Assault Spy scratched that Devil May Cry itch for me. Its combat is awesome, but it's obnoxiously frequently interrupted by visual novel style cinematics where the game tries to be funny when it should just allow me to kick robot butt. The game is pretty short, taking me about 6.8 hours to beat the game with both characters and get the true ending, but the price is fair for the content you're getting. I found that one move in the game, Amelia's block and counter attack, to be extremely overpowered and break the balance of the game, but other than that the normal difficulty was well balanced. I also dislike how the game doesn't transfer over your currency from Asaru to Amelia like how Devil May Cry 4 does, this makes the game feel less fun for a little bit when you start your playthrough as Amelia until you unlock more skills. The ranking system also sucks, you can only get S or A ranks, but if you get hit even one time you cannot get an S rank anymore in that section, making A rank feel like a participation medal, there should at least be a B and C rank as well. It has lots of flaws, mostly the bad pacing due to a constant barrage of cutscenes, but the core gameplay is really good and carries the whole game on its back, I highly recommend it for fans of character action games.

“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.

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

A fun action game that combined aspects from dmc and bayonetta gameplay but there’s not really something new that makes it special or unique

-Smooth combat and fun
-Mediocre enemy design
-Exciting bosses
-Cool character design

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.

This game should not demand as much computer power as it does given a lot of its areas are empty corridors. I could hardly keep up a framerate. My PC was actually below the minimum when I played this game so if I ever upgrade my computer I'll give it another shot. Doesn't save that assistant character from being incredibly annoying and the majority of the game being formulaic, even if lightheartedly so. The bosses at least decieve you in that while they are similar the fights are all quite different...but they dissolve with a similar approach so it's a touch moot.

Thankfully there's a second campaign I didn't do, so if I do get that computer upgrade I'll give this game a second look.

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.

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