Dark Samurai: The First Duel
By @zxc
Master the blade in this intense samurai dueling game where you time attacks, blocks, and skills to defeat increasingly difficult foes.
How to play
- Move left and right to manage your distance from the enemy.
- Tap the attack button to strike, or hold block to defend against incoming attacks.
- Use your three character-specific skills when their cooldowns finish.
- Defeat the enemy to earn coins and progress to the next stage.
- Spend coins in the training hall to upgrade your stats.
Controls
- Touch
- Use the left virtual joystick to move, and tap the right-side buttons to attack, block, and use skills.
- Keyboard
- Use A/D or Left/Right arrows to move, Space to attack, Shift or B to block, and 1, 2, 3 for skills.
- Mouse
- Click the on-screen buttons to attack, block, and activate skills, though keyboard or touch is recommended for movement.
More about this game
Your goal is to clear five stages of deadly opponents in one-on-one combat. The core loop involves managing distance, blocking incoming strikes, and unleashing timed attacks and character-specific skills. As you progress, enemies become faster, more aggressive, and gain complex attack patterns. Between stages, you can spend earned coins to upgrade your health, attack, defense, skill power, and energy. A run ends when your health reaches zero or you defeat the final boss.
Tips
- Save up 40 coins for your first upgrade, as costs increase progressively up to 220 coins for the final level 6 upgrade.
- Each character plays differently; the Shadow Assassin has a high speed of 1.48 but only 0.88 HP scaling, making evasion crucial compared to the Oni Warrior's 1.35 HP scaling.
- Manage your skill cooldowns carefully. Tier 1 skills like Quick Draw have a short 2.25-second cooldown, while powerful tier 2 skills like Heaven's Cleave take 8 seconds to recharge.
Questions
How many characters can I play as?
There are four warriors available from the start: the balanced Ronin, the heavy Oni Warrior, the fast Shadow Assassin, and the War Monk who excels at reach. Each has unique weapons, stats, and three specific combat skills.
How many stages are in the game?
There are five stages to conquer. You start fighting a basic Bandit on Easy difficulty, and progress through increasingly difficult foes until you face The Fallen Shogun boss on Expert difficulty in stage 5.
What do the training hall upgrades do?
Upgrades improve your base stats across all stages. You can spend coins to increase your maximum Health, Attack damage, Defense reduction, Skill Power, and Energy (which reduces skill cooldown times) up to a maximum of level 6.