There are a lot of games where you play as a woman with a gigantic sword. Nier: Automata and Stellar Blade were breakouts in the genre, and now here's another hopeful: Vindictus: Defying Fate, which leans a little harder into soulslike territory than those games. Its big sword hits hard and slamming it down on enemies reminded me of playing Elden Ring, minus the part where my character looks like she's from a different universe.
The Steam demo for Vindictus: Defying Fate is at its best when you don't have to think about that part very hard, when you're facing off against beasts in one-on-one combat. It's got the soulslike pacing down: Big swing into a dodge roll into a counterattack into another dodge roll. My favorite move requires holding down the heavy attack and charging up the gigantic sword for a gigantic hit. Pulling it off without getting knocked out of it was as rewarding as landing a headshot in a shooter, chunking the enemy's health down faster than the rest of my attacks.
Don't ask why you're fighting these beasts though. Vindictus is frontloaded with quite a bit of dialogue, but is rather thin on plot. It's a fantasy world where people wear berets for some reason and there's a war between humans and beasts. Characters command you to go from objective marker to objective marker until you're let loose into its first level. Nobody explains why your character looks like you'd roll for her in a gacha game and, honestly, it's probably better that way.
You don't have to play as the big sword girl if you don't want to. There are four playable classes in the demo. One of them has a sword and shield, which might be the choice for parry fiends. Each one has special abilities you can unlock as you level up and gain points to spend. They don't seem to come online very often, however, so most of your time will be filled with different combinations of heavy and light attacks.
Whenever you rest at a campfire (ie, Dark Souls bonfires) you can spend your in-game currency on a bunch of outfits and makeup for your character. Some of them cover her in armor and others, well, don't. I can't see myself running around in a pink hoodie or tights and a baseball cap like a K-pop star on her day off, but it's there if you want to.
Vindictus doesn't have a release date, but the demo feels pretty well put together. I would bet it will be out relatively soon. You can check out the demo and wishlist it on Steam right now.
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