Weapons were initially designed as a quick strike enhancement – something to give Beat ’em Up fans a bit more of that authentic experience. And players do like the real time weapon attacks, a lot. But there was a problem – what do you do when the player opens the menu? Given the menu driven nature of the game, we found ourselves (and players) opening the menu a lot out of habit.

Initially using the menu we only had “throw weapon”, which only worked for knives and similar weapons) and a “drop weapon” option (players cannot use regular attacks or items while holding a weapon, so it might be beneficial to drop a weapon). We realized it only made sense to add a melee attack option from the menu, so we did! It uses a lot of FP, but is more reliable than the normal quick strikes, which can miss a lot.

We had a bunch of ideas in mind for weapon types, and each needed to justify its existence beyond aesthetics.