Gameplay

Movement & Recovery

Characters have varying run and jump speeds. (see stat cards in the character sections linked at the bottom)
Jumps can be controlled mid-air. Tap for a short hop. Hold for a higher jump.
- A jump cancel can be performed mid-air on some attacks.
Quickly tapping forwards twice will propel a character into their top speed, ignoring acceleration
- A dash cancel can be performed during some attacks to extend combos.
Quickly tapping down twice after the peak of a jump will execute a fast fall, allowing for additional air control and instantly killing small enemies on landing.
Movement can be performed with the analog stick or d-pad. You can also toggle "up" to jump to play on Fight sticks.
Getting hit mid-air will send you spinning. Press the jump button to air recover after the first spin.
Pressing jump as you hit the wall or ground will make you quick-rise.
- Or hold down to stay down (ground only). You can still take damage in this state.

Character-specific Mobility

Zetch can grapple onto blue crystals and large enemies. He can also jump cancel indefinitely.
Tomoe's hyper mode lets her float and perform a double jump.
Sypher's berserk mode greatly increases speed and prevents him from flinching at light attacks.
Buster can perform a shockwave dash on the ground or mid-air for a quick speed boost.

Tagging and Team-based Gameplay

Characters can be pre-selected at any time with the right analog stick or back/select button.
The Right Trigger/R2 button tags in your highlighted character. There's a brief animation when tagging in so make sure it's safe as you could get hit!
Tapping B/circle will perform a burst. This creates a circular shockwave around the player and brings in your highlighted character instantly. Anything caught in the blast gets popped up along with the player, making it ideal for aerial combos or simply getting a weakened character out safely.
When your character runs out of HP, they are knocked out and cannot be used. You have 2 KO's between checkpoints. Losing a third character sends you back to the previous checkpoint. You can also spend 1 KO to bring a character back, but you'll have no chances left after that!
- Boss rooms have no KO cap, but you are limited to 2 characters.

Attacks & Special Meters

Each character has at least 12 attacks that can be performed while standing, crouching, or mid-air
Many moves can pick enemies up off the ground or push them around.
- Each character has at least 1 launcher tied to a basic attack.
One or two special meters can be used for skills, modes, and super attacks.
- Zetch uses rudra energy to turn enemies and objects into a thread drill.
- Tomoe combos to perform finishers or activate a spinning blade shield in hyper mode.
- Sypher converts health by performing axe and lance attacks that instantly cancel his attack recovery. Absorbing rudra particles allow him to heal it back. Sypher automatically enters a powered up “berserk mode” when low on health.
- Buster uses rudra energy to perform multiple super attacks. Energy attacks and movement build his heat gauge and overheating trades speed for powerful status-based attacks.
Rudra particles fuel energy meters and can be collected from just about anywhere.
Holding LB & RB with full meter performs a super attack with most characters.

Attack Types & Enemy Weaknesses

All attacks fall into one of 3 categories: physical, slash, and energy. Hitsparks indicate the type.
- Physical attacks tend to deal more stun than others. Effective against human enemies.
- Slash attacks tend to deal more damage but little stun. Effective against robotic enemies.
- Energy attacks vary in damage and deal 0 stun. Effective against digital enemies.
  - Special attacks are often energy-enhanced physical or slash attacks, making them more useful when surrounded by multiple enemy types.
Effective attacks deal 50% more damage. Enemies will flash red when hit with an effective attack.

Stun and Dizzy

All enemies have a stun threshold. Once breached, they become dizzy.
Dizzy stars or "botheads" indicate that the enemy is immodible for a brief period.
- Some larger enemies or boss characters can only be launched or grabbed when dizzy.

Understanding Combat

Dealing Damage: Enemies flinch when hit with enough damage. Making an enemy flinch delays their counter and allows for longer combos. As enemies get tougher or when playing on harder difficulties, understanding flinch thresholds will come in handy.
Cancels: Many attacks can be cancelled by a dash, jump, or specific attack. Similar to 2D fighters, combat is based around understanding recovery time and cancellation properties to form combos that fit the situation. Don't forget to burst in on the fly with someone else more suited for the job!
Environment: Enemies can be knocked into objects, hazards, walls, and each other for bonus damage. A thrown enemy or object deals massive stun to themselves and their victim.
Exploiting enemy weaknesses, managing special meters, and understanding your characters' movesets are all key to effective combat in PROJECT: RUDRA.

Combat Challenges and Credits

At this point it might seem like there's too much to keep track of, but combat challenges let you decide whether or not you want to get into the nitty gritty or avoid as much combat as possible.
In some areas, a suggested action will pop up on screen. You can choose to ignore it or try it out and see what happens. Successfully performing these challenges will earn you credits, but they're completely optional. You can always check out everyone's movelist in the pause menu, but it's better to learn by doing!
- Credits also drop from defeated enemies!
- Credits can be spent in the gallery to unlock art, but even if you hate art, completing a gallery page unlocks additional modes and a couple other secrets yet to be revealed...
Each character has a variety of suggested combos to help you optimize your damage output. These can be performed in-game or in the dedicated training mode. The more difficult the combo, the larger the reward!

Progression

Health Tics increase your maximum vitality by 1.
Inspiration pickups unlock a new move for the character represented.
Books unlock special gallery items or entire pages.
Byon Creds are worth a whopping 200 credits. Though without knowing the conversion rate, this may not sound like a lot. But it is!

Once a level is completed, you can return there at any time, with any available character. Some items may be difficult to find without a specific character, but generally the game encourages you to play with whomever you'd like. Just keep a lookout for the golden diamond...