Dark Light: Survivor vs Daba: Land of Water Scar

• Perspective: Dynamic Multi-Camera (Top-Down, TPS, Overwatch)
• Key Feature: Tri-Elemental Synergy Combat System
• Modding Engine: BepInEx Framework / XMODhub Trainers
• Progression Style: Run-based economy with permanent cross-dimensional upgrades

• Combat System: Kinetic R2-Counter & Groggy Meter System
• Lore Foundation: Tibetan and Mosuo Mythology
• Match Structure: Single-Player Story Campaign
• World Design: Interconnected Non-Linear Biomes

• Energy Cells: Dropped dynamically during runs; required to physically summon the Phantom Train for extraction.
• Void Marks: Earned by surviving Void Fractured Realm events; used for permanent Nexus Hold enhancements.
• Void Stones: Extremely rare currency from Fractured Realms used to buy endgame drones and cosmetic armor.

• Water Fragments: Hidden across the interconnected biomes, used to upgrade baseline attributes.
• Soul Fragments: Remnants of fallen gods found by exploring or defeating powerful enemies, used for premium skill trees.

• Void Reaver: Melee/Ranged Hybrid
  S-Tier weapon with innate infinite piercing mechanics and immense critical scaling; requires lifesteal investment.
• Plasma Repeater: Ranged Firearm
  S-Tier crowd control tool featuring an exceptionally high fire rate and localized knockback.
• Thermal Cannon: Heavy Ranged
  A-Tier weapon delivering massive Area of Effect damage; ideal for farming but suffers from slow projectile velocity.
• Lightning Staff: Magic/Elemental
  Fires three lightning strikes per attack, essential for triggering 'Superconduct' elemental chaining synergies.
• Alien/Cursed Armaments: Unique/Artifact
  Immensely powerful weaponry that applies severe curses to the player, requiring specific build mitigation.

• Twin Blades: Dual Curved Swords
  Adan's signature weapons, perfectly optimized for rapid strike animations to capitalize on brief vulnerability windows.
• Heavy Cudgel: Two-Handed Blunt Weapon
  Massive instruments designed to deal extreme poise damage and rapidly fill the Groggy Meter of armored foes.
• Straight Sword and Shield: One-Handed/Defensive
  A conservative approach offering high survivability for players prioritizing blocking over frame-perfect R2 counters.
• Dedicated Bow: Ranged Weapon
  An agile weapon facilitating a ranged playstyle to harass enemies and handle threats utilizing extreme verticality.

• Energy Shield: Enhances defensive knockback frequency by 200%; pairs with Pulse Shotgun for the 'Iron Curtain' synergy.
• Knight's Heavy Plating: Base armor for the Order of The Sunken Light; offers high physical mitigation but reduces mobility.

Character progression in Dark Light: Survivor requires an advanced understanding of the game's internal mathematics, particularly the Synergy Engine and 'Bucket Multiplier' system. Players cannot rely solely on flat damage; optimization requires balancing Piercing, Projectile Count, and Cooldown Reduction. The Synergy Engine utilizes an elemental tagging system where applying a specific status (e.g., Burn) allows secondary elements (e.g., Shock) to trigger devastating compound reactions like the armor-shredding 'Superconduct.' A major late-game mechanic is the God Skill Mutation system. Once a core skill reaches level 10, it mutates to handle endless scaling. For example, Thundering Halo evolves from orbiting defensive orbs into an active Chain Lightning caster, while Flame Shield actively summons rotating, independent flaming skulls. Upgrades are purchased between runs at the Nexus Hold using Energy Shards and Void Marks, granting permanent stat boosts and unlocking powerful endgame drones.

Progression in Daba: Land of Water Scar is intrinsically linked to two primary collectible resources scattered throughout its labyrinthine world: Water Fragments and Soul Fragments. Water Fragments, acting as a crucial currency in a drought-stricken world, are primarily utilized for upgrading the Clayman's baseline attributes, including maximum health, stamina capacity, and charge capacity. Soul Fragments, the literal remnants of fallen gods, function as premium crafting materials. Absorbing these divine shards allows players to unlock advanced nodes on extensive skill trees, enhancing the Clayman's dual combat stances and powerful charge skills. Mastery involves upgrading the Groggy Meter system, extending the vulnerability windows of parried enemies, and unlocking hyper-lethal variants of standard attacks, allowing players to fine-tune their build for either heavy, blunt-force trauma or agile, bow-integrated engagements.

The game currently features three meticulously designed, procedurally generated base maps, each presenting distinct environmental hazards and complex enemy compositions. 'Ruined Town' is an urban decay environment plagued by parasitic zombies where tight alleyways heavily emphasize the need for piercing weaponry. 'Cursed Castle Ruins' offers a gothic architectural nightmare engulfed by the Dark Void, featuring intense verticality and numerous line-of-sight blockers. 'Frozen Battlefield' is a desolate wasteland littered with ancient warships and haunted by massive insectoid beasts requiring heavy Area of Effect damage. Furthermore, the game introduces 'Void Fractured Realm' events. After specific milestones, maps enter a Fractured state, drastically shifting atmospheric rendering and core rulesets. This introduces Elemental Surges (like Arc or Blight Surges) and Otherworld Incursions, cross-pollinating enemies from different biomes and creating unpredictable, highly lethal battlefields that ultimately reward players with premium Void currencies.

Daba: Land of Water Scar completely abandons the linear 'hub-and-spoke' map design in favor of a massive, labyrinthine, highly interconnected topographical structure. The architectural epicenter is the ancient city of Guge, a sprawling ruined metropolis from which players navigate outward and downward. Distinct, seamless biomes present unique traversal challenges and atmospheric pressures. Players will explore the Vast Rift Valley with its deep canyons, the claustrophobic and tension-inducing Gloomy Prison, the wide-open and desolate Expansive Snowfield, and the lethal, overgrown Deadly Forest. Furthermore, late-game progression hints at a breathtaking Floating City. The structural logic heavily relies on cyclical exploration and backtracking; acquiring new physical capabilities or knowledge opens previously inaccessible pathways, rewarding meticulous exploration and intense curiosity.

• Giant Insect Boss: Mutated Insectoid
  Major Boss on the Frozen Battlefield utilizing swarm tactics.
• Parasitic Zombies: Infected Humanoid
  Standard swarm enemies found aggressively populating the Ruined Town biome.

• Void Operative: Ranged/Mobility Class
  S-Tier class dominating the meta with extreme versatility, balanced offense, and exceptional movement skills.
• Order of The Sunken Light: Melee/Heavy Knight Class
  A-Tier class with robust early survival and direct blocking, but struggles with sluggishness in the late game.
• Dimensage: Mage/Glass Cannon Class
  B-Tier class outputting massive elemental AoE damage, but highly vulnerable during cooldowns and boss fights.
• Zen: Merchant NPC
  A specialized merchant stationed aboard the Phantom Train dealing in unique gear and rare modifications.

• Phantom Train Extraction: Endless Mode Survival / Extraction
  Locate the Reactor, gather Energy Cells, summon the train, and escape before the boss fully materializes.
• Fractured Realm Incursion: High-Risk Event
  Survive extreme Elemental Surges and elite invasions to harvest premium Void Marks and Void Stones.
• Defeat the Void Sentinel: Major Boss Hunt
  Eliminate the major boss by utilizing high Shock damage and mastering i-frame dodges against its 360-degree laser.

• Navigate the Ancient City of Guge: Main Scenario
  Explore the massive, labyrinthine ruined metropolis to unlock new biomes and pathways.
• Reforge the Divine Soul: Overarching Campaign Objective
  Hunt down scattered traces of water and the shattered souls of fallen gods to decide the fate of the world.
• Survive the Gloomy Prison: Biome Progression
  Navigate a dark, claustrophobic subterranean sector filled with ambush mechanics and corrupted entities.

As of the September 2026 build, Dark Light: Survivor is strictly a single-player experience, focusing heavily on intense, localized survival mechanics, ARPG loot hoarding, and individual skill expression. The engine's capability to render thousands of dynamic projectiles and complex AI pathing algorithms currently utilizes the entirety of the host machine's processing power, making traditional network synchronization highly difficult. Despite the lack of synchronous co-op or player-versus-player combat, the game fosters a highly active community through asynchronous competition. Players constantly theory-craft and share complex synergy builds, map routing strategies, and God Skill Mutation combinations on forums and Discord servers. While Mirari&Co. has not officially confirmed synchronous cooperative multiplayer for the 1.0 release, there is immense community demand for integrated online leaderboards, daily challenge seeds, and asynchronous 'ghost' data to further incentivize competitive extraction runs in the newly implemented Endless Mode.

In an industry heavily saturated with live-service multiplayer models, Daba: Land of Water Scar firmly roots itself in the tradition of purely solitary, premium single-player action RPGs. The game does not feature traditional co-op or competitive PvP modes. The narrative tension is built entirely upon the artificiality, isolation, and lack of intrinsic agency experienced by Adan, the Clayman, a theme that would be significantly diluted by the presence of other players. However, considering its Soulslike lineage, it is entirely possible that the game might incorporate asynchronous multiplayer elements in the future—such as player-left warning messages, bloodstains showing how other players perished in treacherous areas like the Gloomy Prison, or spectral remnants offering subtle clues to hidden Water Fragments.

Dark Light: Survivor launched into Steam Early Access on May 14, 2026, utilizing a highly transparent development model. The base game is priced at $16.99 USD, though Mirari&Co. frequently offers a promotional discount dropping the entry price to approximately $13.08 USD. The studio has successfully maximized market visibility through targeted cross-promotional bundles. Players can purchase the 'Dark Light Franchise Bundle' (including the original 2022 Metroidvania), the 'Dark Light: Survivor x Arms of God' package, and the 'Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel' crossover bundle. The development team has projected an Early Access phase lasting between 12 and 18 months. Crucially, they have strategically planned a 15% to 20% price increase upon the final 1.0 release to incentivize early adoption. Following the PC launch, native console editions for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are planned, alongside expansive deluxe editions containing cosmetic Armor Vault unlocks.

While Sony Interactive Entertainment has not formalized the exact retail packaging as of late 2026, standard industry practices for premium AAA titles published by PlayStation point to a tiered release strategy. Players can expect a standard physical and digital edition alongside a premium Digital Deluxe Edition. The deluxe variant is highly likely to include exclusive digital artbooks detailing the intricate Tibetan-inspired architecture of Guge, an original orchestral soundtrack, and early-game cosmetic variations for Adan’s signature mask and twin blades. Due to Sony acting as the direct worldwide publisher, Daba guarantees a synchronized global rollout. This alignment ensures day-and-date parity for Asian markets, eliminating the frustrating delayed launch windows historically associated with regional releases and solidifying its premium market position.

Since its Early Access debut, Mirari&Co. has delivered substantial content updates, culminating in the massive Patch 0.3.1 in September 2026. This update revolutionized the gameplay loop by introducing Endless Mode via the Phantom Train, allowing players to risk all their run's loot for infinitely escalating combat rounds. It also introduced the Phase Extractor, a crucial tool enabling players to permanently save one piece of acquired armor per run to their Stash. Looking forward, the development roadmap is incredibly aggressive. Following the complete engine migration to Unity 6 URP, the studio plans to release an entirely new playable character class (determined by community polling), a dedicated Armor Vault for cosmetic tracking, and comprehensive expansions to the faction skill trees. Additional procedurally generated biomes, highly lethal enemy archetypes, and specialized alien weaponry are slated as free content updates leading up to the eventual 1.0 launch.

Although no official DLC roadmap has been announced by Dark Star or Sony due to strict operational security, the game's architectural framework provides an ideal foundation for robust, modular expansions. Because the world map abandons linear funneling in favor of interconnected, non-linear biomes, the development team can seamlessly append entirely new zones to the existing geography. Future expansions could involve exploring untouched, subterranean ruins beneath the ancient city of Guge, expanding the vertical limits of the aerial Floating City, or introducing entirely new mythological regions affected by the Purple Plague. Furthermore, the hunt for previously inaccessible Soul Fragments could introduce new, formidable boss encounters and advanced skill tree nodes, ensuring a lengthy and lucrative lifecycle for the IP.

• Q: What is the best class for late-game survival?
  A: The Void Operative is currently considered the S-Tier class for late-game content. Its superior mobility and ranged capabilities allow it to execute vital 'Figure-Eight' kiting patterns and avoid the massive damage spikes of late-game elites better than the Knight or Dimensage.
• Q: How does the Synergy Engine work?
  A: The game uses an elemental tagging system. If you apply a status like 'Shock' to an enemy, hitting them with a secondary element like a Plasma weapon will trigger a compound reaction, such as 'Superconduct,' which massively shreds enemy armor and clears grouped mobs.
• Q: What is the Phase Extractor?
  A: Introduced in Patch 0.3.1, the Phase Extractor is a device that allows you to safely extract exactly one piece of acquired armor per run in Normal Mode, permanently saving it to your Stash in the Nexus Hold for future use.
• Q: How do I survive past the 20-minute mark?
  A: Standing still is fatal. You must continuously utilize the 'Figure-Eight' movement pattern to manipulate enemy AI pathing into a manageable line. Furthermore, prioritize upgrading Piercing and Projectile Count stats over flat damage to maximize your wave-clear efficiency.
• Q: What happens when I trigger Endless Mode?
  A: In Endless Mode, you fight in infinitely escalating combat rounds. Your upgrades and inventory carry over between rounds, but if you die before successfully summoning the Phantom Train and extracting, you will permanently lose all progress, loot, and experience gained during that run.

• Q: When is Daba: Land of Water Scar releasing?
  A: The game is officially scheduled for a worldwide release in Spring 2027 for PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam.
• Q: Is Daba a traditional Soulslike game?
  A: While it features punishing mechanics and stamina management, it shifts the defensive paradigm away from dodge-rolling toward highly aggressive R2 parries and executions.
• Q: What game engine is used for Daba?
  A: The game is built on Epic Games' Unreal Engine 5, utilizing advanced features like Nanite for detailed geometry and Lumen for global illumination.
• Q: Who is the main character in Daba?
  A: Players control Adan, a humanoid clay puppet known as a 'Clayman' who awakens in a dying world suffering from a planetary drought.
• Q: Are there multiple endings in the game?
  A: Yes, the narrative heavily implies branching conclusions, forcing the player to choose whether to become a god, a savior, or a destroyer to reforge the divine soul.

Built originally on Unity but currently 90% migrated to Unity 6 and the Universal Render Pipeline (URP), the game pushes the boundaries of independent visual fidelity. The art direction masterfully combines cybernetic horror with gothic decay across diverse biomes. The game leverages Shader Model 6.0 to render stunning, GPU-intensive particle effects, dynamic lighting, and elemental explosions without compromising the massive on-screen enemy counts. A distinct artistic and tactical feature is the 'Pixel Mode' toggle. Rather than just a cheap post-processing filter, Pixel Mode fundamentally alters visual clarity, reducing the blinding clutter of high-fidelity particle effects to prioritize the readability of enemy hitboxes and attack telegraphs. Furthermore, the developers have meticulously optimized environmental geometry, reduced unnecessary shadow casting on horde mobs, and integrated AMD FSR to ensure smooth visual scaling from high-end 4K cinematic desktop displays down to the 800p screen of the Steam Deck.

Built entirely from the ground up on Epic Games' Unreal Engine 5, Daba: Land of Water Scar represents a staggering leap in visual fidelity for the PlayStation China Hero Project. The game specifically leverages UE5 technologies like Nanite for rendering micro-polygon geometry, allowing for the incredibly dense, crumbling masonry of the ancient city of Guge, and Lumen for hyper-realistic global illumination in pitch-black dungeons. The visual design utilizes a restrained, dusty color palette of earth tones to emphasize the themes of drought and decay. This aesthetic choice makes the sudden bursts of vibrant, corruptive magic from the Purple Plague visually striking. The title targets a locked 4K resolution at 60 frames per second on the PS5, which is absolutely critical for maintaining the tight input windows required by the combat engine.

The audio landscape of Dark Light: Survivor perfectly complements its grim, post-apocalyptic cyberpunk aesthetic. The soundtrack is characterized by heavy, pulsing dark-synth beats and industrial electronic tracks that dynamically escalate in tempo and intensity as the enemy density increases and wave timers count down. The sound design serves as a vital tactical tool for the player. With the screen frequently obscured by thousands of projectiles, audio cues are essential for survival. Distinct, telegraphing sound effects alert the player to off-screen dangers, such as the mechanical revving wind-up of the Charger elite enemy or the heavy, metallic thuds of the Crystal Construct. Furthermore, the audio engine heavily emphasizes the satisfaction of the Synergy Engine; triggering a 'Superconduct' reaction results in a massive, bass-heavy electrical crackle, providing immediate, visceral auditory feedback that the player's elemental chaining has successfully decimated the enemy horde.

The soundscape of Daba: Land of Water Scar is meticulously crafted to fully support the PlayStation 5's proprietary 3D audio algorithms, making accessories like the PULSE Elite wireless headset highly recommended. Spatial audio is not merely atmospheric; it is mechanically essential for determining enemy positioning, especially during chaotic, multi-target skirmishes or when navigating the claustrophobic confines of the Gloomy Prison. The musical score heavily integrates traditional Tibetan instrumentation, creating an atmospheric, haunting resonance that perfectly complements the desolate, drought-stricken environments. Furthermore, combat audio is deeply satisfying, with the metallic clatter of perfectly timed R2 parries providing critical auditory confirmation of success, while the DualSense controller's built-in speaker subtly reinforces the sounds of Adan's clay footsteps on various surfaces.

The User Interface and camera system represent a pioneering technical leap for the bullet-heaven genre. Unlike static games in the space, Dark Light utilizes a dynamic Multi-Camera Tactical Approach. Players can seamlessly swap between a Top-Down Isometric View (essential for macro-positioning and navigating procedural traps) and a Third-Person Shooter (TPS) over-the-shoulder perspective (crucial for exploiting weak points and manual targeting). A recently added Overwatch Camera pushes the view distance out for unparalleled battlefield awareness. Advanced players utilize the 'Hybrid Switch' strategy, binding camera toggles to mouse peripherals for fluid transitions. Beyond combat, the UI shines in its hub management. The Nexus Hold and Phantom Train feature cleanly designed vendor menus for NPCs like Zen, allowing precise navigation of complex ARPG stat blocks, weapon modding slots, and the Phase Extractor stash without overwhelming the player with cluttered information.

The user interface of Daba: Land of Water Scar is designed with a strict minimalist philosophy, ensuring that the screen remains uncluttered to emphasize the scale of the environment and the intense visual telegraphs of the enemy AI. Essential combat information, such as health, stamina, and the critical Groggy Meter, is displayed unobtrusively. To compensate for the minimal HUD, the game relies heavily on diegetic feedback and Sony's hardware capabilities. The glowing red visual patterns of impending attacks serve as the primary UI cue for the R2 counter system. Additionally, the DualSense controller acts as an extension of the UI, using haptic feedback and adaptive trigger tension to communicate weapon state, stamina depletion, and parry timing directly to the player's hands without relying on on-screen meters.

Mirari&Co. has implemented several key accessibility features designed to make the chaotic, hyper-dense gameplay more manageable. The 'Pixel Mode' graphic setting doubles as an accessibility tool, drastically reducing visual noise and flashing particle effects, which is crucial for players sensitive to intense light flashes or visual clutter. The game features highly customizable frame rate limiters (30, 40, 45, 60, 90, 120 FPS), allowing users to stabilize performance and reduce hardware heat output. The 'Hybrid Switch' camera system is fully remappable, ensuring players with limited mobility can map perspective shifts to highly accessible peripheral buttons. Full controller support, optimized heavily for the Steam Deck, provides precise twin-stick movement as an alternative to mouse-and-keyboard setups. The developers have also tuned the UI to ensure contrasting colors highlight critical information like health bars, cooldown timers, and elite enemy attack telegraphs.

While Daba: Land of Water Scar operates within the notoriously challenging Soulslike genre, it incorporates several systemic features that inherently aid accessibility. The combat system's reliance on distinct, bright red visual telegraphs for parryable attacks provides clear cognitive cues, reducing the visual clutter that often confuses players in similar action games. Furthermore, the deep integration of the DualSense controller's adaptive triggers offers tactile feedback, providing players with physical resistance that mirrors the timing windows of incoming strikes. For players who struggle with high-reflex parrying, the dual-stance combat system offers a highly viable alternative, allowing for a slower, block-centric approach using heavy shields or a ranged playstyle via the dedicated bow to avoid close-quarters combat altogether.

• Hardware requirements are robust due to procedural generation and massive projectile counts. The engine strictly requires 8GB of VRAM.
• Laptop Performance Note: Laptop users must ensure their device has robust cooling and a high TGP GPU. The game's late-game density spikes will aggressively throttle CPUs and GPUs that hit thermal limits.
• Laptop Consideration: G P U T G P: Minimum 95W TGP recommended; 130W+ for 1440p gaming to prevent frame drops during Void Fractured Realm events.
• Laptop Consideration: Cooling Thermals: Dual-fan cooling setups are mandatory. CPU temperatures may spike during massive enemy pathing recalculations.
• Laptop Consideration: C P U Power Limits: Maintain CPU PL1 at 45W or higher to prevent bottlenecking during late-game horde spawns.
• Laptop Consideration: M U X Switch Optimus: A MUX Switch is highly recommended to bypass NVIDIA Optimus and secure maximum framerates during intensive visual effects.
• Optimization Detail: Upscaling Tech: AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) supported. Crucial for Steam Deck and mid-range PC performance stabilization.
• Optimization Detail: Key Settings Impact: Lowering shadow rendering distances and environmental geometry (e.g., grass instancing) significantly boosts endgame performance.
• Game Name: Dark Light: Survivor

• PC specifications are based on advanced projections factoring in the game's heavy utilization of Unreal Engine 5 (Nanite and Lumen) and the PlayStation 5 rendering baseline.
• Laptop Performance Note: Unreal Engine 5 titles heavily tax both CPU and GPU resources. Laptop users must ensure proper cooling to avoid thermal throttling during intense boss encounters where maintaining 60fps is mechanically critical for parry windows.
• Laptop Consideration: G P U T G P: Ensure your mobile GPU operates at a high Total Graphics Power (TGP) of 130W or above. Lower-wattage variants will struggle with the dense volumetric lighting of the game's environments.
• Laptop Consideration: Cooling Thermals: Aggressive fan profiles and elevated cooling pads are recommended to maintain stable clock speeds during extended sessions in non-linear, open biomes.
• Laptop Consideration: C P U Power Limits: A robust CPU is required to manage the emergent multi-boss AI logic and continuous asset streaming without stuttering.
• Laptop Consideration: M U X Switch Optimus: A laptop with a dedicated MUX switch is highly recommended to bypass integrated graphics and eliminate input latency, which is fatal in this parry-heavy combat system.
• Optimization Detail: Upscaling Tech: NVIDIA DLSS 3, AMD FSR 3, Intel XeSS supported.
• Optimization Detail: Key Settings Impact: Global Illumination and Shadow Quality will heavily impact framerates. Utilize upscaling to maintain a locked 60fps for optimal R2 counter responsiveness.
• Game Name: Daba: Land of Water Scar

• Upscaling Tech: AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) supported. Crucial for Steam Deck and mid-range PC performance stabilization.
• Key Settings Impact: Lowering shadow rendering distances and environmental geometry (e.g., grass instancing) significantly boosts endgame performance.

• Upscaling Tech: NVIDIA DLSS 3, AMD FSR 3, Intel XeSS supported.
• Key Settings Impact: Global Illumination and Shadow Quality will heavily impact framerates. Utilize upscaling to maintain a locked 60fps for optimal R2 counter responsiveness.

• G P U T G P: Minimum 95W TGP recommended; 130W+ for 1440p gaming to prevent frame drops during Void Fractured Realm events.
• Cooling Thermals: Dual-fan cooling setups are mandatory. CPU temperatures may spike during massive enemy pathing recalculations.
• C P U Power Limits: Maintain CPU PL1 at 45W or higher to prevent bottlenecking during late-game horde spawns.
• M U X Switch Optimus: A MUX Switch is highly recommended to bypass NVIDIA Optimus and secure maximum framerates during intensive visual effects.

• G P U T G P: Ensure your mobile GPU operates at a high Total Graphics Power (TGP) of 130W or above. Lower-wattage variants will struggle with the dense volumetric lighting of the game's environments.
• Cooling Thermals: Aggressive fan profiles and elevated cooling pads are recommended to maintain stable clock speeds during extended sessions in non-linear, open biomes.
• C P U Power Limits: A robust CPU is required to manage the emergent multi-boss AI logic and continuous asset streaming without stuttering.
• M U X Switch Optimus: A laptop with a dedicated MUX switch is highly recommended to bypass integrated graphics and eliminate input latency, which is fatal in this parry-heavy combat system.