First Cut: Samurai Duel (PC) CO-OP Playthrough / Where a quick death is, in fact, the motivation.

Описание: First Cut: Samurai Duel (2024) by Night Eyes Interactive is a relatively new game with the soul of a true old-school classic. It is one of those titles that looks incredibly simple at first, teaches you the basic rules almost immediately and then proves that understanding the rules and mastering them are two completely different things.

As they say: “Plays easy, but hard to master.”

The premise is intentionally simple. We control mysterious warriors who have had enough of injustice and the strong abusing the weak. Their solution is rather extreme. Instead of restoring balance peacefully, they simply cut down everything standing in their way, from ordinary thugs and bandits to corrupted samurai and necromancers.

Visually, the game is extremely simple by modern standards, but I love what the developers have done with it. The maps are detailed enough to create atmosphere and the simple character sprites are brought to life by surprisingly smooth animation. For someone looking for modern graphics, this obviously will not be revolutionary. But if you are a connoisseur of old-school aesthetics, the atmosphere practically pours from the screen.

The soundtrack works in much the same way. It is mostly slow and atmospheric, creating a mixture of mysticism, mystery and oriental flavor. Some sections become darker and more unsettling when the scenery demands it. It is not the most dynamic soundtrack, but it fits the game beautifully.

The sound effects are perhaps even more important. The collision of two blades, a perfectly timed parry or a successful dodge gives an immediate sense of satisfaction. And when your sword connects with the enemy and you hear the blade cutting through him... that is exactly the kind of feedback I want from a game like this.

The combat system itself is incredibly simple. There are only three sword positions: middle, high and low. Each can be used for both attack and defense. Attack from the current stance and you strike from that position; stay in the correct stance while an opponent attacks and you can block his blow.

A successful block can immediately become a counterattack if your reflexes are good enough. Holding an attack makes the strike stronger and the lunge faster, allowing you to suddenly close the distance and catch an opponent expecting you to stay out of range.

Dodges allow us to step away from attacks or move around an opponent, while shoves and pulls can manipulate distance. There are no giant combo lists or complicated special moves.

And there does not need to be.

Every strike can be lethal.

One mistake usually means death, and the same applies to your opponent. That makes even the simplest encounter tense because you are never simply wearing down a giant health bar. You are looking for one clean opportunity.

At the beginning you can customize your warrior's appearance and select the difficulty. We completed the game on Normal, and even that became seriously demanding somewhere around the halfway point. I would not recommend the higher settings unless you are a true masochist.

The game offers Scenario, Duel, Survival, custom AI battles and local multiplayer, with Remote Play Together also available. There are also bonus variations including laser swords, custom blood and zombies.

And we know something about the difficulty firsthand.

We originally planned to record First Cut more than a year before this gameplay. We reached one particular section and simply could not get through it. The game throws more than twenty samurai at you and expects an almost perfect performance. One mistake means starting the whole sequence again.

Eventually we gave up.

Then we came back.

And this time we finished it.

That is also why the gameplay is not presented as some fake “everything worked perfectly on the first try” run. Every first death is documented. The next successful attempt is the one that actually conquered the section. That feels much more honest for a game like this, because learning its mechanics and mastering enemy behavior is the entire point.
We eventually liked the game enough that we decided to buy it properly for the recording. That probably says more about First Cut than any review could.

It is not a technical masterpiece.

It is something better suited to my taste: a modern game with an old-school soul.

Simple rules, precise timing, brutal consequences and an enormous amount of blood.

First Cut: Samurai Duel is easily one of the best modern games I have played that understands the beauty of simplicity.

Highly recommended.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
#FirstCutSamuraiDuel #FirstCut #SamuraiDuel #SamuraiGame #SwordFighting #IndieGame #RetroGaming #OldSchoolGaming #Gameplay #CoOp #LocalMultiplayer #PCGaming #SteamGame #HardGames #RetroStyle


"Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio"