I first saw footage of Genokids a couple of years ago. To be blunt, there’s a dearth of spectacle fighters and, when we do get them, they’re usually pretty subpar compared to the more beloved genre entries. This one, however, looked to be different. The game is set to spend at least a couple more years in Early Access, as this launch only contains full access to two of the game’s characters and its first act of three. There’s a hell of a lot to like about it, to be certain, but I also found some issues that diminished my enjoyment as I familiarised myself, which really came to a head in the act’s boss battle. The question stands, though – is Genokids worth it in Early Access?
To start with the good, Genokids has smooth, satisfying gameplay that compares favourably to some of the greats. It’s built around switching between characters, all with their own weapons and skills. Basic attacks boil down to a standard combo string and a launcher, which takes you and your foes upward as you knock them around. It’s smooth and intuitive, although the lack of multiple weapon combos is a bit disappointing. The enemy variety is surprisingly robust already, with multiple different types that require their own strategies. There’s also a fair amount of platforming, including an unlockable double jump, an air dash, and some wall climbing.
The first level (of seven currently) has you swap between all four characters, who make up the titular band. Weirdly, they’re all known by what colour they are instead of having names. I didn’t like this, as it makes the characters seem more generic. I’m not sure if they canonically have names either. After the first level, you’re put in control of Blue, whose guitar turns into a sword. You start accruing currency (purple orbs called Ego,) which you can use to buy upgrades and new skills. Skills are powered with a certain number of bars on a gauge that’s built up and these are your primary damage dealers.
I don’t really care for this style of gameplay versus focusing on actually fighting. You can pull yourself to an enemy with the left trigger to chase them, but Genokids is very much a “wail on them, use a skill, and repeat” kind of game. You can also block enemy attacks and dodge, although blocking is far more useful. If you block the first string of an enemy combo, you’ll block the rest of the combo as well. Dodging, on the other hand, feels borderline useless at times. You can perfect block enemy attacks, but doing so doesn’t seem to actually serve a real purpose for melee hits, as it only deflects ranged attacks.
The single most aggravating thing about the game relates to enemy attacks too. Enemies give off a red flash if their attack can be blocked, or a blue one if it can only be dodged. But there are no attack indicators if enemies are offscreen. Considering how often you’ll find yourself fighting in the air and being shot at by ranged enemies, this means that I frequently found myself getting hit by enemies that were offscreen, as there’s nothing to warn you that you’re about to take damage from enemies that aren’t in frame. This has a fairly easy fix, thankfully, as red or blue arrows indicating attacks would allow you to cancel out of your attacks with a block or dodge if needed.
Speaking of blocking, pulling off a perfect guard isn’t emphasised as much as I’d like and, since dodging doesn’t grant you as many invincibility frames as you might expect, your defensive capabilities can feel lacking. The kicker is that any enemy hit will temporarily stun you, as Genokids wants you to swap to another character to keep moving without issue. This is immediate and your previous character remains in the field for a moment after their replacement drops in. The problem with this is that swapping is mapped to the d-pad, so you need to move your left thumb to the pad and then back to the stick every time you get hit. If you don’t, you’ll be hit by every remaining move if that first hit was part of a combo.
To me, a lot of this feels like the characters have had their basic functionality lessened solely to emphasise the character swapping. It’s novel, but it results in making Genokids feel worse than its inspirations in some ways. This all comes to a head in the act’s boss battle, which is an enormous difficulty spike of a skill check that will not let you pass until you learn how to play the game exactly as it wishes you to. It has two phases – the first of which is easy enough that I can get through it without taking damage, while the second one has combos that will practically melt you if you make a single mistake.
Say you get struck by the first hit of one of the boss’s combos. Unless you want to get locked into it, you need to press the correct d-pad direction to swap to the other character and then immediately block (dodging will likely just get you hit again.) Depending on the move they’ve used, you might not even have time to hit the boss before they use their next attack. It’s way too demanding for how early in the game it is and, honestly, it’s kind of unfair in spots, even considering how grossly overpowered blocking can be. It’s a fairly poorly designed fight that left me with a sour taste in my mouth.
Overall, I do like a lot of what Genokids offers, but it left me feeling frustrated a fair amount of the time. Combined with the fact that the currently available act will take about two-to-three hours, it becomes harder to say that the game is indeed worth it in Early Access, even if certain aspects of it (including the cutscenes and voice acting, in addition to the general game-feel and how innovative the switching mechanic is) definitely impress.
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