Poly Fighter Early Access Preview-Building Muscle Through RNG

poly fighter Poly Fighter Early Access Preview-Building Muscle Through RNG – Photo: CGMagazineI remember when I first saw Poly Fighter appear on one of my socials. My love for fighting games had just been rekindled by Street Fighter 6, and its central hook-a tournament fighting roguelike-genuinely intrigued me. It's kind of a tired joke now that one of the safer genres in the indie space is the roguelike, since you can leave a lot of design decisions to the roll of a dice, but if done right, a creative developer can do something really fun with it.

Poly Fighter isn't a flawless victory, but it certainly has the potential to become the next king of the ring. It blends genres that, on paper, shouldn't really work, yet it delivers a genuinely engaging experience. While it's not as complex as some of the more dedicated fighters in the genre, the way it challenges you to constantly think about the next fight makes it one of the more interesting ones.

"In what is a bit of a double-edged sword, Poly Fighter doesn't really overwhelm the player with choices."

As I said, Poly Fighter takes the form of a fighting roguelike, where players face off against opponents, choosing how to progress along a path of potential fights, upgrades, or events. Each new fight offers a chance to steal a move from a defeated opponent, so players constantly have opportunities to change their playstyle or choose options that may give them an edge in battle. A fighter that starts with a basic backstep might gain an instant teleport, or a standard Shoryuken may become a 2-hit Flash Kick.

Each fighter also has different abilities and perks, so how players begin a run will shape how they build their characters. In what is a bit of a double-edged sword, Poly Fighter doesn't really overwhelm the player with choices. They can gain specials or super moves across four slots or apply elemental effects to specials, but players don't need to consider stat upgrades or any more complex RPG elements in how they construct their fighter. And while this is certainly good for onboarding new or inexperienced players, I couldn't help but feel like it would've gone a long way toward deepening Poly Fighter's unique mechanics.

Most fighting games have hidden stats among their characters that players need to learn and adapt to. Zangief hits WAY harder than Chun-Li, for example, but he is more restricted to grapple moves, while she has a far more robust moveset and is better at closing distance. Letting players enhance stats like strength, speed, or HP would let them build fun builds around abilities that suit them and make this purely single-player fighter way more fun.

Not only that, I was a little let down by Poly Fighter's simplistic basic moveset-only light, medium, and heavy attacks, plus a separate button for specials. Again, it's good for introducing less seasoned fighting game players to the experience, but the lack of a more standard six-button control scheme-light, medium, and heavy punches, as well as kicks-would open the game up much more and allow for more creative combo potential. Because of its simplistic controls, the game feels so much more stiff and restrictive than it needs to be, and can sometimes feel like its eating inputs.

"Heartloop Games has really created something special here and laid the foundation for something even better."

However, Poly Fighter makes up for this with an abundance of style, feeling like a cross between a modern fighting game and a low-poly PSX-era one. The high-definition models and detailed lighting, combined with the low-poly square-shading effect and detailing, make the characters look almost like action figures in a really interesting, fun way. And the use of bright colours and flashy particle effects gives the game a 90s aesthetic that's hard not to fall in love with. Add in some fun music and cheesy voice-lines, and you've got a fighting game that's definitely prioritizing fun over complexity.

Since it's still in Early Access, Poly Fighter has plenty of room to grow and get even more interesting. Heartloop Games has really created something special here and laid the foundation for something even better. Hopefully, if they're receptive to player feedback, they can build something amazing on top of it that doesn't end up being their final fight.