The designer of Dead Cells is back with Tenjutsu, a killer new rogue-lite brawler
Tenjutsu asks the question: what if Dead Cells but rogue-lite kung fu action?
Tenjutsu is one of the more impressive reveals at Summer Game Fest this year, and certainly the highlight of the Devolver Direct. Tenjutsu is the new game from Sebastien Benard, the former designer and director of Dead Cells.
Benard set off on his own under the Deepnight Games banner, and his new game was born from a game jam.
Tenjutsu’s look and general flow should be immediately familiar to fans of Dead Cells, albeit from a different perspective. This is a top-down rogue-lite brawler with a heavy emphasis on martial arts and kung fu.
You play as a former yakuza who went wrong and is hellbent on taking down the powerful crime families ruling the city. There are four of them, and you’re going to need to take them all down - though you can do so in any order. Tenjutsu has a fluid martial arts combat system that also incorporates a range of weapons, and, in true rogue-lite fashion, a wealth of upgrades and new fighting techniques.
In a clever twist, too, the longer you take to gear up and prepare, the stronger enemies will become. The trailer doesn’t explain how that works, but the game sounds like it’s a way off, so we’ll have to wait a little while longer to learn more.
In the meantime, catch the stylish reveal trailer below, and give the original game jam project that inspired it a go on itch.io. Tenjutsu is in development for PC and consoles.
