Kept teleporting to a guy I made an alliance with. Mf kept fast traveling away from me I ain’t even know you could do that. What a d***

Its a weird game. You feel like you wanna explore but you gotta rush and then the rounds are over.

Same problem with nightrein

Three matches in, wasn’t sure at first but this game is dope

The bloodsworn alliance mode with a friend is gonna be so fun i wish we could test the other endings because the “last man standing” ending definitely won’t be the one I pick

Got a win

I can feel the adrenaline lol hands were shaking towards the end

This feels even more rushed than nightreign

I didnt get into nightreign cuz i was over elden ring tbh.

Like im getting effed up by some mini bosses and then i also gotta try fighting people

It feels like I’m already playing against pros

This joint harder than Elden Ring

Oh its a battle Royale? Im good breh

2 team ups and me fighting a mini boss, one group decides to kill me after we beat it Do you even gain anything for killing players, other than lowering their score

Nah last man standing is only one of the endings and you can set your preference if you don’t want that one

Finally won a match. This game is addicting as hell,

already getting spawn camped by the rituals

Sweats already taking over

Performance in general isn’t great, docked or handheld. Also still has that From pvp desync (especially in the partner mode)

Won’t judge too hard since it’s a network test. But knowing their track record I’m not expecting that much of an improvement by launch

finally won a round with one minute to spare

I only got to play an hour cause this test here was at an inhumane timeslot, so i only played the tutorial. Cant comment much on performance or network issues, balancing either, but i can say the core idea just works. Its easy to see how this gameplay loop will become addictive, its clear to see they prioritized pvp considering how everything seems to be finetuned to that end, but exploration, while fast paced, is reminiscent of older souls titles. There were times it felt like playing a bloodborne spiritual sequel, especially with all the talk about hunts and blood and some parts of the map feeling reminiscent of yharnam.

The movement options take some time to get used to, more cause you're not used to this freedom and verticality, even in nightreign. I'd forget exploring the map that i had access to a quadruple jump, sometimes id forget i had a gun too. I havent played bloodborne, but the pvp seems like in that game going by some clips i used to see.

The tutorials are pretty long and thorough, but its only natural and id say necessary for this game - its very complex. This is Nintendo's part, cause miyazaki said Nintendo helped them doing the tutorials since it isnt their strong suit.

The smaller enemies feel like fodder, cause your movement options are so crazy they wont ever be a match for you. There are stronger enemies, and you'll have to be careful with them. And overworld bosses, the trespassers, who are extremely hard to defeat in the first phase, and thus a huge time waste to even attempt, even co-op. You don't even do enough damage, so learning them isnt gonna change much. I went against the frog and lady maria on horseback. She actually sported a whip which came as a surprise, and she was hard yes. I also got the fat emperor as my summon.

The ritual sites starting at phase 2 are very fun, and i Imagine with real players its gonna be even cooler, and i can already say the bulk of your virtue is gonna come from these, so i feel its inevitable to go there and try your luck and skills.

There is lore, even in emotes, and also on consumables and weapons like older games. I traced a devastating war between the zorks which are apparently a race lmao and the people of layla's land, during which layla actually died twice (although one of those could be symbolic) and thats just from 2 descriptions.
The characters also can speak, aside from zork i think (im willing to bet the zorks arent actually human), even in combat and generally during gameplay.

There's an archive which gathers everything you've ever gained in a match, from items to buffs, and thats how i could read up on lore.

Cant wait to actually try the online now that im done with tutorials!!!!

That was a lot to take in, I think sleeping on it and letting it all internalize will make for a better session tomorrow

Positives:

• art direction is fantastic, love the UI design too

• mobility options are really nice

• map design is awesome, love the verticality

• every character I played so far slaps. in nightreign I only enjoy playing as Wilder or Duchess. Still need to try Zork though

Negatives:

• input lag is pretty noticeable, framerate isn’t stable whatsoever either

• they’ve done a lot to offset the sweats but it still doesn’t feel enough

• Switch 2 fan in handheld mode was blowing so hot I lowk got scared

• HDR implementation sucks in dark areas. Feels like I can barely see the screen at times

• i wish you could walk and look at the map at the same time like nightreign

Also i forgot to mention but the sekiro posture indicator is a great addition, it completely changes how you engage with the game when you can see how close you are to staggering the other player, compared to the older titles

Im already missing it, i wanna play again

damn thats beautiful

For anyone curious who couldnt play, heres gameplay

Gonna try removing the 120hz option later and see if it improves anything