Koihime Enbu is $5 on Steam. It’s a surprisingly good game in the vein of Samurai Shodown, focused around connecting solid 1-2 hit combos (although there is a mechanic that allows for a longer combos off a particular kind of counter hit). It’s also very easy to pick up and play. If you’re at all curious I highly recommend it especially for that price.
Part of the reason it’s so cheap though is that the new one is coming July 12, featuring a new character, new assist, and the typical array of system and balance changes. It will be a full price game though (probably around $40 or $50 I imagine).
I played two matches and the online wasn’t half bad. Better than a lot of other games I play on the reg. So decent matches have a potential to exist, at least for me (I’m on FiOS). I wouldn’t count on it as being the norm though, especially since like no one is going to buy it.
There is almost no single player content (just combo trials, training, and a facsimile of an arcade mode) so you’re probably going to be buying it to play with local friends or to support arika’s final game. It’s pretty fun and feels good from the 30 minutes I’ve played of it. It looks very nice, combos have a good flow, and I need to get used to the movement.
I’ve played a couple hours of FLEX casuals at CEO and it’s pretty fun! The gougi stuff is all extremely silly, and combined with the really strong dashes and chains it gives the game a fast pace without feeling “too” anime. The gap between the portrait art and the in-game models is pretty moe.