Kiai Resonance

Genre: Fighting

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local)

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Review:

Kiai Resonance is a Fighting Game first released on PC in 2015 and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2019. This game puts players in the role of dueling samurai warriors battling in feudal Japan.

The presentation here is decent in that it aims for a theme that fits the game’s tone and gameplay, which is a visual art style designed to look like old-fashioned Japanese watercolor art. The animation is really rough and there’s nothing fancy going on here, but it fits the game well enough that the lack of anything noteworthy on the technical side can be allowed to slide. These visuals are paired with a soundtrack that mirrors the old-fashioned traditional music of Japan, which isn’t especially memorable but, again, fits the theme well.

The gameplay here is also very deliberately simple – players can change to one of three stances, each with advantages and disadvantages. The forward stance is slow, but can block strikes when not attacking. The overhead stance is fast and can alternately be charged into a strike that can break a block, but doing said charge forces the player into doing said strike, which can be disadvantageous. Finally, the rear stance has no strike, but it can parry a strike into a counter. Beyond this, players can dash forward or back, but that’s about it – it comes down to a game of paper-rock-scissors. The first strike to land wins a round.

This has the potential to make for an interesting balance with simple options that nevertheless provide players with distinct differences, but unfortunately these options are a bit too unbalanced. The rear stance’s parry move requires such precision timing that it’s far too easy to miss with it, leaving the player vulnerable. And while the upward stance’s charge attack may seem to be at a disadvantage to the rear stance, the ability to refrain from attacking indefinitely means that players using this move can simply opt to wait until the player chooses a different stance or moves out of range… or they can surprise them by releasing the button and catching them off guard. And since the forward stance can’t block this attack… why wouldn’t you use this stance 100% of the time, again?

This game’s problems go beyond these issues with the mechanics. You haven’t heard me talk about maps or characters, and that’s because there really aren’t any to speak of – players can pick one of only two skins for characters, and only one of three backgrounds, and all characters and backgrounds are functionally identical. I can understand keeping things simple with a focus on the rock-paper-scissors mechanics this game intends to have, but at the very least they could have provided more variety in the visuals to keep things interesting.

I really wanted to like Kiai Resonance. The idea of a Fighting Game boiled down to its core essentials is really appealing, and that combined with its stance-based gameplay really sets it apart in the genre. Unfortunately, this game’s mechanics are far too unbalanced, and the game also suffers from a severe lack of content. If you’re willing to put up with these flaws for a simplified Fighting Game, Kiai Resonance may still hold some interest for you, but most are better off skipping this one.

tl;dr – Kiai Resonance is a Fighting Game about dueling samurai warriors, and it features extremely simplified “one hit kills” combat mechanics that hold a lot of potential. Unfortunately, these mechanics are too unbalanced, and the lack of content leads to far too much monotony. Overall, there are some great ideas here, but the execution needed some work.

Grade: C-

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