If you type the "Action" (ACT) tag on the Steam platform, you will get indexes with subcategories such as "action adventure", "action role-playing" and even "shooting". Behind this index are tens of thousands of games with ACT tags.
There was a saying that "ACT games are already falling", but looking at Steam's ACT game list, you can easily realize that there is no shortage of phenomenal products in this category, and it is not related to "non-contact": there was the eternal altar of "Elden Martial Arts" before, and the master style of "Master" later, and the "Alchemy Workshop Series" that merged with the two-dimensional world is very popular...
Over the years of development history, ACT games have long used the paradigm of "category integration" to achieve "there are talents in the generation of generations", gradually growing branches and leaves, becoming towering trees.
However, "ACT games are already falling" is not a fallacy. What it really refers to is not a game with ACT attributes, but a traditional ACT game represented by "Ninja Dragon Sword", the old "God of War", "Devil May Cry" and "The Angel-Hunting Witch".
"Ninja Dragon Sword"
The so-called traditional ACT games roughly follow the two major characteristics of high speed and high operability. That is, the game allows players to perform high-frequency operations such as ultra-high speed flashback, precise defense to about one or two frames, and infinitely floating the enemy. At the same time, it greatly weakens the growth of numerical attributes, physical strength bars, "turn-based" differences, and other elements derived from RPG or fighting games.
Simply put, the core of traditional ACT games is that the player's hand-by-side multiplication area is a general solution to the game design. The game system is mainly for action services, and the rest are all "increasing".
Therefore, most games with ACT tags on the market can be classified as major ACT games, but they cannot be equated with traditional ACT games. They are the expressions of ACT games in the new generation, and they are also inseparable from traditional ACT.
Nowadays, the decline of traditional ACT is a certain fact. Even old ACT Japanese factories such as Team NINJA and Platinum Studios are unlikely to have enough funds to invest in this simple type of development work, and large companies rarely enter the market. In addition to the sluggish supply side, the new generation of players rarely have the willingness to spend time studying the action system.
However, traditional ACT is not without attention.
In the GDC 2025 exclusive exhibition area at the beginning of this year, there is a traditional high-speed ACT independent game that has attracted many developers from all over the world to stop and try it out.
This game is the high-speed ACT "Spirit X Strike" developed by domestic individual developer "Barie Tea" alone.
Restore the "satisfaction" of the original ACT
"Spirit X Strike" was launched on the Steam New Product Festival in DEMO around October 2024. The product performance was a bit rough at that time, but the action design and game quality displayed were sufficient, which can be said to be "the flaws do not hide the merits."
In the DEMO stage, the game "Spirit X Strike" follows the core of traditional ACT, with a simple plot and even better than nothing, and presents the charm of the game action level in a single shot.
The game's combat system is based on three characteristics: the "spiritual fist mimetic" of free combination combo, the "flash counterattack" that can detect attacks and conduct counterattacks, and the "super impact" that uses the ultimate move to take charge of execution.
Through the combination of these three cornerstone systems, as well as the upper limit of input in seconds brought by the physical bar and the strong performance of the player's body, "Spirit X Strike" allows players to play combat performances like ACG works such as "Bei Dou Shen Fist" and "Dragon Ball" based on fully building free segments.
At the same time, thanks to the developer Damai Cha's persistence in hand K, the character dynamics of "Spirit X Strike" are quite in place, and a large number of K-frame combinations restore the martial arts movements of Hong Kong films such as Bajiquan, top knee elbow and swallow-style flying kick. In conjunction with the close-up scheduling of the ultimate move, the picture expressiveness is full of tension.
These advantages completely make up for the flaws such as the chaos in the DEMO stage of "Spirit X Strike" and the unreasonable enemy AI design.
By combining the lens expression of 2D fighting games with ACT from 3D perspective, Damai Tea restores the core experience of "high speed" and "high operation" of traditional ACTs such as "Nin Dragon".During the New Product Festival last year, it attracted attention from B station and some hard-core ACT players.
Overall, it is precisely because of the scarcity of traditional ACT in the current market environment that it is not surprising that "Spirit X Strike" which has gathered in the crowd of tourists can win attention in GDC.
ACT experience that can be hard or soft, and everyone is "good"
Today, "Spirit X Strike" was officially launched on Steam as an EA version, and a limited-time special offer was launched.
The EA version of "Spirit X Strike" has conducted in-depth iterations on many pain points in the DEMO stage.
For example, when facing multiple enemy soldiers in the DEMO stage, the experience problems caused by the enemy's AI and attack frequency are all adjusted in the EA version, and there will be no "heroes" who can infinitely kill vehicles with stings.In addition, during the previous DEMO gameplay, "Spirit X Strike" judged that the strict precision defense and dodge with almost no invincible frames were infinitely close to the design of "native" ACT, but it also brought the problem of traditional ACT, that is, players have to face the high learning cost and the continuous accumulation of "frustration" before they are proficient.
Damai Tea once said that he hopes that every player can feel the fun of traditional ACT games like him, so in the EA version, "Spirit X Strike" officially added an auxiliary mode that allows players to enter "bullet time" before being hit, reducing player reaction requirements.
Moreover, after the enemy's AI adjustment, Barley Tea also brought "Tea's pity". Now players can buy supplies to recover their lives in battle and increase fault tolerance. At the same time, the actual equipment of the move table also lowers the player's threshold for getting started.
As a K-frame madman, in the EA version, "Don't forget the original intention" and based on optimizing existing action resources, some combos have been expanded, further enriching the concatenations that players can derive and raising the upper limit of the operation.
It can be said that the EA version truly combines the flash movements of "Nind Dragon" and the instant fighting of "Dragon Ball", combined with the close-up of the ending skills of "Street Fighter" and the performance-oriented shots such as Hong Kong martial arts films in the last century, presenting a sophisticated ACT experience that is both traditional and new.
Moreover, with the introduction of difficulty adjustment and auxiliary mode, "Spirit X Strike" can allow anyone to get this experience.
Keep walking
The EA version is not the end of "Spirit X Strike". Damai Tea has disclosed the game's future update plan. Judging from the roadmap, there is still a lot of work waiting for him.
It is not easy to make games, and it is undoubtedly difficult to choose a person to engage in the development of traditional ACT games. Playing from DEMO all the way, Damai Tea's stubbornness in K frames and ingenuity in integrating fighting games and Hong Kong film elements all reflect the developer's love for his own games and traditional ACT categories. He wants to share the things he loves and the fun he experiences with more people, and continue to work hard.
I think one day, "Spirit X Strike" and Barley Tea can say to themselves that "the light boat has passed thousands of mountains."
