You'll see ;)
But yea it's reaction-based, you have two attacks slash and stab , and the idea is some attacks from you or your enemies can be blocked, others can be dodged.
It's a bit moot at the moment as I only have one enemy made but if you time your blocks correctly you should be able to counter. That sort of thing.
I've made sure that my one enemy actually has a well telegraphed attack... (well we'll see what people think anyway) or as well as I was able to given the resolution! On the plus side small resolution mixed with monochrome only made actually drawing it a bit easier.
I sort of intended that more difficult enemies would have a wider variety of attacks, that need a different answer from the player, and with attacking, blocking and dodging needing certain amounts of stamina managing that would also be an element, and getting used to the timings of the enemies' attacks (as they also have stamina and need to manage that).
The version I have mostly ready has most of this functionality built in, but with only one enemy with one kind of attack it's not getting used. Keen to make some more enemies to spice it up but animating them will take time.