Hidden Dragon Legend is a side-scrolling (2.5D) action-platformer that mixes RPG elements within it’s combat system to give you a unique feel. I got to go hands on with the demo at PAX West and enjoyed my time with it.
It’s being developed by Mega Fun and published by Oasis Games, and from what I saw they’re doing a good job getting this one ready to roll. The gameplay was super smooth, and I never really noticed any sort of wonky-ness when it came to mixing up combat and enemies. It just really worked together nicely.
The demo I played at pax was fairly lengthy and gave me a good idea about a variety of different elements to the game. You’ve got your basic platforming (double jumps, wall jumps, etc.) to get around the map, and also shows off the nice level design too. Though the game does a great job of showing you exactly where you’ll need to go next to make progress, it also gives you just enough of a “hint” as you make certain moves to let you know there might be a hidden area you can get to and locate a chest or collectible item. (Note: I didn’t see any collectible items but I did find a few chests that provided much needed health potions for the rest of the demo).
In addition to platforming, you’re exposed to several enemies in various forms. You have ground enemies that are sort of your base “bad-guy” type, then the slightly heavier rendition that might have an extra more powerful attack, or shield for defensive advantages too. Flying enemies, while frustrating are also a part of the game, but the game does a nice job of giving you visual indicators that they’re about to attack so that you can either attempt to dodge or counter attack before it happens. Connecting combos will definitely be a key factor in later levels if things get more heavy than they already were from what I played.
The demo ends with a boss battle, or potentially a mini-boss battle against a very large enemy. All the tricks you learn in the demo become incredibly helpful, especially jumping attacks. The boss battle takes place in a small environment. Because it’s a side-scroller, you’ll need to get efficient at dodging across to the “safe-side” of the screen while the power-attacks are coming. There is a way to dodge and counter-attack in slow motion (similar to Zelda: Breath of the Wild) but I only managed to make that happen twice during the demo. It definitely gives you a great advantage to chip away at the boss health, but many of the attacks I wasn’t able to block so you run the risk of taking a significant amount of damage in the process. Thankfully you’ve probably collected health potions along the way, and can use those at any time to give yourself a fighting chance.
The game is currently in development for PS4 and has a launch window of Q3 2017.
Editor’s Note: I did successfully beat the boss in one go, but I was literally down to my last health potion when I did it. Great success!
Check out their website for more information Oasis Games
-Written by Andrew(@SoAfterISaid)
