Loses points straight off the bat for having its dashing mechanics being almost as niggly as those in Maximum Carnage - I'm not sure if my fingers are just abnormally twitchy, but I feel like it's just common sense that "taptap" is a dash but "tap (beat) tap" isn't. It's also got a few curious quirks that feel less like a product of its time and more just inexplicable design - for example, you start each level with your weapon sheathed and need to press a button to unsheathe it, but given that this is a beat-em-up, this seems to serve no purpose other than to let your enemies get a cheap hit in at the start if you forget to draw a weapon you really should have been holding by default.

Negatives aside, there was a lot to enjoy about my time with this game. The visuals and animations were a clear strong point, and its high fantasy setting was complemented by a good variety of interesting bosses. Notably for a beat-em-up game, there is nearly no grappling, with the emphasis instead being shifted towards ranged attacks which can be used through a pretty smoothly-integrated inventory system.

Overall a decent brawler in a fantasy setting (need more of those), whose light RPG elements complement rather than distract from the simple fun - an experience that is only enhanced by playing with friends!