Evensong

Evensong is a single souls-like boss duel that plays in the browser. A pilgrim with a sword, a shield and a lantern wades into a drowned cathedral lit by candles floating on the water, and faces Ondine, Cantor of the Drowned Choir: a winged giant, 3.67 times his size, who fights with a great sword and with rings and blades of light.

What stands out

• Weight. Every blow has a wind-up, an active window and a recovery, and her blade is treated as a solid thing: it won't sweep through a pier or a fallen stone, and when a forced stroke meets stone it stops there with a clash and a recoil, which gives you an opening.
• Water and light. Mirror reflections, ripples and splashes where blows strike the water, candles on the surface, and a full cinematic change of phase in which the candles go out one ring at a time until only your lantern is left.
• Cloth and wings. Her robe drags on the water behind her, and her organ-pipe wings burst open and glow in the second phase.
• Any controller. Keyboard and mouse, a gamepad and touch controls all work at once, and the prompts follow whichever you touched last.

The fight was first tuned hard and filmed that way, then made easier for release. The author kept the filmed balance available as a separate rule set.

The model that made it is not stated by the author.

The fight

• You: 130 health, a stamina bar, and 4 flasks that each restore 58 health.
• Ondine: 800 health. At half health, phase two begins with a cutscene: the candles go dark, she rises with her blade upright, and her pipe-wings open and glow. ("Then you will sing with them.")

Her moves

Sweep, Cleave, Lunge, Spin, Leap, Stomp, Chorale, Hymn, Descant and the Tide.

• Lunge: a long straight lane toward you. Roll sideways out of the lane, not backwards.
• Leap: she lands and throws out a ring of water. Roll through it or be out of reach.
• Chorale: rings of light, one per beat. Time your rolls to the rings.
• Hymn: blades of light.
• The Tide: a low, level sweep 0.7 m above the floor that throws a wave. Jump (F) or roll.
• Her blade can't pass through stone. If you put a pier between you, she has to step to open ground before she can swing, and a stroke that does hit stone recoils and leaves her open.

Survival tips

• Every move has a wind-up. Learn the tell, roll during her active window, and punish during the recovery.
• Blocking costs stamina (70% of a blow's damage, 90% for heavy ones), and heavy blows still chip 12% through your shield. Rolling is usually better than blocking big hits.
• Drink when she's recovering, not in front of her mid-combo.
• Lock on (Q or middle mouse) keeps the camera on her, which helps a lot with a boss this big.
• Hold roll to sprint when you need distance.

Controls

Action	Keyboard / mouse	Gamepad	Touch
Move	W A S D	Left stick	Left-thumb stick
Camera	Mouse or arrow keys	Right stick	Drag with right thumb
Attack	Left mouse	RB	On-screen button
Heavy attack (hold to charge)	Shift + left mouse, or E	RT	On-screen button
Block	Right mouse or C	LB	On-screen button
Roll (hold to sprint)	Space	B	On-screen button
Jump	F	A	On-screen button
Drink a flask	R	X	On-screen button
Lock on / off	Q or middle mouse	Right stick click	On-screen button
Pause	Esc	Start	On-screen button