to shake you off. Climbing an unruly beast turns combat into a brutal balancing act where your stamina bar dictates your survival. Every shift in the monster's stance alters your footing, and if you deplete your energy mid-climb, you drop hard onto the rock below.
The physics system handles collisions with very little fudge factor. If a giant sweeps its club through a pack of goblins, the bodies scatter across the terrain and crush anything caught underneath. The terrain itself acts as an active weapon or a lethal hazard. A sudden drop down an incline will shatter your ankles, while a narrow cliff gives you leverage to knock a heavy brute into open air. You cannot button-mash your way through these encounters because messy positioning will get you flattened in seconds.
Pawn Support and Party Clashes
Single-player party design here leans heavily on Pawns, and the dynamic works better than standard companion AI. You build your own main Pawn from scratch, tuning their vocation to patch the weak spots in your Arisen's setup, and then hire two more from the network. In active fights, they cast enchantments on your blade, pull aggro away when your guard breaks, and yell warnings right before a flank attack connects.
They are not invisible ghosts who phase through incoming hits, either. Pawns catch stray swings, get batted across tree lines, and need physical reviving when they collapse in the dirt. It turns larger brawls into chaotic scuffles where you are constantly tracking spatial lanes. If your ranged magic user gets pinned in a tight ravine, your Arisen has to sprint in with a heavy shield bash to crack the flank and clear breathing room.
Rough Framerates and Rough Paths
The combat shines, but the PC performance on Steam puts a tax on your inputs. Whenever you enter heavily populated settlements or trigger massive physics chaos during a fight, the frame pacing stutters and takes noticeable hits. In a game where reading startup animations and nailing the exact window on a dodge roll matters, dropped frames translate directly into mistimed inputs and missed parries. It does not ruin the core combat, but Capcom clearly pushed the simulation harder than the engine can smoothly chew.
Travel demands patience because fast travel is strictly limited and expensive. You walk everywhere, and the road throws constant ambushes in your face every few yards. That constant hassle fits the rough world. Still, clearing out identical packs of small pests along a trail you walked five minutes ago slows everything down. Landing heavy strikes keeps it from being a chore, but you definitely feel the slog on long treks.
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u say no drama but the frame drops made me miss perfect block window twice rn. also u can climb the griffin faster from behind. ur data on the heavy attack lock is literally wrong rn
The input lag in crowded fights kills it for me. With melee this strict on recovery, dropping frames right when you need to react just gets you killed. Cool combat on paper, but pretty frustrating right now.
I feel that. The pawns never know when to shut up or stay put. The combat weight is enough to keep me playing though, smacking monsters around still feels great.
Strewth, the bit about heavy hits is spot on. I spent a good chunk of time climbing a griffin and hammering it, felt like trying to get a class of Year 9s to sit down after lunch, chaotic but satisfying. No drama with the framerate chug, it's there but the combat's too fun to care. Fair dinkum gave me a fright when a goblin popped out of nowhere though!
@pjh81u say no drama but the frame drops made me miss perfect block window twice rn. also u can climb the griffin faster from behind. ur data on the heavy attack lock is literally wrong rn
@tampa_tyYeah, the frame drops definitely mess with your parry timing when things get crowded. Sucks when you eat a hit because of engine chug. Climbing from the front felt a bit easier to balance for me than grabbing them from behind too.
@pjh81Climbing that griffin really came down to good timing with the stamina. Honestly the frame drops haven't bothered me as much as other people are saying. Pawns do need babysitting sometimes, sure, but having them back you up during big fights makes the melee so fun.
@danke_danu say combat weight is fine? the input lag is a dealbreaker. u must not be playing the same game. the animation lock plus frame drops make it a gamble. u got lucky. i cant recommend this to anyone rn.
@pillow3The input lag in crowded fights kills it for me. With melee this strict on recovery, dropping frames right when you need to react just gets you killed. Cool combat on paper, but pretty frustrating right now.
@pillow3y'all fixin to write off the input lag a bit quick. the heavy weapons need that recovery to feel weighty. frame drops are a pain but they don't ruin every fight. i've been havin a blast with the cyclops fight timing it right. it aint perfect but it aint a dealbreaker.
the foot travel complaints are overblown if u plan ur route. i cleared the first region to the capital in under 15 mins without fast travel. the pawns are a liability if u dont babysit them tho. beat my time then talk to me rn
Y'all are fixin to make me lose my mind here with the travel complaints. It's exactly like takin' the kids to Walmart, you get sidetracked every ten feet by a monster or a side quest. The pawns are worse than toddlers, they'll charge at a goblin when you're tryin' to sneak past. But man, when you finally get to the fight and land a heavy swing, it's sweeter than sweet tea. I'm havin' a blast even if my framerate's chuggin' like an old lawnmower.
@yepu said travel is like walmart. just plan ur route and avoid fights. i did it in 14 mins from start to capital. no combat. pawns are still annoying but manageable. beat my time then talk rn
@isitoveryetBless your heart, but if you're speedrunning you're missin' the real meat of the game. For $40 I want to take my time, but the constant traveling feels like a chore. I'd rather spend that money on a full breakfast platter at the diner. Wait for a sale, I reckon.
Proper brilliant that mate. Climbed a griffin while the framerate was chugging and still felt like a beast. The combat's the real star here. I reckon it's one of the best action games I've played in years.
@bucketmate u say chugging framerate is fine? the input lag is awful during crowded fights. but i agree the combat feels good when it works. the pawn AI is dumb as rocks tho. i hate how much i like this game rn
@ciao_tonyYeah the pawn AI is goofy but sometimes they block attacks at the right moment. Did you see them block a fireball? I wonder if the AI has hidden categories or if it's random. Also, do you think they will add more pawn vocations in DLC? I want more options for roles.
@ciao_tonyI feel that. The pawns never know when to shut up or stay put. The combat weight is enough to keep me playing though, smacking monsters around still feels great.
The sound design when climbing a griffin is really impressive. The leather creaking and heavy breathing. Did anyone test with surround sound? Also the lighting in caves is very atmospheric. Does the game run well on older hardware or does the framerate drop significantly?
First few hours were great but the pawns keep dying and the travel is boring. Starting to regret the purchase.
@Cereal Killerngl i regret buying it a bit. the hype wears off fast once you spend an hour just running back and forth on foot while the framerate tanks. good ideas here for sure, but the engine chug kills it for me.
Is there a way to tell my pawns to stay put while I scout ahead? Every time I try to bypass a fight they charge in like they're invincible. The combat is fun when it works but the AI is a bit thick. Still, I'm having a good chuckle.
The climbing mechanic is absolutely brilliant. I spent a good hour just scaling monsters and feeling like a badass. The framerate hiccups don't bother me when the combat feels this good. Proper recommended.
groundbreaking stuff, truly. the performance chug gives it that authentic last-gen feel i've been missing. combat weight is the real selling point, but paying twenty euros for a mediocre pub burger gets you more consistent quality. i'm not mad, just disappointed. still, climbing monsters is always fun.
the moment you climb onto a griffin's back and feel the wind rush... proper magic, that. the pawns might be daft but the journey feels epic. reckon this'll stick with me for a while.
y'all are fixin to spend forty dollars on a game that feels like a chore sometimes. for that money i can get a full breakfast platter at the diner with bacon and extra eggs, and still have enough for a soda. the combat is great when it works but the travel time makes me want to clock out. wait for a sale, i reckon.