About a half a year after releasing their clever tower defense/idle clicker hybrid Tap Quest: Gate Keeper (Free), developer Nanoo is back with their next release, a side-scrolling hack ‘n slash RPG called Dark Sword. Right off the bad Dark Sword reminds me of the similarly titled Dark Lands (Free) from a few years ago, but Dark Sword appears to be a free-roaming hack ‘n slash game whereas Dark Lands was more of an auto-runner with light combat elements. I also get a heavy Shadow Fight 2 (Free) vibe here due to the excellent animation and seemingly complex combat system. Check out the teaser and decide for yourself.

Dark Sword will be free to play and as you can see in the video there’s even an auto combat setting, so you can expect this will be the kind of game where you’ll do all sorts of grinding. But hey, that can be okay. Nanoo promises a “Farming and strengthening system for different weapons, Over 100 stages and monsters, and a Hardcore mode for the fearless." What’s more concerning than grinding is if there will be any sort of energy timers or other factors that might limit play, which is always a bummer. We’ll know soon enough as Nanoo expect Dark Sword to launch in early February and you can catch more info on the game in the forums.