Set in the same world as the MMO, Vindictus: Defying Fate is an action RPG that has more in common with the Soulslike genre than the original game’s more free-flowing style. That said, things are quite early. I got to participate in the developer’s recent pre-alpha test, giving us a look at a very bare-bones slice of what’s to come. It’s an intriguing mixture of committal-heavy Soulslike gameplay with elements of a more combo-heavy action game. There’s a lot of work to be done yet to help Defying Fate stand out, but I’m already liking what the foundation is trying to communicate.
During the pre-alpha, two characters were available. I chose Fiona, since she had a shield. I’m not normally a sword and board type of player, but I’m definitely not a dual-wielding fan either. That stuff’s for nerds who think lightsaber duels are cool. I say that respectfully. Anyway, I charged ahead, or at least I tried to, but the default running speed in this build was achingly slow. Having to hold the stick down just to feel some semblance of normal movement speed was an adjustment to make, and something I’m sure came up in feedback surveys following the test.
Luckily things picked up after I approached some enemies. The designs were cool; the foes were mostly generic, bipedal wolf dudes but kitted out with gnarly animations and tattered clothing that made them look particularly ferocious. Defying Fate almost tricked me at first into thinking this game was more like a Musou than a Souls, with a list of light and heavy combo strings that gave me different results based on how many lights preceded the heavies. Fiona’s strongest combo actually ended with a fierce hook kick, a surprisingly badass way to end an attack sequence from a knight-style character.
When the beefier enemies showed up, I quickly learned I couldn’t just get all my stuff in without considering consequences. I had to figure out the timing on Fiona’s shield, which ended up being crucial for the actual boss encounters that showed up later on. The tougher brawls taught me that this game is trying to do a little of everything at once, from fast-paced crowd fights to epic, drawn-out one on ones. Sometimes it can get a little overwhelming, so there’s definitely some math that still needs to be worked out. That leads me to the next most notable aspect of the game, though.
No stamina! I’m not sure if it’s deliberate or not, but while I identified plenty of structural and mechanical elements shared in Soulslikes, a total absence of a stamina bar was a huge departure. I could roll around as much as I wanted, sprint as long as I wanted (thank goodness), and mash away with swings as long as it was safe. I never had to worry about overextending myself beyond recovery frames, making many aspects of big fights much less about meter management and more about pure combat. I dug this, especially since there was still plenty of challenge without the extra nagging about how many times I wanted to roll away.
From the somewhat generic environments to the hilarious “Work in Progress” signage bolted to empty treasure chests, it was plenty clear that Vindictus: Defying Fate is still quite a ways away. It’s still unclear if this is a free-to-play joint or a full-on single player spinoff, although some goofy costume options available in the menu seemed to indicate plans for cosmetic shenanigans. The combat showed a lot of promise, and hopefully there’s a diverse enough roster to make a variety of play styles available. I’d love to see what larger weapons and ranged combat feel like in this system. The lack of stamina restraints was fun to play with in a game like this, and Unreal Engine 5 is really letting these dark fantasy games cook visually. Consider me intrigued!
Vindictus has no release date currently. A PC code for the pre-alpha test was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this preview.
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replyLucas White posted a new article, Vindictus: Defying Fate is a Soulslike with MMO in its DNA
