In one of his movies, the kung-fu master Bruce Lee has introduced the concept of "Intercepting Fist". To be more specific, he has stated that in order to reach the opponent, the attacker needs to move his attack to the target. Hence, the attacked will have a chance to perform an "intercepting" movement to strike back.

If you're curious about how this technique works, you can find it in the new Chinese hack-n-slash game - Ling: A Road Alone. Previously coming for PC through Steam in September, the game is now available on PlayStation Store.

Below is the trailer of Ling: A Road Alone, which you can have a look to see how the game looks:

About Ling: A Road Alone

The story of Ling: A Road Alone doesn't have much information to say, as you're the one who decides your own journey. In this game, you'll take control of a young ambitious man, on his solitary adventure to find his true self. His trip will cross through snowy mountains to sand dunes, on which he'll have to defeat a lot of foes.

Ling A Road Alone Is A New Top Down Hack And Slash
Follow the trail of an unknown man on his journey to find his eternal goal

His destination is "that place", and only by using his fists can the protagonist break away from his chained destiny. Sound like a young-age ebullience to me! Instead of teasing more about its story, the developer chose to explain their choice on the name of the game.

Ling in Chinese has multiple meanings, which all match with the developer's aims. The first meaning is basically 'cold', which portray the coldness of the environment, as well as the inner loneliness that the protagonist has to suffer on his journey. The second meaning is 'zero', which implies that all three developers from Chautauqua Software have started this game from scratch.

Ling A Road Alone Is A New Top Down Hack And Slash
Ling means 'cold', which implies the loneliness the protagonist has to suffer from on his journey

Gameplay features

Set the game's concept aside, let's talk about its gameplay features. Ling: A Road Alone is a top-down hack and slash game, in which you'll take control of the unnamed protagonists on hands-on-hands fights.

Ling A Road Alone Is A New Top Down Hack And Slash
The game features aesthetic rendering, making your fights look like action movies

As I've mentioned below, the game rewards players with the hit feedback mechanics. To be more specific, you'll have to precisely time your opponents attack to preemptively strike with an "intercepting fist". To remind you, it's totally different from a repose or a counter-strike, which is a technique you want to use before your opponents successfully blow their attacks.

This mechanics doesn't matter too much when you fight with normal foes since you can just use your giant sword to smack them down. However, with giant bosses, it's crucial to lead you to the final victory.

Ling A Road Alone Is A New Top Down Hack And Slash
It's very hard to deal damage to bosses without using the hit feedback

With atmospheric rendering, an intriguing story and unique combats mechanics, Ling: A Road Alone is a great game to try! It's now available on both PS4 via PlayStation Store and PC through Steam, which you can get at the price of $9.99.