DNF Duel Breaks The Modern Focus of eSports Fighting Games

The fighting game genre has a noticeable presence in the realm of Esports. While first-person shooter and MOBA genres dominate the scene in a team-based setting, fighting games are seen as the ultimate in 1v1 competitive play. Games such as Street Fighter V and Guilty Gear Strive are a few titles that can be frequently seen headlining major tournaments, but DNF Duel is a new one on the scene, and takes a decidedly different turn from its contemporaries that some old-school players may find familiar.

From the very first high-profile event, DNF Duel has proven that competitive-level play is not for the faint of heart. Throughout the tournament there are huge swings in momentum, guard breaks and even one-touch kill combos that keeps the action unpredictable and exciting. Characters such as the Hitman, Swift Master, Grappler and Berserker all show off some absolutely crazy strings of attacks that look nearly unescapable. This is in stark contrast to the aforementioned titles, who have taken a much more balanced approach to their fighting.

Many of the most popular fighting games seen in competition today are built with accessibility in mind. Interviews with Capcom and Arc System Works go into detail about their emphasis on bringing new players into their franchises using various mechanics, such as Guilty Gear Strive’s high damage and wall break mechanic. An interview with the developers of Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite shows that this reaches far deeper into this philosophy of accessibility and while DNF Duel has mechanics that are easy to pick up, when it all comes together it feels very different from fighting games released after Street Fighter V.

DNF Duel has a decidedly old-school feel. Tekken 7 is a game that sticks to its old school roots with its Rage mechanic giving characters a super move and damage buff at low health, though the game could be considered one of the last of its kind as its original arcade release was in 2015. Another game it is most easily compared with ArcSys stablemate Dragon Ball FighterZ, which leverages the over-the-top Dragon Ball action with high octane tag team fighting where up to 4 characters can be on screen at once. While an atmosphere of intensity is to be expected from a tag-team fighter, it is alien to most one on one 2D fighting games.

The insane power levels, unwinnable situations and game-changing Awakening mechanics all seem to be intentional. The unique buffs Awakening gives each character make it deeper than Tekken’s Rage mechanic, which adds further depth to an already tension-filled game. Guard Breaks are intense and oppressive, reminiscent of the guard pressure seen in classic titles such as Street Fighter Alpha 3.

In the first tournament mentioned, we see that characters such as Hitman are able to use their Awakening mode to totally rob his opponents of a win by doing massive damage in a single combo by using the extra hits granted by entering his low HP state. While the strengths of some characters are obvious, the metagame is evolving constantly with each passing tournament and is seeming to be growing into a game that promotes this playstyle of unrelenting aggression. This evolution is possibly seen the most in the games’ boss character, the Lost Warrior.

Top players such as Go1, the #1 ranked console player, have released tier lists with characters such as Swift Master, Kunoichi and Dragon Knight occupying the top slots. While Lost Warrior is unranked on this list, a recent offline tournament proved how powerful this character can be. During the Grand Finals of this DNF Duel event, the casters can be heard remarking that the player using Lost Warrior thinks he is “a bad character” and discuss the various weaknesses surrounding him. The player using Lost Warrior, Shatani, goes on to win the tournament decisively using the time-stopping power of the character.

Lost Warrior is, in essence, an incredibly hard skill check for a player. While the options the character has are limited and his movement speed is slow, he forces the opponent to act by using attacks that can hit you from anywhere on the screen. While in Awakening mode, Lost Warrior will stop time during his combos for a near-guaranteed kill set up. This idea of balance is very alien to modern fighting games and while DNF Duel has controls that are very beginner-friendly, the gameplay itself is proving to be anything but.

If you’d like a taste of this concept first hand, the online ranked mode of the game is a great place to experience it. The game allows players to skip ahead to a slightly elevated rank, placing you just below Gold, if you fancy yourself an experienced fighting game player. Choosing this will thrust you immediately into a pool of players honing these types of combos and while they are very flashy and fun to pull off, it can be rough being on the receiving end of one of them. It can be even more frustrating for players who are used to fighting game balance of the last five to six years.

While the developers have patched out elements such as infinite combos that have been found in beta tests, DNF Duel is certainly a game that pushes the player’s perception of what balance means. It’s an interesting take and an exciting one to watch being played in a tournament, the leap to a competitive level is one that also looks rather daunting even for someone looking to just play a few matches of online ranked play. However, this is a jarring switch from games that focus on the ability for a wider audience to jump into the more competitive side of the action, even if the trials in the game do a good job of showing the player how to exploit their favorite characters’ greatest strengths.

DNF Duel is perceived as a game made for hardcore audiences only, and while it’s headlining the Arc World Tour 2022 with a $200,000 pot, only time will tell if this method of embracing an all-or-nothing style of balance will work out.

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