A stunning little action RPG crept onto Steam last month, and after some small wobbles at launch, it's stabilized with hundreds of very positive user reviews.
Lunarium, from developer Lunariumstudio (per its English Steam profile), is a lush isometric game about two girls on a starcrossed journey. Its deflect-driven combat drew comparisons to action greats like Nier: Automata and, especially, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice at launch, and director Jixiang tells me they're "very honored" to hear them.
"Both of those games were important references and learning resources for us during development, and they're also games that many members of our team really love as players," Jixiang explains.
"Sekiro in particular has been a major source of inspiration. I think Sekiro's combat system is a remarkable refinement and innovation on the ideas established by the earlier Souls games. The more you study it, the more you appreciate how sophisticated and carefully designed it is.
"I believe Sekiro's combat system is something that any developer interested in making action games can learn a great deal from."
Alongside the massive collective fandom of Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring, Sekiro has cultivated a particularly devoted community which not-unreasonably holds it up as the pinnacle of action combat design. Just as Dark Souls shaped a generation of dark fantasy RPGs, Sekiro's ripples are seen in Nine Sols and, arguably, the likes of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (which is due a sequel, by the way).
Even compared to the Souls games, Sekiro was even stricter in how it presents challenges to players: it's you, a sword, and a boss.
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