8 Essential Video Games To Get You Into A New Genre

The fighting genre can be a tough nut to crack for outsiders, given the intensity of the fighter community and highly competitive scene that emerges around basically any popular fighting game.

But look beyond the likes of Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Tekken and there's a far more welcoming offering with newbies in mind.

The Steam page for Fantasy Strike literally describes it as a fighting game designed for those who've never even thrown a single digital punch, and it's sure not lying.

Fantasy Strike strips away basically all the complexity of the aforementioned fighters, boiling the genre down to its most base, streamlined elements, ensuring players can get to grips with the basics of movement, fighting, and reacting to opponents without needing to worry about combos or the dreaded meta.

And better yet, it's free-to-play.

Though the game has wildly mixed reviews on Steam, it's worth noting that a large chunk of the negativity comes from skilled fighting game players who cite the game's shallowness as a major drawback.

But as a primer for neophytes who might move onto the genre's big hitters later on, Fantasy Strike is without question the best place to start.