Taking common free-to-play titles and reworking them into combating video games is turning into a little bit of a pattern, is not it? Following within the footsteps of Granblue Fantasy Versus, DNF Duel is predicated on South Korean motion RPG Dungeon Fighter On-line. Its character roster is made up of playable courses from the supply materials — anonymous adventurers with particular fight kinds. The tone and design of Dungeon Fighter actually lends itself nicely to a one-on-one fighter, with a fantastical artwork route and over-the-top battle methods on the coronary heart of the property’s identification.
DNF Duel is a cooperative effort from combating recreation juggernaut Arc System Works (Responsible Gear, BlazBlue, the aforementioned Granblue Fantasy Versus), and lesser identified Japanese developer Eighting, which has had a hand in a great deal of totally different tasks through the years. There’s numerous expertise right here, and it exhibits in how crisp the sport feels from the second that you simply boot it up.
This can be our third point out of Granblue Fantasy Versus in as many paragraphs, but it surely’s laborious to disregard the similarities between the 2020 launch and DNF. Each video games are designed with accessibility in thoughts, that includes easy button inputs in order that gamers of all ability ranges can pull off loopy methods with out spending hours in coaching mode. On this case, every character has a bunch of particular strikes that may be activated by urgent one face button together with one route. Tremendous strikes, that are solely made accessible as soon as your well being drops to a sure level, are additionally tied to a single button. Straightforward-peasy.
Whereas the significance of approachability is one thing that is maybe overblown in terms of making combating video games extra engaging to a wider viewers, there isn’t any denying that DNF does a fantastic job welcoming new gamers into the fray. A decently sized roster — 16 characters at launch — a lot of single-player modes, and spectacular visuals go a good distance in heightening the sport’s attraction.
What’s extra, the title nails a very powerful facet of all: it simply feels nice to play. It isn’t fairly as quick paced as another anime-styled fighters — the dearth of an air sprint implies that you are virtually at all times caught to the bottom — and in that sense, the texture is corresponding to titles like Granblue Fantasy Versus (sorry), and even Road Fighter, due to how essential spacing appears to be for a lot of the solid.
When you land that large hit, although, DNF morphs right into a extra recognisable anime-infused brawler. Combo stress is completely brutal after getting the momentum and your opponent is trapped within the nook of a stage. We’re speaking large harm should you’re unfortunate sufficient to get clipped by somebody who is aware of what they’re doing, and the sport’s health-sacrificing system makes aggressive play much more oppressive. Certainly, by giving up a bit of your gray well being — that’s, well being that may be healed again over time — you possibly can beef up your assaults to the purpose the place your opponent’s guard will be crushed, leaving them fully weak.
After which there’s the vary that the majority of those characters have. Nearly each fighter — whether or not they wield outsized swords, precise firearms, or each, in a single explicit case — can cowl an enormous portion of the display screen with their specials and numerous their normals. Which means that matches can develop into a little bit of a fishing fest at occasions, the place each gamers are standing at vary, hitting their most secure, longest-reaching buttons with a view to discover a gap.
Does not sound vastly partaking, does it? However once more, the sport explodes into motion as soon as that all-important assault lands, and it also needs to be famous that every character comes geared up with a ahead dodge that grants temporary invulnerability. You need to use this system to weave by projectiles or different predictable strikes, closing the hole and retaliating from a way more harmful place.
Though we do have some issues concerning character stability — even at this extremely early stage — the underside line is that DNF is basically good enjoyable. There is a satisfying chunkiness to numerous the assaults, and it is usually unbelievable to look at due to Arc System Works’ glorious graphics engine.
Our solely actual fear is its means to have an enduring influence on the present combating recreation panorama. Proper now, it is troublesome to see the place DNF suits in, with comparable titles like Responsible Gear Attempt dominating the dialog, and the potential colossus that’s Road Fighter 6 releasing in 2023. For a lot of, this newest brawler would possibly find yourself being a secondary choose, and that raises questions over its longevity, each competitively and casually. However after all, it is nonetheless far too early to leap to any conclusions.
Sadly, we have not been in a position to pattern the title’s on-line modes but, as a result of the servers will not be reside till launch. Primarily based on our expertise with the sport’s beta assessments, its rollback netcode must be impressively clean — however we’ll clearly have to attend and see how that interprets when gamers from everywhere in the world are concerned.
However hey, at the very least we have been in a position to put loads of time into the single-player modes, that are stable. Story mode offers each fighter their very own storyline, depicted by properly drawn stills, dialogue between characters, and pretty straightforward battles. The plot’s usually convoluted and the writing actually is not going to win any awards, but it surely does assist inject every character with some persona. In the meantime, should you’re in search of simple motion, you possibly can strive the eight-match arcade mode, or survival. The tutorials are respectable as nicely; every character has their very own strategic overview alongside combo trials.
Conclusion
DNF Duel is an approachable, explosive combating recreation. Though it does not fairly stand out from the gang by way of having an immediately recognisable type, it is nice enjoyable to truly play. Loopy combos, a cool character roster, and a pleasant number of recreation modes makes for an interesting bundle. As soon as we have been in a position to put the title’s on-line choices to the check, we’ll be updating this evaluate with a rating and extra particulars.
