UNTO THE END
COMBAT HANDBOOK
Unto The End is a defense-first combat experience. You play an average warrior trying to get back home. You're less powerful than every creature you meet. You can drop your sword, run out of supplies and bleed to death.
Fighting is demanding and deliberate, but not your only option. Success is about being observant and staying calm.
9 tips for succeeding at Unto:
Move, roll, and attack deliberately. Don't over roll or over attack. That will get you killed very quickly.
When surrounded make use of tactics like reverse shoulder check, reverse slash, your dagger, friendly fire and terrain. Remember, the father is less powerful than all opponents, but has more tactical abilities. Use them to turn battles in your favour.
Damage is shown on the father and opponents as blood on their face, chest, arms and legs. Every fighter has three stages of blood: normal, wounded, and death's door (1 health point left).
The father is bleeding to death when he is covered in blood. He’ll slump over when idle and fall to a knee. Left untreated, the father will die from bleeding. You can stop the bleeding by eating a herb, drinking a tonic, mending wounds at a fire, or using a hidden item.
While bleeding, checkpoints are disabled and progress will not be saved until you heal.
Every fighter has a "poise" value -- father and opponents. Getting blocked reduces poise. Upon reaching zero poise, a fighter is stunned and goes off-balance. The position of their weapon shows where they are vulnerable. If their weapon is Low, counter attack High.
Unto does not reward killing and fighting everything in your way. The game becomes more challenging if you always choose to fight and kill. Specifically, killing or ignoring innocent opponents will give you different items and impact later encounters.
There are various ways to get past every encounter. You can run, trade, steal, use items, befriend, stand by, ignore and so on to make it home without killing.
You can also slow down combat, giving yourself more time to read and react, by adjusting Combat Speed in Settings.
CALM UNDER PRESSURE
Contrary to most combat action games, Unto does not reward killing and fighting everything in your way. There are no bosses (in that every opponent is a challenge and thus a “boss”) with big loot drops, no powerups for overcoming a challenging foe. In fact, the game becomes MUCH more challenging if you always choose to fight and kill.
Inspired by the samurai adage “never strike when you are angry”, every experience in Unto, but especially combat, is designed around the idea of staying calm and keeping your cool while under pressure.
After all, you play an average guy, a father, not a legendary warrior or trained fighter.
PEACE, HONOUR + RUNNING
None of the creatures you meet are evil, but they are territorial, with some very driven by an honour code. If you fight everything, the game is MUCH harder. Most of the hardest fights can be passed without any violence at all. Many of the encounters that have non-violent solutions allow for 2-3 alternatives to fighting not just 1. There are 40 encounters in the game, all 40 can be passed without fighting at all.
DIFFICULTY
There are 2 required fights which truly demand skillful blocking, dodging and riposting. Most of the other required fights have puzzle-like solutions that can make them much easier.
DEFENSE FIRST
A lot of today’s combat games are about offense, or offensive first. Unto is defense-first.
The father is weaker, slower and less skilled then EVERYONE you fight. It is best to play defensively, at first. If you're finding the combat difficult or too punishing, focus on blocking AND riposting. In later fights, trying to land counters can get you killed quickly, as skilled opponents learn faster.
It can also help to just watch your opponent, don’t worry about what the father is doing.
SIMILAR TO PUNCH-OUT!!
For those that remember Punch-Out!! it can help to see Unto's combat in a similar vain. The first few fights are like Glass Joe. The rest demand increasing levels of skill.
SPARRING PRACTICE
You can return from any rest fire. If you do not win the training (get the Well Trained achievement) then you are not trained well enough.
BLEEDING TO DEATH
The father is bleeding to death when his health is 1 or less -- if he falls to a knee he's bleeding to death. Left untreated, the father will die from bleeding. You can stop the bleeding by eating a herb, drinking a tonic, mending wounds at a fire, or using a hidden item.
While bleeding, checkpoints are disabled and progress will not be saved until you heal.
ARMOUR
You can craft two tiers of armor and find two hidden items that act as armour. The armour you craft deflects damage that you’d take, but also takes damage itself. After enough hits your armour will be destroyed. You can repair your armour or upgrade it at any rest fire using the supplies you’ve found along the way.
The first tier or armour effectively gives the father 6 health. The second gives you 8 health.
The hidden items further increases the father’s health although their absorption is based on a dice roll, rather than the guarantee of crafted armour. The dice are set so that on average, with full armour and both hidden items, the father has a max of 10 health.
GROUP FIGHTS
You can reverse slash, reverse shoulder, and dagger stab or throw your dagger, to crowd control opponents.
SLOWER COMBAT
You can slow down the combat through Settings > Combat Speed
END OF THE ATTACK
The position of an opponent's weapon at the END of their attack determines their "guard" and where they are "open". If they END HIGH--> Attack LOW, if they END LOW --> Attack HIGH.
BLOCKING + POISE
Blocking attacks reduces an opponent's poise, getting your attacks blocked reduces your poise. When an opponent's poise is zero you can riposte. When your poise is zero opponents will riposte you. As opponents get more skillful you will not be able to just counter them, you will have to block a series of attacks AND THEN riposte. Off-balance is signaled by a "gong" sound, big sparks and an off-balance recovery.
NO PATTERNS
There are no set patterns. The AI was designed to mimic smart and cunning creatures. Opponents learn your attacks during a fight and defend against them. For instance, a counter attack will often land at the start of a fight, but get blocked later on, because the enemy has learned that attack.
PLAYING OFFENSIVELY
There are many ways to play very offensively, in fact there are entire subsystems designed around offensive moves and actions, but you must master defense first.
SPOILER WARNING: THIS REST OF THIS HANDBOOK CONTAINS SPOILERS ABOUT THE INNER WORKINGS OF THE COMBAT SYSTEM. IF YOU WANT TO LEARN BY PLAYING PLEASE STOP READING NOW.
The combat system has a lot of little mechanics in it, we designed them all to be very learnable through nothing but play, but they are subtle so we thought a guide might be useful.
If you find things to be different than this handbook, please contact us and I'll fix them. I worked super hard to program a really robust combat system, but I'm also only one person and dev was just 1/4 of my role on Unto :).
VIDEO EXAMPLES
All fights, flawless
Friendly fire, dagger disrupt, and fake
Group fight - Targeted dagger, duck and shoulder
Group fight - Advantages of fighting with your back to wall
Flail woad fight
Last fight
SYMMETRY
Combat is designed as mostly symmetrical, but not entirely. We tried a fully symmetrical system and it wasn’t fun. It didn’t have the drama and tension we wanted AND it really didn’t make any sense from a physicality or story perspective.
The father is an average guy, around 6 feet tall weighing around 200 pounds. That’s a decent size for a human, but nothing compared to the strength and raw power of the creatures he’s facing.
We imagined all the creatures with “animal strength”. For instance, studies suggest chimpanzees are 1.5x to 4x stronger than humans of comparable size.
The father is NOT a trained knight or legendary warrior. He is a farmer that happens to be decent with a sword and spear.
The creatures you encounter survive in harsh conditions, waging war with one another and their environment every day. They are trained fighters, some of them incredibly skilled, truly master warriors.
Combat is primarily inspired by Punch-Out!!, which is likewise a mostly symmetrical system.
GUARD
All attacks have a specific START and END. We call this out specifically in the Sparring Practice during Countering and Riposte.
Countering… “The end position of an attack shows where your opponent is vulnerable. If they end high, counter attack low.”
Riposte… “The end position of their last attack determines where they are vulnerable. If they end high, riposte low.”
Taking a guard
The father, like Little Mac, can take an active high or low guard. His opponents, like Punch-Out!! fighters also have a guard, but don't take a guard pose like the father when Idle. We did this because we didn’t want to copy For Honor or Nidhogg, we wanted Unto to be more about reading and reacting in the moment rather than stances or a fencing-like experience.
An opponent's guard is determined by the START and END of their attack. Their START and END guard may be different.
Opponents
CHOP attack - Starts HIGH, and chops down ending LOW. Guarding LOW, so you should attack HIGH.
STRAIGHT STAB - Starts HIGH, thrusts forward, ends HIGH. Guarding HIGH, so attack LOW.
HORIZONTAL SLASH - Stars LOW, sweeps along the ground, ends LOW. Guarding LOW, so attack HIGH.
(Advanced) SWITCH-UP STAB - Starts LOW, thrust forward, ends HIGH. Guarding HIGH, so attack LOW.
The father
These same rules apply to the father’s attacks, but the father does not get an automatic guard. The player must take a high or low guard using the left stick or DPad.
However, enemies will read the ending of the father’s attack, and counter accordingly. If the father ends their attack low, as they do with HighAttack1, then skilled opponents will often follow up with a High attack because the father is “guarding” low.
* Opponent counters/ripostes - we use a small percentage chance in the code to mix things up a bit here, otherwise combat feels too robotic.
NO PATTERNS, OPPONENTS LEARN
Opponents quickly learn from the father’s attacks. And in learning, protect against it. Early in a fight the father can often get in some “cheap” hits. These tactics will not work as a fight continues because the opponent has learned them. Skilled opponent learn faster and remember longer.
Examples
Countering provides an opportunity early in a fight to get an easy hit, but once learned will be blocked by most opponents.
Ripostes at the right height, can never be blocked by opponents and they deal extra damage.
Shoulder is a good way to catch opponents off guard, but once learned they will almost always be dodged.
POSTURE AND POISE
In addition to Guard, fighters are either in READY or OFF-BALANCE posture.
If the father is off-balance opponents riposte, and riposte deals more damage than a normal strike. If an opponent is off-balance the father ripostes, which likewise does more damage.
All fighters (the father and opponents) can be knocked off-balance. A fighter goes off-balance when their “poise” goes to zero. Poise is managed similarly for the father and his opponents, but off-balance is triggered a bit differently.
Presentation
When a fighter goes off balance we do three things:
Play a distinct “gong” sound
Show brighter more dramatic sparks fx
Show a special “off-balance” animation that is more exaggerated and shows the fighter holding their guard position.
Some opponents have very obvious off-balance recoveries (like the mother) and some are more subtle. The exaggerated recovery is not at all needed, you can simply read the attack and notice where it ends and then counter appropriately. We added the special recovery animation and the more dramatic riposte move to help make the system more learnable by simply playing.
Opponents
Opponents go off-balance when the father BLOCKS enough of their attacks, reducing their poise to zero. For instance, the mother in training has a poise of 3, if you block 3 of her attacks on the 3rd block she goes off-balance.
You can also reduce an opponent’s poise by attacking them, and having them block. But you can only put them off-balance by blocking an attack. So you can play aggressive, but it’s risky as opponents are reading your end guard and attacking appropriately.
Opponents can also be put off-balance if you make them miss (by rolling) and strike into a wall.
The father
The father goes off-balance in similar ways, but there are slight differences.
Three of his attacks are blocked in a row
The father attacks INTO an opponent’s off-balance guard.
(1) and (2) are very important, and were done specifically to discourage button mashing. As such, we paired off-balance with strongly exaggerated recovery animations for the father (the father’s off-balance recovery animations are the richest of any fighter), along with big sound and visual fx.
TIP: When off-balance, opponents will attack OPPOSITE the father’s end-guard. As you master the father’s attacks you can use that to anticipate the riposte of the opponent.
DAMAGE
The father is bleeding to death when he is covered in blood. He’ll slump over when idle and fall to a knee. Left untreated, the father will die from bleeding. You can stop the bleeding by eating a herb, drinking a tonic, mending wounds at a fire, or using a hidden item.
While bleeding, checkpoints are disabled and progress will not be saved until you heal.
ARMOUR
There are two tiers or armour that you can craft using supplies gathered through exploration or looting creatures.
Armour “deflects” at most 1 point of damage, but also takes at least 1 damage itself when doing so.
Some numbers…
(Father has 3 health and tier 1 armour, which has a durability of 3.)
Father takes a hit while faking which does 3x damage, lets assume it is from a non-giant so it does 3 damage.
The armour “deflects” 1 damage, the father takes 2 damage and the armour also takes 2 damage.
So after the hit the father has 1 health and the armour has 1 durability.
Armour has three visual states shown in-game on the character: full, damaged and breaking.
There are two hidden items which also act as armour. They can never break or be lost, but their deflection is based on random chance. Each time you take a hit there is a dice roll that determines if the item deflects a point of damage.
Opponents with armour will always attack through your attacks - your strikes glance off their armour when they are attacking. There are a small number of opponents with armour.
FAKES
We added fakes as an advanced move. They are easier to read against skilled opponents then early ones. Early opponents are actually really scared to be in a fight with you and when you fake them they just sort of flail around. Skilled opponents have a more distinct high and low reaction and can be read accordingly.
Like everything in Unto there is no best move. Fakes can be added into a fight to help get that last hit, or if you're really skilled to deal extra damage when an opponent is off-balance.
RUNNING AND AVOIDING FIGHTS
There are around 40 encounters in the entire game, all 40 of them can be avoided entirely. You can run, help out, make offerings, show items, steal, and so on to avoid fights. Running away is still often a challenge. Most of the hardest fights are entirely optional or avoidable.
Every encounter has at least 1 non-combat alternative, but most of them have 2-3 alternatives.
THE LAST FIGHT
You can defeat the last opponent in just 4 attacks.
Bring a spear to the fight (you can get one on the way to the fight)
Stab him before he kills the wounded Kintorri (this will cause him to drop his spear, which you can grab later).
Hit him with the spear you brought to the fight.
Stagger him with your dagger.
While he is disabled by the dagger, grab the spear he dropped.
Hit him with the spear.
OTHER STUFF
You can kick dirt/snow by pressing LT + RT (or L2 + R2), this “distracts” opponents, which is treated as a fake. If you throw a dagger or spear at a faked opponent it does +1 damage.
You can wave your torch, also by pressing LT + RT / L2 + R2 / F + Ctrl, it is functionally the same as kicking dirt/snow.
If you shoulder an opponent that is laying prone you will trip and fall over them.
You can jump low swipes and duck high ones. And can counter with a jump attack or low stab.
You can pick up your sword or dagger while doing a role. Your dagger must be on the ground, not in a body.
You can highlight your dropped sword or dagger at any time by pressing “pick up / use” or pressing High or Low Attack (sword) or RB / R1 / Shift (dagger).
All fighters can target specific opponents when throwing projectiles. For the player this is done through the right stick, just like dark souls target switching. It also causes the father to auto-face a different target.
You can stab out of a roll by press X during the roll. Doing a stab from roll also ensures you will not get knocked back if you collide with an opponent mid roll.
You can jump off walls and transition into a jump attack.
EVERY opponent, except Giants can be killed in 4 attacks. Many in just 2.
None of the traditional looking bosses, giant enemies, are required fights.
If you eat too many herbs you will puke.
There is an item that stops you from dropping your sword.
In addition to your tonic, there is an item that fully heals you.
There is an item that stops bleeding and removes all toxins, allowing you to eat more herbs.
There is an item that plays you a song.
There is a hidden dream.
There is lore in the items.
There are hidden lore items.
GIANTS
There are two giants in the game. Both of them can be passed and all necessary items to progress can be obtained without any fighting at all
Giants take 1 damage max from any attack (projectile or otherwise)
Their main hand attack can be blocked, but knocks you off your feet and depending on items, causes you to drop your sword
Giants always attack through your attacks, they cannot be interrupted.
Hits from giants deal more damage.