DNF Duel

Learn how to DNF-up your enemies

- Oscar Taylor-Kent

INFO

FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4

PRICE £44.99

ETA Out now

PUB Neople, Nexon Korea

DEV Arc System Works, Eighting, People

PLAYERS 1-99

LENGTH 1-2 hrs (more in a lobby)

ACCESSIBILITY Simplified controls; subtitles; customisable HUD; remappable controls

Seeing our opponent rev up a big, slamming hammer attack we hit i to dodge through it, closing the gap between us. We hit with a couple of light attacks, transitioning into a heavier one. They’re not blocked, so we know we have room to push a little further. We hit e with a directional input to use one of our fighter’s, the Inquisitor’s, special skills, and she sweeps the enemy into the air. We have MP, so we hit q, deploying a spinning wheel of fire to keep the pain going. This is a fighter about what to do next, without you always having to worry about how.

That short combo is a sequence of events that can occur in just about every fighting game under the sun. Even when the pros play on the big stage or Evo (or on overturned bins if they’re Melty Blood players), what makes a match great isn’t only the skill it takes to make frame-perfect inputs, but also the broader strategies at play. Is it safe to extend a combo? How do we move to position our fighter relative to the reach of our opponent’s? Which special move is the best to use right now?

DO FINISH