After a day of turmoil and memes, we finally get to see the first hour or so of the new Final Fantasy spin-off game from Team Ninja, best known for the Ninja Gaiden and Nioh franchises. It’s called Stranger Of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin, and it’s what you would expect of a Dark Souls/Nioh clone using the Square Enix JRPG brand.

Some additions and twists to the action RPG formula: your main character, the unoriginally-named Jack, gets to level up and switch Jobs that let you use different equipment and skills to help survive the castle of Chaos you’re thrown in. You can parry and dodge enemy attacks, as well as pull off a Break move that finishes enemies off with a crystal attack after you’re done wailing it from bits of its health.

If you’ve played Nioh 2, the core combat is incredibly similar, albeit with a lot more emphasis on the Parrying mechanic. You can also steal Instant Abilities from enemies by successfully performing a Parry, which gives you limited powerups that can turn the tide of battle.

However, you lose all of that if you die. And die you will! This demo is no slouch on Normal and Hard difficulty, as you can see in our detailed playthrough below. Also, Team Ninja needs to work on your companion’s AI and commands; they’re pretty much useless in this demo.

Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin will be out for PS5 and PC in 2022.