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| Takeover 2 demo by Rafiki 06/20/2026, 11:02am PDT | ||||
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| A Streets of Rage style beat 'em up with a standard hit counter that awards points the longer you can sustain uninterrupted attacks. To facilitate attack chains, there is a combo system to try and mix up the fact you only have a punch and kick, you can air juggle enemies, the ground is littered with items you can punt across the screen into enemies to knock them down, when enemies are on the ground you can punt them across the screen, wall smashing like so much Guilty Gear when enemies slam into the edge of the screen, enemies can bounce off of other enemies, you can parry incoming attacks, and a special move that detonates the area around you, sending anyone in range flying into the air. And when you just want a goddamn fight to be over, you can pull out a gun and fucking Indiana Jones it.
The weight of your attacks feels perfect. The timing of moves and the subtle pauses when hits connect and enemies slam around the screen satisfy that Bronsonesque revenge fantasy of caving the heads in of those PUNKS. The cel-shaded comic book style looks a little better in motion than in screenshots, but it scores a million points for being a one-man indie game that doesn't use pixel art. The animation is really fluid, particularly with special effects. The downside is that the entire demo takes place in an ugly, boring garbage city. I mean, yeah, it's a stock beat 'em up setting, but a trashed subway station is still the hundred millionth trashed subway station. The screenshots look like there's more variety, including I guess a level in Jurassic Park. The writing is done by some Youtuber so there's a nauseatingly high chance of a "clever girl" joke. :( Your special attack drains a little health, but it drains so little you can spam it like 50 times. That and guns feel really overpowered. When you get to a boss, you can just pull out a gun and stunlock them to death pretty much instantly. The demo is 5 levels, and each level feels shorter than the last. I don't know if this is just for the sake of the demo, but if not it's a little worrying for a game that's supposed to release in September. Might wind up being really short. Finally, despite there being a "combo" system, you still have only two attacks, and I couldn't really make heads or tails about any specific combo chains or why I would even want to bother. There is some enemy variety but combat mostly just ends being about overwhelming enemies with attacks. No real deeper strategy, so the full game might end up being pretty shallow and repetitive. If you try the demo, don't skip the tutorial before you start. It's just a quick text-based tutorial, but it highlights some things you might not realize about combat. |
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Takeover 2 demo by 06/20/2026, 11:02am PDT  T2 (demo) judgement day NT by 06/20/2026, 12:35pm PDT |
