Imagine if Sekiro’s combat had a baby with Fable’s charm and somehow Pirates of the Caribbean were the surrogate, En Garde! would be that game.

You follow? I’m going to assume you do and plow on regardless.

En Garde! is a relatively slight little game where you play as a swashbuckling freedom-fighter type, equipped with snappy one liners, a great outfight and of course, a kick-ass sword. It’s set in a delightfully bright world full of breakable pots, fireable cannons and throwable lanterns.

The core of the game however, is it’s swordplay. And this is where the game’s comparison to Sekiro comes in. You see, the core combat loop is basically the same. Lots of parrying, a little dodging unavoidable attacks and then striking when the enemy is in their dazed state. And much like Sekiro, it’s super addictive.

I’m roughly half-way through the game now (it’s only about 4 hours long), and I’m having an absolute blast.

I’ve not seen many people talking about this, which is a shame as I think this may end up in my top 5 year of the year.