Seguro, su historia, la optimización y los visuales son deficientes por donde lo mires y el reciclado de escenarios en su 2da campaña se siente flojo, pero en lo que es raw gameplay logra destacar gracias a un complejo sistema de combate muy bien trabajado.

Inspirado en obras de acción como Devil May Cry, Assault Spy logra construir dos personajes con sets de movimientos diferenciados que brindan de complejidad a la obra: uno de ellos con ataques potenciados por medio de timing, capacidad de distraer a enemigos, un arma que recuerda a la Yamato de DMC y la habilidad de "detener el tiempo"; y el otro con una barra que se llena siendo agresivo la cual incrementa tu daño y habilita el uso de nuevas habilidades, un parry que puede ser usado mid-air, dos armas para crowd control y un modo "berserk". Súmale a eso que ambos tienen un dash que cancelan tus animaciones, y el dinamismo y velocidad del combate se puede sentir en cada pequeño enfrentamiento. La mejor parte de todo es que, cerca del final, desbloqueas la opción de cambiar entre personajes en medio de los enfrentamientos (con cancel incluido), y si puedes deducir lo que esto significa para las posibilidades del sistema, podrás entender como esta obra logra impresionar aun con esa débil presentación.

RRRAHHH I LOVE SPECTACLE FIGHTERS

Very impressed at how an indie developer like Wazen nailed the spectacle fighter genre on their first try with this game. Its very low budget but also a lot of fun. Story and characters are light hearted and while it does fall on its face a bit near the end overall its a lot of fun.

Asaru's and to a lesser extent Amelia's movesets are pretty DMC inspired with many similar moves but enough to distinguish themselves as unique. I do prefer to play as Asaru cause personally Amelia's gameplay loop of charge bar and release feels very unga bunga to me while Asaru seems to have a lot more depth. Dodging can feel slippery and unresponsive at times but this is rare. Once you beat the game you get to swap between both characters on the fly which is really cool.

Instead of having a health system, you can only take five hits before you die. For normal mobs its manageable and health drops can be found frequently but with bosses it can be pretty punishing until you get to a point where you can just own bosses. You can get health drops in boss fights by breaking their shield so I guess its fine.

Conclusion
If you're craving something new from the spectacle fighter genre while waiting for DMC 6 or the next time Platinum decides to make a good game, this is an absolute must have

Now that I've finished both routes, I have to commend the developer for mostly succeeding at making a DMC-style action game that feels competent enough to be fun despite some janky movement. But that's mainly all this game has going for it.

Story? Throwaway drivel.
Level design? Pretty much nonexistent.
Enemy variety? Severely lacking.

I can't say that the developer didn't try but, playing through this just made me wish I was playing DMC instead, or even Bayonetta. If you can ignore the plot and are looking for something to scratch that hack-n-slash itch, I can just barely recommend it at a heavy discount.

P.S. The second to last boss of Amelia's route is built different. I'd rather beat Orphan of Kos again.

“what exactly do you do?”

“oh, i travel— a sort of licensed troubleshooter.” - pat fearing & james bond, goldfinger

frantic, kinetic, and most importantly stylish. assault spy is a frenzy of business cards, suitcases, and fisticuffs skating and spinning around wildly on ice. a short and sweet package that’s purely action to action with no brakes, but with the bells and whistles typically seen in its contemporaries to make it worth challenging yourself to be “japam” and “mamerica”’s top spies. assault spy has a crystalline cynosure on its combat, with much of its familiarity owed to its foundational inspirations but with the consummate professionalism of a career spy, giving it its own distinctive flavor and identity. a fun romp through and through and absolutely worth the price of entry for some solid spy shenanigans.

i’ve actually played (but never finished) this a couple years ago during the wait for devil may cry 5, only to completely forget about it when the golden goose laid that egg, so going back to finish it this late was something i owed it. coincidentally, my full playthrough of this game also coincided with dmc coming back into my consciousness more prominently as of late, and they’ve been great reminders of just how good these kinds of games are. they remind me a lot of fighting games where what you’re willing to put in is what you get out of it. games like these are truly freeing, and proficiency in them is an artform in itself.

i feel like indie-developed character actions are a really underexplored niche; wazen is proving there’s absolutely a place for them, and that they can stand with the time tested giants of the subgenre. assault spy does exactly everything it sets out to do and does it with a business card in bone-white. i’d love more games like these in the indie sphere, can’t get enough of them.

You know, I have some gripes with this game. Primarily that it can feel unwieldy at times, and the camera can be kind of a dick. I also found the game somewhat easy (to beat, not to S rank) and the small stealth section also feels out of place... but that's the worst I can say about this game, honestly.

This is a genuinely amazing character action game and it's fun as fucking hell all the way through in both campaigns. Both characters are fun to play and have a lot of combo potential with how cancellable every animation is. Figuring out how to chain shit together against the bosses was fun as hell, and also fun to see what I could get away with against regular enemies while also avoiding attacks.

On top of that, the soundtrack is great (tho it gets drowned by sound effects and voices) and the writing is actually funny. Kanoko is one of the funniest characters I've seen in a while.

Impressively, this game is apparently primarily developed by one person? The credits show that they had some support, but still seems like it was mostly them alone. Which is mindblowing, honestly.

I can say it's a tad short, tho, but there's extra modes and it took me 12 hours to do both campaigns. That said, I was reloading checkpoints a good bit to get no damage/S Ranks.

Still, an easy recommendation for anyone that wants a fun soulful character action game. It honestly feels like a lost PS2 game, in the best possible way.

i couldn't care less about the writing being dogshit (i skipped most of the cutscenes) or the level design being extremely simple, my main issue with the game is how underwhelming the battle system is. Which is a goddamn shame because from afar you'd think it's complex and hard to master, yet rewarding in the way DMC makes you feel for pulling stylish tricks. Of course the fact all enemy types act the same way and offer no resistance doesn't help. After a while you end up playing the game in auto-pilot and sure, the freestyle element makes the experience pretty fun, but it's mindless fun. There isn't much of a high skill ceiling with either characters, and even bosses all feel like fighting the same opponent (except for the last two on Amelia's route)

Assault Spy ultimately feels like a game made by DMC fans who don't really understand Itsuno's game design philosophy bur rather the surface level, flashy elements of DMC.

Also the game is super short and can be beaten in a few hours (don't forget you're playing the same levels twice), death march and boss rushes are a pretty nice way to extend the experience but I honestly don't see myself replaying this game over and over.

despite being a totally inept and buggy ass dmc clone it somehow still gets things right that dmc 5 couldn't lmfao
bosses will decimate you if you mash even on your first playthrough and are actually somewhat enjoyable to fight because of their humanoid nature but the way their hyperarmor works is arbitrary and can be a source of annoyance at times
also it takes a while until you can force out even the tiniest amount of enjoyment from this absolute mess of a game as amelia is the only fun character out of two and she unlocks after you've played through the game once but her campaign being roughly the same as the previous one doesn't work out in the game's favor
better than dmc 5 tho its still trash

I hesitate moving this from shelved to abandoned. Assault Spy (from what I remember) is very well made. It scratched an itch I needed desperately needed when it came out in early access early 2018. However a year later when I found out it went to 1.0, was the same time a little game named Devil May Cry 5 was releasing.

Maybe someday we will return to a dark age where "Action Games (Good)" stop being made, and I return to Assault Spy to finish it. Sadly I hope that day never comes. If an Assault Spy 2 is ever released, I will buy it day one out of penance.

A silly, cute, short character action game that feels really good to play! The story is all fluff, though the world and characters are entertaining. You've got over-the-top villains, clumsy, yet dedicated protagonists, and light jabs at workplace culture. I have to mention the fantastic voice work. It really carries the entire experience. Though I wish for an English dub, as it's hard to read captions in the middle of combat. There's a bit of jank with the enemy AI from time to time, but the combat itself is designed so fluidly, that it wasn't enough to hamper my experience.