Combat System
Planned to Release July 2025
This is a souls-like third-person combat system revolved around a heavy and methodical hammer playstyle.
UE 5
1
Ongoing
Current State of Project
This combat system intends to create a heavy, methodical, and challenging player experience. It consists of a player and enemy systems that, combined, create a real-time constant exchange of moves, resulting in gameplay that keeps the player alert and on their toes at all times.
This system is meant to test the player's reflexes through perfect executions of blocks and reward them with heavy, satisfying hits and staggers/stuns of the enemy.
On the right, is the current gameplay loop.
Player
Design Intent
The player's damage is scaled with the combo. The player's goal should always be to finish the combo with a charged weapon, this will give the player the most possible damage and stun, rendering the enemy defenceless.
To do this, the player must master all mechanics in a way that lets them constantly attack, perfectly block, and riposte without breaking their combo.
Player Mechanics
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Light and heavy attacks, which impact the enemy's poise more the heavier the attack is.
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The player charges the weapon via perfect blocks, the charge has high damaging and lifesteal capabilities. The weapon can keep up to 3 charges at a time.
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2 defensive mechanics: dodging and blocking. You can dodge any attack, but you can only block physical ones. This helps break up the monotony in repeated blocks and attacks.
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The block is indefinite, but the player loses health and charge when using it, to discourage constant blocking and add to the high-risk, high-reward of a perfect block.
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Perfect blocks reward the player with a free charge and a chance at a riposte.
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A riposte is meant to reward the player and help them get more time to recuperate and prepare for the next attack.
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Enemy
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Design Intent
The enemy is meant to play into the combat loop and be both challenging and rewarding. It is meant to teach the player mechanics and guide them into the intended play style with the timings - blocking one attack, performing one attack.
Once the player learns this playstyle, magic attacks (unblockable) and fast attacks serve as a twist and throw them off guard.
Timings
There are currently 3 enemy attack timings: fast, normal, and slow. Normal attacks allow the player to make 1 light attack comfortably during recovery, slow attacks allow the player to make 1 heavy attack comfortably, and the fast attacks are meant to trick the player into riposting when they are meant to block two attacks in a row.
Stagger and Stun
The stagger is a short-term reward.
The stun is a long-term reward either for completing the player's combo goal or breaking its poise over time.
Dodging
The enemy lures the player into attacking it while in its idle state. If the player attacks the enemy with a new combo in this state, the enemy will dodge to the side and retaliate.
This is relatively forgiving, and the player can still land their hit, to avoid frustration, and to give the player more control over the battle.
Early Sketches
