Hi guys,
I've updated the demo, and with that, there are some serious improvements to the fluidity of combat. I've gone back to the drawing board to more closely match the "feel" of Elden Ring's combat. With that in mind, there's still some jank, but the changes are as follows:
Faster stamina re-gen with less delay after performing actions.
Speed increase on all weapons.
Re-animation and retiming of short sword attacks.
Re-animation and retiming of great sword attacks.
Complete overhaul of strong attacks, now allowing you to charge them for additional impact.
Less delay when pressing roll and quicker exit of attack animations.
Greater level of rotation between attacks, allowing for more fluid and less clunky combat.
Better hitstop effect keeps gameplay feeling heavy without being jarring.
New jump attacks for both fast and strong attack presses.
Plunging attacks when falling at a sufficient speed (very satisfying to land).
With this in mind, there will need to be additional balancing, as with the more fluid combat, the game does now feel a little easier - especially in Havoc mode.
Additionally, Chain magic has been improved, providing better balance and 2 skills that can be used in the demo:
Fire Chain: Allows you to instantly kill wrapped enemies and deal fire damage to other enemies that come into contact with the chain.
Whirlwind: Spin your partner around using the analogue stick or movement keys to damage and trip all enemies that get caught in their path. Very chaotic but funny when it works (and also when it doesn't).
Finally, I've brought havoc mode (both 3 and 4 player) mostly up to speed with the standard 2 player mode. With that in mind, due to the extra chains that need to be simulated, performance is a little worse. There are also a few bugs which appear to be worse in havoc mode - notably the chain getting stuck on geometry. So nearly there, but still some work to do.
Just as a final disclaimer, I have noticed a slight decrease in performance on this latest build, which I will be investigating soon to bring performance to better-than-ever levels. Expect updates to the demo itself to be less frequent, as I am shifting development to finalise the remaining content of the full game.
New Streamer Gameplay Trailer on Steam page - check it out!