Hi everyone, MAICHA here! Although the Steam Next Fest has wrapped up, many new players are still trying out the demo and sharing feedback. In addition to continuing development, I’ve gone through all your survey responses. A huge thank you to everyone for participating—every single suggestion has been read with care.
The purpose of the demo was to let players experience the combat firsthand and to gauge reactions. I have noted all your feedback, especially the ones on camera control and difficulty, and I totally understand why these areas are a focus. Both are essential to the game experience, and I’m actively working on the solutions. I’ll go over here along with some of my plans moving forward.
It’s motivating to see players having fun in the combat, which gives me even more drive to keep improving. Thank you all again for your patience!
Camera Adjustments
Since different fights require different focal points, I’ll be adjusting the camera accordingly.
- For crowd battles, where players need to track multiple enemies and monitor positioning, the camera will no longer remain centered on the player. Instead, it will adapt dynamically to keep both the main enemies and the player within view—think of a Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden dynamic camera. This aims to reduce the issue players encountered in the demo with off-screen attacks.
- For boss battles, the camera will focus on the midpoint between the player and the boss, similar to Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm or Dragon Ball Z Kakarot, allowing for smoother 1-on-1 combat. In a future chapter, this style will be applied to the duel between the main character, Carter, and his master, Aileen, creator of the Spirit Strike martial art. Here’s a sneak peek of this in action (still in testing!).
To address reports of motion sickness from certain animations, I’ll be adding more appropriate framing during Break effects and Super Strikes, avoiding forced camera angles, and minimizing drastic shifts. Sensitivity adjustments, motion blur toggles, and other camera settings will be available in the full release.
Game Difficulty
Spirit X Strike was designed from the start to be a hardcore action game, but the high difficulty reported by many players seems rooted in certain details that need fine-tuning. As discussed in the previous dev blog, adjustments are underway to refine enemy AI and expand the parry window.
More details here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2538880/view/4508758024141295366
The bigger change will involve the defensive moves. Currently, blocking, dodging, and jumping are set up as specific counters. Moving forward, they’ll all have invincibility frames, allowing players to avoid all attacks when timed correctly. Red and yellow indicators will simply serve as warnings for dangerous moves, making defense more flexible.
Boss Mechanics
Bosses will no longer have constant hyper-armor. Perfect parry, cross-counter follow-ups, and well-timed attacks during boss recovery will allow for longer combos. Boss stun meters will also be reduced, allowing players to trigger Super Strikes multiple times in a single fight. I’m also revising enemy defense mechanics to offer more options for guard breaks to increase positive feedback during combat. Feel free to share your ideas and suggestions on our official Discord!
Since everyone experiences difficulty differently, I’ll be adding a dynamic difficulty prompt. After repeatedly failing an encounter, players will be prompted to temporarily lower the difficulty. Additionally, a system similar to FF16’s assist mode is being considered, with a short slow-motion effect before taking hits, giving players more time to react. This feature will be optional.
The much-requested move list will be included in the full version. Since it ties into the upgrade system, it wasn’t included in the demo. I’m also addressing reported bugs one by one, and some critical issues will have safeguards to prevent them from forcing the player to restart the game, minimizing the frustration.
When Punches & Kicks Collide: New Boss, New Combat Style
As for development progress, I’ll be moving forward with designing new bosses, skill upgrades, and the surrounding systems for later chapters, saving the cutscene work for last. Here’s a new look at the gameplay I’ve been working on.
Those who joined earlier playtests may remember Kai, one of the first bosses designed for the game. In the story, Kai is both a friend and rival to Carter, and I wanted their fight to emphasize high-speed, fist-to-fist action—a thrilling back-and-forth exchange that action fans will recognize!
This punch-heavy fighting style gave me an inspiration: what if the main character could fight with hands in his pockets, using only kicks? Enter a new, stylish kicking combat style (still trying to figure out the name for this), where Carter fights enemies with only kicks. Players will be able to unlock special Super Strikes like “Scooter” or “Lightning Rapit Kick.”
Adjusting based on feedback from the Next Fest has proven to be a bigger task than expected, so it may take some extra time. I’ll keep sharing updates on development progress here. Thanks, everyone, for sticking with me on this journey! Remember to join the official discord to share your thoughts with me!