Stingbot Games’ The Forbidden Arts is a 2.5D, action-adventure fighting game. Imagine taking the combo-laced, fireball-throwing antics from Street Fighter but combining it with the platforming and obstacles present in a Crash Bandicoot game… well, you would end up with The Forbidden Arts.

Stingbot attempted to pour a lot of love into the lore of the game, setting up the backstories and regional history to make gamers care about the journey ahead. They released a story trailer a while back to help setup the core foundations and world-building.

The actual game will put players in the role of Phoenix, a young adventurer who ends up having hidden powers unlocked after he visits a druid.

Players will attempt to take Phoenix on a journey to save the world of Chora and defeat the evil necromancer. Seems pretty straightforward, right? Well, that’s because it is.

The hook for the game is in the fighting and magic mechanics, where players will have to utilize various skillsets that can be unlocked for Phoenix throughout the journey, enabling him to not only cast fireballs but also use protective magic to avoid taking damage from minions and bosses alike. You can see how the game plays out with the Early Access trailer below.

The sound effects are a little obnoxious, but the actual combat looks good. The combos and mix and match of melee with projectile attacks seems like it could make for a really fun experience if it’s balanced and paced right.

The Early Access version of the game is said to be around 35% complete, and the full game will have 13 levels to complete and six bosses to fight.

They also plan on keeping the game in Early Access for around a year, so don’t expect the final version to release until maybe winter of 2019.

You can look for The Forbidden Arts to arrive on the Steam store starting February 7th next month.