POLY FIGHTER

Fight like a Rogue

Developer/ publisher HeartLoop Games Format PC Origin Canada Release TBA

Different moves have visible elemental debuffs, such as slowing opponents with ice or burning them so they’re gradually losing health

Tzerov can transform into a tiger, but if another fighter steals his perk, they transform into a different kind of beast

Since you can steal an opponent’s moves, when characters call out an attack, its phrasing is more universal, such as Imani’s “secret super technique”

Just when we thought every conceivable genre had been given the Roguelike treatment, along comes Poly Fighter. Here it’s the turn of the traditionally competitive fighting game to fit the format, switching stance to focus on solo play but with more replayable variations than the average arcade or survival mode. Creative director Osama Dorias has had the concept in mind since the Roguelike became a multi-genre venture, he tells us: “I’ve been Googling it for over a decade and just never found one.” Having spent that time at triple-A studios, including WB Montreal and Blizzard, he, along with a “small but mighty” team, decided it was time to take the challenge on for themselves, forming HeartLoop Games last December. Like many who grew up in the ’90s, Dorias’ introduction to fighting games was Street Fighter II in the arcades, although he also has “an insatiable hunger for especially obscure fighting games”, and those influences bleed into Poly Fighter, sometimes in unexpected ways. From the four selectable fighters in the test build, Hiro appears to be your go-to shoto fighter, but it’s actually rushdown-based Adrian whose special resembles a dragon punch. Then you have grappler Zverov, whose beast-transformation ability is inspired by Bloody Roar, while the roster’s low-poly aesthetic recalls other early 3D fighting series.