Proxy Blade Zero

The final boss is pretty sick. And nice final boss OST too. 8/10



-S0YxSauCe

11/10 banger

It's like Metal Gear Rising with the aesthetics of Phantasy Star Online

Proxy Blade Zero tries to be almost every single Platinum game at the same time, and fails at being any of them. In one game, you've got parries (they work more like Bayo than like MGR here), ever move being dodge-cancellable (with that dodge on a trigger, again like Bayo), and a limited hyper-speed battery, like Vanquish. Unfortunately, large pieces of the puzzle are missing -- the combos are limited to a simple 3-hit dial-a-combo, and there's no way to move while attacking (if ever there was a game that needed the ability to attack while dodging, it's this -- a surprising piece of the puzzle to miss, given how much Platinum games tend to value giving the player a way to do so), so very frequently fights come down to trying to draw one or two enemies away from others so that you can attack; since there's no air combos, there's no way to forcefully separate enemies. Making this worse are the enemies that appear in the final two "normal" levels that parry your attacks; against them, all you can do is sit there and wait for an opportunity to use your own parry, which is quite boring in itself, but they can also get between you and other enemies, meaning you can't attack *anything* until they move somewhere else. There's basically nothing here to recommend this game; get DMC 3, DMC 4 DMC 5, Vanquish, Bayonetta, Transformers: Devastation, or even Furi before even thinking of touching this.

It's a short, decent hack n' slash with a neat aesthetic and the occasional sword combos, parries and thruster dodging mixed in there. It's not as elaborate or as deep as other character action games, but it's fine fun for what it is.
There's a handful of enemy types that aren't that tough by themselves, but of course, the real difficulty comes when they're bunched together all trying to destroy you. They've got no qualms with shooting through each other to make sure you get hit, so watch out.

The electronic soundtrack helps to hype up certain chapters, too. Good hears on Soundcloud as well.

It took me a little over an hour to beat, and an extra hour for the rest of the achievements. Didn't realize just starting the game on Easy Mode was a hidden achievement, nice to know now.
I'd say either at full price or at a discount, if you're interested, give it a shot.

Proxy Blade Zero is a great title for cheap that is both challenging and entertaining.

I bought this awhile ago and completely forgot about it, or I failed to install it for some odd reason. I've come back to it recently and had a great time. The combat is simple, yet skill based. The Enemies are few in numbers, but can you as easily as a boss.

Pros:
-Very Simple Gameplay and Story
-Fun and Exciting Combat, with a mixture of a timed parry, some feints and flips, and EXPLOSIONS!
-Soundtrack of the gods
-Nostalgic feel

Cons:
-Missing a little bit of extra satisfaction. Would love enemies to separate into several pieces or at least in half. The knockdown and explosion is a little bit lame.
-Settings can only be changed before the game is launched. Not a big deal, but still inconvenient.


Overall, Proxy Blade Zero is a great title if you want some quick action!

Proxy Blade Zero is a hackity hack, slashity slash, made by a hackity hack- no I'm fooling, it's alright. You hack, you slash, you propel yourself through the air with your magical robot farts, you even get a block that might work if you've been a very good boy that morning. It is what it says on the tin.

When the mechanic's mechanics work, they're alright. You've got two buttons to alternate attacks with, that can be charged with your energy, a solid parry that will still get you killed on Critical because enemies can just blissfully hit you while you're pulling it off, and crowd control that kinda sucks. A lot of jogging in circles while enemies beeline for you.

Much like how your robot soft locks on the nearest target while throwing out piddly attacks, Proxy Blade Zero soft locks on the core concept.

If nothing else, ugly indie 3D games make me nostalgic for a time where asset stores weren't really a thing.

It works and the Blender-looking models are placed in actual levels, that you can sort of explore and do stuff in. 5 levels, and I think like 2 of those had multiple paths. 2 might also have just been the bosses.

Truth is I don't really remember a lot about Proxy Blade Zero. And I played it like two days ago. Not much happens in it. But it doesn't overstay its welcome, and while $10 is a bit on the generous side if you get on sale for like 80% off and set it to Critical Mode straight away, then you've got something worth playing.

It's not that memorable, but it's not that annoying either and the final boss is pretty good.

A lot of people have asked for a middle review option on Steam, like a side-thumb for middle-of the road reviews. I would prefer a poorly drawn version of the positive option. "You're functional, you're paced alright, there's nothing outright broken about you but truth is I'm going to play through you once then never think about you again."

Obligatory Plug:
I did a voiced review of this and Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae

Good ideas and intentions marred by some odd choices. But worth trying once.

Pros:
+ Best optimization of any indie title I've played (FPS as high as 400-600)
+ Suitable music
+ Responsive controls
+ Well done animations
+ Pays an obvious homage to Ninja Gaiden whilst still having fun with it
+ Price tag is very appropriate for what it offers

Cons:
- Do not KB+M. Just don't
- Gamepad rebinding is nonexistent
- Intentional stiff movement and meter management feels more restrictive at times, rather than a good skill floor to handle
- Lock-on can be cumbersome in large groups
- Very Drab Environments
- Boring Aesthetics

Worth getting if you like hack n slash. Not great, but it's an admirable attempt.

Someone has already said it better, but I'll re-iterate my own high lights on why I can't recommend this game. It's obviously inspired by japanese action games like Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden, and does have some nice ideas, but it's player balance doesn't match it's enemy balance.

See, the player must get close and split apart the enemies and kite one away to properly fight it. However enemies are frequently in groups in small areas with little opportunity to fight. Even on easy, this poor balance made the game feel more difficult than DMC on hard. Every bit of the promise for fun is also marred by poor UI and indications. For instance, I reached chapter 3 on my save file (which I died twice in for extremely cheap reasons). When I returned to the title, there appeared no way to exit the game. So I selected my profile which showed no progress (read 0%) just to quit. I fortunately did have a controller to play, however the controller layout felt so awkward, as if the devs never played the games that inspired them. Also I didn't try keyboard and mouse, but according to others the support is non-existent.

The game is very good. It's punishes you for making mistakes and you'll make a lot even if the combat is not very complex.

I love this game.

I recommend it to anyone with nostalgia for (good) early 3D games. There's no getting around that the graphics are pretty barebones, the environments are often empty and repetitive, the story is basically nonexistent despite being organized as a campaign, and the way you move around the level has a sort of "my first 3D game" feel (a series of disconnected rooms with non-animated "doors" that are essentially teleports). However, while these make the game feel a little unpolished, they don't make it bad. Many professionally-developed 3D games felt the same way, before developers had the experience, money, and tools required to make the kind of games we usually get today. And many of those early 3D games were still very good. This one is too.

What this game delivers is very simple and challenging reaction-based combat. You have only a handful of options - a dash, a parry/counter, and an attack button that can be modified in two different ways to create combos. There are no extraneous gameplay systems, and on top of that, there's no scoring or experience systems to let you know how well you're doing. Instead, enemies deal high damage and there's a limited lives system (rare, these days) so you'll know you're doing okay by the fact that you're not dying. Past that, the distinction between getting by (constantly running and taking potshots at the enemies) and playing well (using your combos as much as possible while perfectly countering your enemies or dashing just out of attack range) is immediately obvious, and playing well is so much more efficient and satisfying that there's rarely a need to try to cheese the AI until you're one hit from death.

The key design element that makes this game more than a simple combat engine - which otherwise would absolutely devolve into an endless series of boring fights - is the intelligent way the developers introduce and combine different enemy types. Very rarely do any two serious fights feel the same. While some threats are clearly bigger than others, enemy damage is so high that no enemy be completely ignored, and while you deal damage in a small area of effect, your ability to actually lock down groups of enemies that aren't all of the weakest type is virtually nonexistent (unlike some other games, your counter only staggers enemies that were actually attacking you, not all enemies in range). Therefore, you have to quickly and intelligently choose how to approach the group in front of you and which targets to take out first. Fighting a group of enemies that must all be countered is very different from fighting even one such enemy and an enemy that can stagger you when you try to counter, let alone fighting either group while also dealing with enemies that can counter your own attacks or attack from range.

Proxy Blade Zero isn't perfect, and probably has limited appeal for a big chunk of people on Steam. People who aren't used to this level of difficulty aren't going to like it, and people accustomed to the way the vast majority of modern games work - with multiple overlapping gameplay systems, well-managed checkpointing rather than lives, or expansive, cinematic storylines - are probably going to be confused by what anyone sees in it. But if you miss simple games designed by small teams to experiment with what you can do with a simple concept - and can handle the lack of polish that frequently accompanied that - Proxy Blade Zero does pretty much exactly what it sets out to do, and is easily worth the low asking price. I can't remember the last time I played a game like this; most developers can't resist at least throwing in leveling and loot systems, and while it's impossible for me to tell if they're only missing here for development reasons, I hope DragonSix keeps this basic design sensibility in mind if they ever make a sequel.

Fun little game, well worth the 97 cents I paid. It is a budget game no doubt, the graphics and animations are not near AAA levels, but the mechanics are fun and simple and it is more about personal skill than leveling up and learning moves, which is a thing more games need to do.

This was a game I had heard nothing about but took a random flyer on it during the recent Steam sale because it looked interesting and was only $1, and it's been a very pleasant surprise. Created by a lone developer, it's stripped down to focus solely on the combat -- a couple paragraphs of story, simple but functional graphics reminiscent of an uprezzed Unreal, no need to unlock moves, no bloated combo lists, no puzzles to solve, no RPG elements, just room after room of different configurations of evil robots to hack to bits.

Fortunately, the combat system stands up to the weight placed on it. You play some sort of robotic samurai, and can use a mix of standard melee slashes, special moves that work well against unshielded enemies, and powered attacks that cut through shields better but drain an energy meter that you also need to use for rocket dashes. The rocket dashes are one of two main defensive options -- they give you a lot of speed and maneuverability, but no invincibility frames so you have to make sure you actually get clear of whatever's attacking you. The other defense is a parry that blocks any melee attack and chains into an EMP blast retaliation that breaks shields and stuns the attacker, but a missed parry leaves you stationary and vulnerable. There's no scoring system, but effective play has a nice satisfying flow to it, and using all the available tools to pick apart varied groups of enemies is quite fun. It's especially nice to feel yourself getting better at the game when a particular encounter has killed you a few times and you go back and wipe it out with ease (I probably had a dozen deaths on the final boss before going unscathed when I finally beat it).

My biggest complaint is the controls not being remappable -- they're functional for the most part, but have some odd choices that took a long time to get used to (lock-on on LT, parry on X, attack on Y). Besides that, some enemy configurations wind up a bit heavy on passively running in circles while waiting for an opening to go on the offensive.

It's a nice, tight 3 hours (for me at least, playing on normal and getting a few game overs during that time), and ends right when it's explored the combat system and before devolving into excessive repetition. A real steal at $1, a bit more of a gamble at the standard $5, but if it clicks for you it'll justify that price. If nothing else, I'd at least recommend putting it on a wishlist for the next sale or watching for it to show up in an indie bundle.

This game is only for hardcore gamers. I could write here about horrible graphic or about painful soundtrack. I even could write here about no plot and short game play but difficult of this game compensates this. I thought i am experienced player but this game show me how wrong i was.

"Proxy Blade Zero is a hardcore action game with technical combat."
Truer words have never been spoken.

I mean this as the highest compliment: This game would have been right at home on the PlayStation 2.

As this game was on the 360 first, and the start-up urges you to use a controller, I will speak in such terms.
Y is your Attack. X is your Parry. Right Trigger is your glide (a "dodge" that isn't, but which is used AS a dodge, if that makes sense). That's pretty much it (and then there is a Lock-on with Left Trigger and another button that cycles your targets, but I never use it).

Any enemy that has a Shield can attack while being attacked. A button-masher this is not; you must be discerning in when you do what. Most actions can be cancelled into other ones - still, the game is very hardcore and very punishing of the slightest mistake.

When you encounter a new sort of enemy, the first battle with them is a 1v1 so that you might learn of their techniques. Very quickly, the rooms will mix and match the squads; each battle is challenging in its own way (to be clear, there is no randomness factor, except in the drops). You will die. A lot.
You start with 3 lives. Every time you enter a new room, that is where you will respawn. Enemies can drop Health and Lives - don't count on it. Once your lives are exhausted, you start the entire mission over.

Every aspect of the game is so simple - the main point of the game, the combat, is so rewarding once you can get into the groove of things. It's pretty amazing: Proxy Blade Zero is built around a methodical approach to combat, yet everything about it is so hectic; from watching your Battery Power (used while Gliding) to the stance of the enemy you're focusing on, to rushing to spin the camera around so that you can get a better feel for what you're facing, all while having to react within fractions of a second... I am hard-pressed to think of another game that utilizes its minimalism in such an effective way.

I absolutely recommend this game.

EDIT: The game is short though. That changes nothing, but it's good to know.

I recommended it for those people who want just a challenging action game whit awesome music.

with a more detalied comment i had fun while playing it but it seemed more like a tech demo. There is no plot, no particular art style and is really short. The game doesn't offer replay value, that could be improved by upgrade or a simply a score board. the enemy pattern is too simple and easy to predict, and when you choose a different difficulty the gameplay doesn't give different feeling, only enemy damage and HP are changed, that in critical seems only a way to have a cheap death.

tl;dr: is a good game but is short.

Easy to learn, but hard to master.

The combat system is fairly basic but has a lot of depth. The game has no cutscenes, and almost no story. It just throws you right into the action after a basic tutorial.

Very short but satisfying game. My only complaint is there's only two boss fights. An extra one would have done wonders for this game.

What can I say about this game? It's hard and unforgiving. I enjoyed this game, I really did, but most people probably won't. The game has a good difficulty climb, everytime they introduce a new enemy, you fight it 1v1 before you fight it in a group. you have about 3 melee attacks, a boost, and a parry, not a block, a parry, so you have to time it right. The graphics aren't anything special, but nothing bad. This game requires good tactics and strategy of pure hack and slash which keeps it from getting boring. The game is divided into to "chapters" and if you get a gameover, you have to start the whole chapter all over again, which can get annoying, luckily, bosses have their own chapter. The bosses are actually the easiest part of the game and it's REALLY short. I can't recommend this game to most players because it's hard and you will die A LOT, but if you're someone that feels like you're trapped in a world of cake-walks, this game is for you.

This game doesn't quite feel like it's a finished game, just yet. I'm uncertain if the developer understood what kind of combat system they were making.

See, while the greenlight page and the developer's blog both made suggestions that it's a similar breed of game to Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, it really isn't. The gameplay ends up being a balance closer to Ninja Gaiden, where one spends much of their time kiting enemies to leave one vulnerable enough to actually deal some damage. Between the wide area attacks, and large enemies with uncounterable (though not unblockable, as I first thought) attacks, and projectile attacks, almost every enemy in the game encourages the player to stay away as defense. This in of itself isn't a bad thing; it can lead to hit and run tactics, which I had initially tried, only to realize that it's near impossible to do so.

Except, the tools the player has aren't built for kiting, or for hit and run. They're built for dueling. One on one fights against enemies with complex patterns. The parry/counter system is actually fairly well implemented. The player has full ability to defend against melee attacks, and end a batch of them with a counter attack to reverse momentum a bit. It still needs some fine-tuning, because the larger enemies (such as the hammer guys, or the gun-type's melee attack) seem to have the parry window mistimed. No, where the game actually starts to fall apart is the dashing. It's unresponsive, with what feels like a 5-10f startup, it has a limited duration, and because it has a "special attack" associated with it, The player can't use it to reengage with an enemy. Especially since the dash attacks are the only attacks you have that can't be canceled with a parry. What this means is that the attack the player is supposed to be using defensively, to wear down enemy armor, is only useful AFTER the shields are down. The player can't dash in and out of range, because the startup is so long that the player will not have moved out of the way by the time the attack lands, assuming they're dodging from reaction, and not trying to predict when the enemy is going to counterattack. It means that the grenades end up being far more dangerous than they should be with the huge window you have, because the player can't use the only way to escape its range in time.

I have other minor gripes with the combat, such as not being able to parry from the counter animation, which means that seemingly open windows for counter attack are actually just a chance to get wrecked. The player can parry from the parry's cooldown, but it can't parry from the counterattack. The overdrive system doesn't actually require variety. It's VERY easy to max it out using only the normal attacks, which I'd eventually resorted to, for reasons I've already stated. Lastly, the game has some minor issues communicating thus far. I didn't realize the grenadier enemies were different from the first enemies I fought until I saw both in the same fight. They have the same animations, and since both the initial weak enemy and the grenadiers have red heads, they look identical. The only visual difference they have blends into the background. The range of a grenade is illustrated by the red circle that initially appears around it, but when it explodes, the game shows nothing, except the player getting flung away. Only the player is thrown away, I should add. I presume it's an attempt to keep the player from using grenades against the enemies that threw them, except that similar tactics are specifically designed for use against the gun enemies when they appear.

Dragonsix: Redo how dashing works, or Rebalance the enemies for the combat system you actually have. Now, I'm far from an expert, and I can't very well crack open the code and see how well the changes I'd make would work in practice, but I do play enough action games to have some sense of what works and what doesn't, and why. Make the dash FAR more responsive by letting the player cancel into it. Maybe not let them immediately cancel out of it, but at the option to at least cancel into the dash would mean that a surprise grenade can be dealt with in time. In fact, you might very well be able to make the window tighter without interfering with the gameplay. Either remove the dash attack, or make its supposed anti-shield properties far more drastic. The player shouldn't have to worry about accidentally doing a dash attack and being unable to parry because of it. Don't punish the player for being risky, punish them for failing to take advantage of near misses. Other reviews have made suggestions of being able to parry the lasers from the gun enemies, and while that sounds pretty awesome, being able to dash in and out of the line of fire sounds far cooler. Take your pick. Tweak the overdrive system so that it actually requires variety, while you're at it.

tl;dr - Either let the player cancel into the dash so that they can take advantage of it in short bursts, or tighten up the parry system. I'd recommend the former, so you aren't wasting the mechanics you have. Tweak your visual designs so they communicate better. This game does NOT feel finished, just yet.

A big mecha/robots fan... I really enjoyed this game, one of this robot remind me of Virtual On and Zone Of The Enders. The Controller's a little hard and all difficutly levels aren't easy. If you love mecha and playing in hardcore level, go to buy it.

Proxy Blade Zero is a simple yet satisfying robot swordfighting game that rewards quick reaction times and knowing when your attack opportunities are open (this aspect feels similar to melee combat in the Souls games - at least for me - as most of the time you can't just run in and mash the attack button). The combat feels good and pulling off a good string of attacks/dodges without being hit is challenging, yet fun. New enemy types have appeared frequently, enemy groups are nicely varied and it doesn't pull many cheap tricks either. Music is great, fits the tone of the gameplay very well and the visuals are done well too. It's not the most detailed look in the world but the animations are good, the robots look good and the lighting/attack effects have a bright, vivid design. If you think this game isn't worth $7 ($5.60 on sale) because of the way it looks then you're a baby, in a big budget cinematic game it's fine to expect top of the line visuals because the story and graphics have to make up for the linear, rote gameplay. This isn't one of those, it's a gameplay focused game. There's no filler, it's just you and the other robots trying to kill you. The only negative I can really think of is the length. Granted there is hard mode and the combat could warrant another playthrough so you'll definitely get your money's worth. Also there are too many pointless achievements (beat a mandatory level, kill 50 of X enemy, dodge 100 times etc).

Addendum:
I'm sort of disappointed in the amount of boss battles but it's nothing big, it's just that with how fun they were I would have loved to see more of them. Loved the voice acting and filters though, they fit perfectly, weren't too cheesy or trying to be funny and gave the bosses some personality. I'd personally buy a sequel or expansion with more stuff day one if that ever came about.

Last edit:
I played this on an f310 controller, I can't comment on how it plays with kb+m.

2016 edit: It actually seems to play better with mouse and keyboard, feels more direct and makes fighting without locking on more viable (faster camera movement etc).

It's not the prettiest game by any means but it's definitely one of the more fun games to come out of Greenlight. Played til the first boss and had to stop because other things distracted me. Definitely can appreciate a game that goes by the better "Gameplay over Graphics" that too many newer games take by releasing steaming piles of shit and especially since the developer is just a single guy, mad respect. 10/10 Would dash again.