The arrival of the open beta on PS4 and PS5 allowed us to preview DNF Duel, the new fighting game from Arc System Works
These days we have been playing the open beta public of DNF Duel, the new fighting game from Arc System Works, which we are ready to talk about in this preview. First the title is published by Nexon, a Korean giant that has numerous titles to its credit, all mainly online. DNF Duel is in fact based on their game, that is Dungeon Fighter Online, a title that arrived in South Korea in 2005 and has continued to entertain millions of players around the world for 16 years.
The title is basically a 2D scrolling fighting game with marked RPG elements, in particular a skill system similar to that of some MMORPGs such as WoW. Our test took place on one PS5, one of the platforms, along with PS4 and PC, on which the fighting game will arrive inestate 2022, as announced in the latest trailer.
Classes galore
DNF Duel had been previewed just a year ago, during December 2020, but little was known about the title. Arc System Works in fact then focused on bringing out Guilty Gear Strive, a fighting game released during the early summer that had a great success, so much so that it even won the best fighting game of the year award at The Game Awards. In the last few weeks though DNF Duel is back in vogue thanks to several trailers that introduced us to the gameplay and characters.
During the open beta it was possible to try well 10 different characters, but we already know, from the trailer announcing its launch next summer, that a new character will arrive called Ghostblade, a warrior who fights with a kind of spirit armed with a katana. The fighters present in the beta are inspired by the classes of the original video game, which in turn represent the most disparate classes present in many RPGs, ranging from classic warriors from a fantasy setting, to others more modern such as the Hitman.
The characters that we have been able to try are: the Berserker, able to tear his opponents to pieces with his greatsword and battle frenzy; there Striker and the Grapplerfast and powerful hand-to-hand fighters; L’Hitman, able to fight with a sword and a machine gun at the same time; The Ranger, expert shooter equipped with two pistols capable of hitting at full screen; there Kunoichi, very agile and able to use techniques of disappearance and fire; The Crusader, very slow and strong character who fights with a giant hammer and some sacred spells; L’Inquisitor, gifted with excellent range with her two-handed ax and other insidious skills; there Dragon Knight, very agile fighter who uses sword and shield and is accompanied by a small dragon that she can use in battle; the Vanguard, powerful warrior with a long spear that allows him to have an enormous range of action.
The characters are all interesting, each with its strengths and weaknesses. Some were significantly more approachable than others, being more effective in battle thanks to one greater accessibility of the moves. Unfortunately, lacking a single player training section in the beta, it was difficult to understand the full potential of each of the 10 fighters, especially due to only two days of beta. The roster is however already quite vario, and we’re curious to know how many more characters will be added before the title’s release.
A fighting game for everyone – DNF Duel preview
Trying DNF Duel it was clear how far Arc System Works is progressing in simplify more and more the structure of his new fighting games. From Dragon Ball FighterZ to Granblue Fantasy Versus, the titles made by the Japanese software house have become increasingly accessible for the execution of commands and internal mechanics. Of course, obviously the pro players always know how to pull out maneuvers that are unthinkable for newbies, but in this way the fighting games have also opened up to a wider audience, which perhaps previously avoided them precisely due to the complexity of some mechanics. Guilty Gear Strive, although much simplified compared to the previous chapters, is the only one to maintain a greater complexity due to its historical heritage.
DNF Duel has some extremely simple moves in execution. In fact, we have a button for light attacks and one for heavy ones, one for skills, that is special moves that change depending on the directional to which we associate the command, and one for attacks that use MP, that is the Magic Point. These are the most powerful and are not abusable, as they consume MP and we will have to wait for it to recharge to reuse them. These also change based on the direction pressed together. There will finally be a final attack, which can only be activated when we have low health, which if it hits will start a spectacular movie in which our character will perform his most powerful blow inflicting huge damage to enemies.
In addition to that, the title also has a mechanic linked to the HP that automatically regenerate the missing white part. The mechanic called is entrusted to this feature Conversion, which sacrifices the white part for MP and which can also be inserted between attacks to unleash even more advanced combos. The title therefore proves to be the classic easy to learn, but difficult to master typical of fighting games created by Arc System Works.
Awesome Graphics – DNF Duel Preview
Arc System Works has now got us used to fighting games from amazing graphics, and also DNF Duel, as we noticed during the test for this preview, is no exception. The title does not reach the levels of Guilty Gear Strive in terms of graphic beauty, but it undoubtedly is on par with Granblue Fantasy Versus, a two-year-old title from Arc System Works, with really well done anime-style graphics. The characters, animations and special effects of each move are a real feast for the eyes, and the frame rate remains fixed at 60 FPS without any drop in any situation. The arenas are also very beautiful to look at, and, as the software house has accustomed us by now, full of details to discover positioned on the beautiful 3D backgrounds.
During the beta it was only possible to try the online mode of the game, and as regards the system that manages the multiplayer we know that it is the Rollback Netcode, new system that is a godsend for fighting games, since it allows you to play with almost no latency in the commands or lag. The matches in DNF Duel are in fact spun smooth and without lag problems o command input delay.
Not being able to see the origin of our opponents, we do not know if we were limited only to facing European players or if there were also from overseas, but in any case we have never had problems with slowdowns or lag during our challenges. The only problem was due to several disconnections both in the game rooms and in the middle of the fighting, probably due to some server stability issues and not of connection, but on the other hand the purpose of this open beta was probably to verify this type of problem.
Conclusions
After trying the beta of DNF Duel, we can say that the new Arc System Works fighting game already proves to be a high quality title to keep an eye on. Despite being based on a brand not very famous in the West, the simple mechanics, a fun gameplay and many very varied characters among them, make it already a good fighting game to keep an eye on waiting for it to officially come out in the summer of 2022 as announced in the latest trailer released.
While waiting for further news on DNF Duel, keep following us here on TechGameWorld.com. Furthermore, in case you want to buy some games at an advantageous price, we suggest you take a look at the many offers on Instant Gaming.