A stunning little action RPG crept onto Steam last month, and after some small wobbles at launch, it's stabilized with hundreds of very positive user reviews.
Lunarium, from developer Lunariumstudio (per its English Steam profile), is a lush isometric game about two girls on a starcrossed journey. Its deflect-driven combat drew comparisons to action greats like Nier: Automata and, especially, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice at launch, and director Jixiang tells me they're "very honored" to hear them.
"Both of those games were important references and learning resources for us during development, and they're also games that many members of our team really love as players," Jixiang explains.
"Sekiro in particular has been a major source of inspiration. I think Sekiro's combat system is a remarkable refinement and innovation on the ideas established by the earlier Souls games. The more you study it, the more you appreciate how sophisticated and carefully designed it is.
"I believe Sekiro's combat system is something that any developer interested in making action games can learn a great deal from."
Alongside the massive collective fandom of Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring, Sekiro has cultivated a particularly devoted community which not-unreasonably holds it up as the pinnacle of action combat design. Just as Dark Souls shaped a generation of dark fantasy RPGs, Sekiro's ripples are seen in Nine Sols and, arguably, the likes of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (which is due a sequel, by the way).
Even compared to the Souls games, Sekiro was even stricter in how it presents challenges to players: it's you, a sword, and a boss. You cannot out-think Sekiro the same way you can some other FromSoftware games; you can only learn to keep up with its tempo. Lunarium is intentionally broader in its buildcrafting, with a clever embroidery system adding abilities via the main character's cloak.
Jixiang examines the ideal difficulty for an action RPG like this. "I think the game should require players to attempt challenges repeatedly in order to feel a sense of difficulty, while still providing clear ways for them to overcome those challenges," Jixiang says.
"For example, players might be able to adjust their build, or temporarily focus on other areas to gain additional stats and become stronger. Alternatively, repeated attempts should allow players to gradually recognize and learn the clear patterns and ways to deal with certain enemies.
"The game should reward players for becoming more skilled at playing it, but it shouldn't demand an extremely high level of mechanical mastery just to progress."
The presence of RPG elements like customization will naturally impact each player's perception of the difficulty curve, and it's here that Jixiang prefers to hedge.
"To be honest, we don't feel that we achieved a perfect balance in terms of difficulty and progression," Jixiang explains. "After launch, we've continued to receive feedback that the game's difficulty curve isn't ideal.
"Personally, my final preference is that if we don't have enough confidence in our difficulty design, I'd rather let the game lean toward being somewhat too easy once players have gained enough power. I think the negative experience caused by making the game unnecessarily difficult can be worse, while allowing players to become stronger can also give them a greater sense of progression and growth.
"That said, we're still working toward a more appropriate difficulty curve, and we've continued adjusting it based on player feedback since launch."
