I was already impressed by this nuke-parrying soulslike, and that was before I found out it has entire cities that you can just miss

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Make sure you explore as well as fight

A humaoid machine stands on the edge of a hill overlooking towers and bridges set against an overcast, gloomy sky
(Image credit: PyroLith)

If you don't know about V.A Proxy, the soulslike where you can parry a nuclear blast or the very earth you walk on, now you do. It's already won us over with its stunning visuals and frenetic combat, and solo developer Pyro Lith has just revealed that it also has entire cities you can miss. I love it.

I'm a big fan of soulslike games and V.A Proxy ticks all the right boxes. Set within a "dynamic megastructure, it follows the story of three machines that seek freedom as they fall deeper into the guts of this world." Sign me up.

People like to focus on the combat of soulslikes, and while that's obviously an incredibly important factor, so is the exploration and sense of discovery. Parrying the ground is cool and all, but I want to know why I'm doing that, what's the story of the world I'm in?

It seems like we'll get to learn more about the world when the game comes out, as Pyro Lith shared a video of "wall market, a city inside a crack in a foundational wall that stretches for over a mile illuminated by the spine of something even longer". It looks like a bustling place inhabited by mechanical denizens and industrial architecture. It's also "one of the many missable locations" in V.A Proxy.

It takes some confidence for a developer to be willing to create entire areas we could miss, but that's what makes each playthrough of a game like this special. We all come away with a different experience.

While I'm clearly impressed by this game, its developer is also amazed by everyone playing it. You're all pulling off moves they "can't even begin to understand," and they coded everything.

If you want to know more, you can wishlist V.A Proxy on Steam.

Since there's no release date for V.A Proxy just yet, here are some of the best action games you can play right now while you wait. None of them let your parry nukes, though, sorry.

Issy van der Velde
Issy van der Velde
Contributor

I'm Issy, a freelancer who you'll now occasionally see over here covering news on GamesRadar. I've always had a passion for playing games, but I learned how to write about them while doing my Film and TV degrees at the University of Warwick and contributing to the student paper, The Boar. After university I worked at TheGamer before heading up the news section at Dot Esports. Now you'll find me freelancing for Rolling Stone, NME, Inverse, and many more places. I love all things horror, narrative-driven, and indie, and I mainly play on my PS5. I'm currently clearing my backlog and loving Dishonored 2.