I love Japanese culture so “Sclash” was an easy sell to me. With “Die by the Blade” just around the corner Sclash was a great little taste and warm-up for the duelling fighter genre where one hit kills. So, thank you developer Bevel Bakery and publisher Maximum Entertainment.

Sclash is a two-dimensional, duelling fighter that primarily focuses on the PvP aspect, but does have a story mode, so let’s start there first. Two clans called the ‘Aki’ and the ‘Natsu’ are at war. You play as Jinmu, an orphan raised by the leader of the Aki clan called Susanoo. Upon completion of your training, you are allowed to join the war effort against the Natsu clan.

During your first excursion, you become separated from your team and have to travel alone. It is during this ordeal, you take part in conversations with the enemy raising questions, the most prominent of which is with the leader of the Natsu clan Amaterasu.

When finally reuniting with your clan you query about secrets being withheld from you and demand to know the truth. For such insolence, you are exiled from the Aki clan and your journey now begins with the hunt for the truth.

Honestly, the story is incredibly average and doesn’t help that the voice acting is just as average as well. Also, the story is way too short, you can finish the story in as little as 18 minutes. That’s right you read correctly, 18 minutes. Truth be told you could probably finish it even faster if you played it enough times to learn all the ins and outs of each combat scenario. There are challenges available making it re-playable which is great with an increase in difficulty and infuriation.

Speaking of combat let’s jump into the gameplay. First off, the controls are simple, which makes it great for enjoying the beautiful art and gorgeous music. Unfortunately, that then turns Sclash more into an interactive art piece than a game. With X to draw your weapon, attack, and hold it to charge an attack, B to sheathe your weapon, Y to pommel which is a short-range distraction against your opponent, A to parry, and LT and RT to dash in their respective directions, Sclash is very simple to learn.

There are five characters to choose from, and each has a unique fighting style slightly mixing up how you approach your opponent. Everyone has four stamina bars which are used for all your actions except the pommel. Landing a pommel not only stops your opponent’s move but also reduces their stamina. Successfully parrying an opponent’s attack, resting, and retreating will refill the stamina bars.

Battles can become a game of cat and mouse as you wait patiently, harass for mistakes, and goad your opponent into wasting their stamina. As mentioned earlier “Sclash” focuses on PvP, and as such you can play locally or online. As there are only five characters, you can still customise your character with over 50 different masks and weapons, but the large majority of them will need to be unlocked. Unlocking them is easy enough by checking the archive on the main menu which hints at tasks you need to complete.

Speaking of earlier mentions let’s talk about Sclash being an interactive art piece. All the characters are hand-drawn and placed upon painted backgrounds and settings. Both styles are done in a Japanese motif which looks beautiful. With both art styles fighting for attention however, it does make the whole picture come across as a little confused as to what it wants you to pay attention to.

The animation is great for both the characters, backgrounds, and settings. The characters all move uniquely through the space and with their moves, backgrounds flow with a fluidity following the setting, and the settings animate in such a way as to bring genuine life to the environment.

When it comes to the audio, I referenced the voice acting as average along with the story. Unfortunately, the voice acting is not alone as the sound effects are also just average. There is nothing particularly wrong with the voicing and the sound, it’s just delivered in such a way that isn’t remarkable, it’s just average. The music however is perfectly Japanese and gorgeous to listen to.

If you, like me, love Japanese culture, you will enjoy Sclash for its presentation of art and music. If you enjoy the one-hit-kill duelling genre of gaming, then Sclash will give you plenty of PvP battles both locally and online for you to experience in a two-dimensional environment. If you are interested in trying a one-hit-kill dueller, then Sclash may just be the perfect place for you to swing your sword.

Written by: Ashley Barnett-Cosgrove