I think no discussion about parrying is complete without mentioning Ultrakill. It strikes a good balance between being usable without being an auto win button.
In Ultrakill, besides from dealing extra damage and gaining style points, parrying enemy attacks is one of the most effective ways to regain health. Low on health? Find an attack to punch and you’re back in action.
This creates a risk reward system. Committing to a parry is risky. If you miss you lose health - and it’s easy to miss when there’s 10 other things going on at the same time. It’s not always easy to find an opening to commit to.
It also had a bug in early development where the player could also parry their own shotgun bullets if timed correctly. This was developed an intended mechanic, so Ultrakill is the game where punching your own shotgun bullet makes them go faster.
Didn’t Furi do this in 2016? I’d be surprised if it was the first game to tie parrying to health gain either. In the slew of action games that came out in the PS2 era, someone must’ve done it.
Pretty sure this kind of game mechanic (expose yourself to an enemy attack for a skill check that regains health) can be traced back at least to the Dodgeball DLC for Outside™. Game mechanics are like TV tropes, they echo what came before them, almost without exception
I think no discussion about parrying is complete without mentioning Ultrakill. It strikes a good balance between being usable without being an auto win button.
In Ultrakill, besides from dealing extra damage and gaining style points, parrying enemy attacks is one of the most effective ways to regain health. Low on health? Find an attack to punch and you’re back in action.
This creates a risk reward system. Committing to a parry is risky. If you miss you lose health - and it’s easy to miss when there’s 10 other things going on at the same time. It’s not always easy to find an opening to commit to.
It also had a bug in early development where the player could also parry their own shotgun bullets if timed correctly. This was developed an intended mechanic, so Ultrakill is the game where punching your own shotgun bullet makes them go faster.
Didn’t Furi do this in 2016? I’d be surprised if it was the first game to tie parrying to health gain either. In the slew of action games that came out in the PS2 era, someone must’ve done it.
Pretty sure this kind of game mechanic (expose yourself to an enemy attack for a skill check that regains health) can be traced back at least to the Dodgeball DLC for Outside™. Game mechanics are like TV tropes, they echo what came before them, almost without exception