Punch Planet is a good-looking 2D indie fighting game created by a three man studio that includes a Double Fine designer. The game will hit Early Access on November 8, and you’ll be able to duke it out online with four playable characters, one of which is simply called ‘Dog’, which made me giggle.
I’m not normally into fighting games but I’m digging the futuristic sci-fi art style, and the animations look fluid. On first glance its mechanics are pretty deep and largely based around ‘time cancelling’, which uses energy but allows you to cancel attacks and dashes and block enemy moves. It has all the air attacks, juggles, throws and special moves that you’d expect from a competitive fighter: if you want to know more about the mechanics, click here.
The Early Access version will come with 1v1 local and online multiplayer and a training mode complete with hitbox viewers. The team plans to add single player Arcade and Trials modes as well as a story campaign centered around Roy, an undercover detective who has been framed for murder and is on a quest to track down the real killer.
Sector-K Games also plan to add more arenas (the Early Access version will have three) and four more characters, including a ripped, grinning green alien that can be seen at 0:47 in the video at the top of this post.
There’s no release date yet—the team say all eight characters will be ready by the end of this year but polishing the final product could take up to further year. No word on pricing for the Early Access version either, although the developer says the price will gradually rise as more features are added.
Check out the Steam page here.