Nidhogg: Yes, it was finally released.

http://www.nidhogggame.com/

after spending 3 years in development purgatory, nidhogg is finally finished and released. you can get it on a steam sale for $11 until the 20th.

this game is pretty damn awesome. yeah, it may not look too sophisticated visually, but the gameplay more than makes up for it. I would even say the simplicity of the visuals matches the gameplay design perfectly. the basic premise of nidhogg is the same general principle as fencing, gaining ground and momentum. Nidhogg comprises of one-on-one matches where each player tries to make his/her way across the stage to a goal on the opposite end, avoiding obstacles and killing each other several times over in the process. your sword can be held at three stances according to height: low, middle, and high. This is the bread and butter of the game. In order to block. thrust, you have to match the height of your opponent's attack. Better still is parrying which disarms your opponent, accomplished by switching into your opponent's sword height when in range. An unarmed opponent is of course at a severe disadvantage (but not totally defenceless) and very squishy. Certain heights are good at dealing with certain approaches: high is good against dive kicks (yes, they're in the game, but they get you killed very quickly), low stops people from rolling in or sweeping, and mid gives you easy access to parrying each height. combat can be over very quickly, as it only takes one hit to skewer someone. This puts a lot of emphasis on spacing/footsies. whiffing a thrust is horribly unsafe, but so is running face first into a sword.

once you score a hit, it's not over. You have to run like a madman to gain as much ground as possible before your opponent comes back. once you score a kill, it's even possible to completely outrun/outwit your opponent and make it to the other side. the platformer elements blend seemlessly with the combat and obstacles can be used to your advantage. It's not uncommon to see people on both sides of a pit jockeying for position and trying to fake each other out.

there is online play, but the matchmaking is not too sophisticated and the networking is not impressive. You will see rollbacks. Your experience may be hindered if you don't have any local opponents to play.

All in all, nidhogg is a pretty awesom and well worth the pricee.

 

Did you make this?

 

To be honest, this game is pretty fun...

 

everyone should get this. alotta its concepts relate to vf

 

i wish. it's made by a guy that goes by messhof, and he did it pretty much by himself from what i remember reading. daedelus made the music for the game.

this game has my favorite kind of victory lap ever, charging headlong off a cliff in order to be devoured by a giant, flying, grotesque serpent

EDIT: some of you may have seen this at mwm4 a few years back in beta form. it was their mystery game tournament. it's a beta as i said, but it should give you a pretty good idea of how the game plays at a "serious" level. don't mind the chanting.