A perfect parry freezes the fight. You get 1.4 seconds and one stroke of ink, and the stroke is your attack.
A line cuts through the enemies in its way and hits the first one hardest. A loop around a group hits everyone inside it at once, and the more it holds, the harder it hits. The ink runs out fast, so most of the game is deciding where to spend it.
Parry a little early and you only block: nothing stops, and you still take about a fifth of the hit. Too early or too late and you take the whole hit. There is a white flash just before every attack lands. That flash is the moment, unless the attack is red: then you dodge.
Between parries you can punch too: three hits in a row, and the last one knocks a normal enemy off balance. A boss does not flinch from one punch, and you cannot punch and parry at the same time.
The line and the loop are only the start. A figure eight and a spiral do different things, and some relics only work with one shape. Pick the wrong shape and the stroke does less.
Fifteen floors in three acts. Before most floors you pick one of three doors. The quiet one is easier. The dangerous one has an elite enemy and a better reward. The middle one sometimes asks a price, like 12 max health for good, and you can say no.
Rooms have things in them. Pillars stop your ink, and they break if you hit them enough. Hit a powder barrel with your stroke or a punch and it blows up a moment later. It only hurts enemies. Ring a bell with your stroke and the enemies near it walk to it, so the next loop can catch more of them.
There are eight bosses, and each run you meet three of them, one at the end of each act. A boss attacks in strings of hits, and only a perfect parry on the last hit of a string gives you the stroke. Beat one and you keep its trophy for the rest of the run, and it changes how you play.
After you win, you can climb again at a higher rank. Each rank adds a new rule. Enemies do not just get more health.
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