Great.
Previously, I have always blamed Master's failure to win TGA Indie Game of the Year on the disconnection of the game audience caused by Epic's exclusivity. It only got a few nominees that stuck in my throat.
On the one hand, it may be the most completed indie game on the track of action games in recent years; On the other hand, its level structure and even the gameplay model also show an unconventional artistic pursuit. Even apart from cultural filters and kung fu feelings, "Master" still has a unique and irreplaceable strong personality, which supports me to enjoy the ultimate action experience it brings me a year later.
This doesn't change my opinion over time – Master is still what I consider to be the best indie game of the year.
Although I am only halfway through this year, when I entered the world of "Master" for the second time, I was finally able to revisit this top-notch kung fu film created by the French team.
The reason why it is top is because "Master" is the same as the "prime" of earlier kung fu films - the main line of its story is extremely simple, and you can even simply deconstruct it as "growth and revenge".
In the game, the protagonist grows for revenge, and then completes revenge when he grows. Grow up from revenge, and choose revenge or not after growing up, that's what it's all about.
"Master" does not need a twisting plot or foggy suspense elements, because "fighting" will run through the entire process. Recall that why are early kung fu movies wonderful, isn't it happy revenge?
The audience only cares about how Huo Yuanjia won Qin Ye, and when he became the first in Jinmen.
"Master" is well versed in the foothold of action movies, abandoning the horizontal development advocated by modern games, it knows that if it wants to communicate with fans of action games, it does not have to rely on the introduction of words, nor does it need to emphasize the complexity of the story - because the growth of the protagonist is reflected in the refinement of martial arts, the ending of the story ends in the fall of the villain leader, and the excitement of the process lies in whether the fight is wholehearted, everything is silent.
You don't have to tell me who is number one in the world, and the one who is still standing is.
Therefore, it is not the audience of action games or action movies that does not care about the diversity of elements, but in such a self-sufficient environment, it is really enough to waste pen and ink.
A brand new battle scene, a camera switch, a neat outfit, a never-before-used hole card, or even a brand new broom from the factory will be the finishing touch in the process. The value of action games and action movies in the mining of vertical depth far exceeds the content redundancy brought by horizontal development.
It just needs to focus on what is right in front of you, and you've got it all.
Compared with kung fu films, "Master" has more advantages than kung fu films in the medium of video games - the essence of the action field will be personally displayed by the player through the player's operation. At this point, you are no longer just savoring other people's stories, but can substitute into them and become the person in the story.
This makes you no longer have to look at who is still standing, just ask - who else?
The aesthetic pursuit of "Master" is reflected in the "prime" that is in the same vein as kung fu films, and it is also this "prime" that can bring players the most intensive cool points.
It is worth mentioning that the simplicity of its plot does not affect the depth of vertical gameplay. Between the diversity of elements and the status of core elements, "Master" only chose the latter, which fills the straight-ball-style simple plot with more focused action gameplay, and the combination of the two brings players a nobody's revenge without urine.
I really like the action gameplay of Master, and it is no less complete than those long-established action giants.
Perhaps, at first, you may feel like "The Forgiver" or "Wolf: Shadow Gone Twice", but once you master it, you will realize that Master's combat system is closer to a fighting game - stand back and punish.
The defensive means of "Master" include blocking, parrying and dodging, while attacks are divided into light attacks and heavy attacks, and then different moves are derived from these button combinations, which is the underlying design of "Master". What players have to think about is the advantages and disadvantages of different offensive moves corresponding to different defensive means, that is, the advantage frame and the disadvantage frame in terms of results.
Due to the existence of dominant frames, "Master" is obviously not the main parry, or the game of hitting iron all the way until the opponent breaks the defense to end the battle.
Players who are not proficient in this way often think that Master's combat is similar to "soul" games, and that they are passive, which is obviously biased.
For example, when facing a high-position attack, ordinary players will subconsciously dodge downward, while "For Honor" players will fight hard, while advanced players will use lower attack moves such as "Attack Crotch Fist" to grab the opponent's flaws and punish. However, these moves are not a panacea, and when the attacker has a series of combo moves, rushing to punish will only be depleted, and players must increase their sensitivity to punishment by repeatedly fighting.
"Master" provides players with many different functions of punishment, with the functions of pushing, falling, approaching, and swapping positions, which can help them carry out different advantageous rounds.
In the game, putting the opponent to the ground and then chasing is obviously the safest way to attack, but the boss often cannot be put down directly, which is also because the boss will deliberately watch out for the next decision, just as the player will also avoid the sweeping leg. If you want to hit the next three moves, you need to punish your opponent when they show flaws and enter the inferior frame.
And which moves can be punished by which moves, and how to punish to bring the greatest benefit, this is the embodiment of the vertical depth of "Master". The more skilled the player, the more fancy the way to solve and solve the problem, and the more imaginative the series and interactions.
In order to enrich the gameplay, and in order to make the game not limited to games and consecutive segments, but also to have a more interesting gameplay, "Master" has also put a lot of effort into improving the player's sense of comfort. For example, in the area of scene interaction, "Master" can be said to be the most in recent years.
In the game, players can not only carry out different executions according to different scenarios, but also carry out different favorable unfolding according to the terrain of the battlefield. For example, the role of the push palm is to push the opponent away, which can keep a safe distance for yourself when one-to-many, but it can also cause the opponent to increase their own favorable frame on the wall, making them more punished. If you are in a dangerous place such as a cliff, you can make a terrain kill to quickly end the battle.
When facing a battle with a large number of enemies, the enemies caught between the front and back are often a headache, and players can also use dodging to make the attacks of multiple opponents consume internally, giving full play to the advantage of the small number of CQB people. You can even become Jackie Chan, jump up and down in the furniture city, tease your opponents with acrobatic dance moves, and even fly bricks on the spot.
Such flexible and irregular combat is also a unique advantage of "Master" compared to other games on the same track.
In this highly completed and high-quality combat system, what is more artistically pursued is the unique age system of "Master".
Whenever the player dies, the character's age increases by one year, and the increase in age is not only highlighted in appearance, but also in the character's attributes - less health, higher attack power.
Due to the existence of the age system, the fictional layer of "Master" has reached a surprising unity with the gameplay - when you successfully complete the game, the age of the character represents the number of times you die, and look at your appearance, this revenge has led you from a handsome boy to a pale old man, how many years has it been?
Resurrecting the dead is a very mysterious thing, but in this revenge drama, the passage of time makes it seem extraordinarily reasonable. When you stand in front of the final boss and are qualified to take it one-on-one, how much time do you spend in your life, and is it worth it? This slightly psychological question will sublimate the flow of the game at the ending, pushing the simple plot to a climax.
After all, is his life for the attainment of martial arts, or is it just for revenge? Is a martial art to seek the limit, or to take human life? The game gives players full freedom to express their own ideas and implement their own martial arts.
In this immersive kung fu film, I believe that every player will have their own choice. The game also respects the choices of every player - some people are buried in the slums at the age of 20 and do not want to go out of the mountains, some people are still struggling in nightclubs at the age of 70, and some people are reincarnated several times and are no longer willing to live in the world.
So my friend, which one are you?