Asura's Trial

While rough around the edges, Asura's Trial is a respectable effort from a first time solo developer. The content on offer is worth the price of admission, and a depth and challenge can be found if you can look past the rough interface and figure out the mechanics. The game would do well with a comprehensive tutorial of the mechanics on offer, but as it stands if you take the time there is fun to be had here.

The difficulty spike in this game is intense, and the UI is clunky and unforgiving. Pressing Esc will exit your current battle without any warning for example. The tutorials are just 3 videos by someone with a heavy accent going over the interface in the most complicated fashion. The battles start dead easy, but then they get crazy intense and practically impossible without heavy experimentation. Feels too difficult at early levels. The arrow inputs are creative, but they feel pretty cumbersome and pointless at first glance. That aspect of the game actually makes a lot of sense as you play further. Overall, it feels like something out of the 90s Flash era of browser-based gaming except it costs money. I personally didn't enjoy the game, but if it looks enjoyable to you, it's cheap and not much of an investment.