Fighting and Dying in F.I.S.T

I just recently wrapped up a playthrough of Forged in Shadow Torch (F.I.S.T) and I gotta say, for someone who isn't big into metroidvanias, fighting games, or platformers, I found myself genuinely enjoying smacking some baddies around.  Currently, I'm on a mission to play through my backlog of Epic freebies.  F.I.S.T was offered up as part of the last holiday sale and I decided to give it a go even though it falls into a genre of games that aren't exactly my favorite.

Rayton and his fist.

What is it?

A metroidvania with aspects of fighting game and platformer.  The story is set in a world filled with anthropomorphized animals--you play as Rayton, a rabbit, and former soldier who has retired.  The city of Torch is run by an oppressive regime of robots and Rayton gives up retirement to rescue his best pal--a fat bear inventor named Urso, who winds up getting arrested.  Rayton must recover his trusty old weapon--a giant, wearable fist--and then bust Urso out of prison.  In the process, Rayton runs into an old ally...who now has some new, undesirable friends and uncovers a deeper plot by the leader of the regime to find an ancient artifact that will grant him greater power.

I finished my playthrough in a little over 20 hours.  I did try to go back and search some of the zones that require certain items to unlock, but I wasn't trying to 100% or anything.  I felt like the amount of playtime was just right.

Pros:

+ Even though it is a metroidvania the visuals are nice.  The backgrounds that are scrolling by vary according to the area, but they have a sort of 3D feel and are packed with all sorts of details.  Old Torch City has the feel of a 1920's or 1930's Chinese city and it's fun to just stop and look around.

+ The fighting/combo system is a lot of fun and feels really good.  There are three different weapon types to unlock and it's nice that you have some options.  You can unlock more moves by spending coins and data disks at terminals.  There are many different enemy types and part of the fun is figuring out which weapon works best and how to defeat the various types of bad guys.

+ Collectibles and upgrades provide a good reason to return to previously visited areas.  Ray can find posters for classic furtizen movies hidden throughout the game--these posters can be turned in to Urso to unlock special paint jobs for his weapons.  There are also plant seeds hidden in the many nooks and crannies in each zone that can be turned in for various rewards.

+ If you really just enjoy the fighting there's an arcade game where you can play "Slum Fighter" and challenge the various bosses from throughout the game to a fight.

+ Boss fights are fun and well-balanced.  You're probably not going to one-shot very many bosses and most of them will take you several (or many) tries to finally down.  It's challenging and occasionally frustrating, but all the fights are definitely do-able.  You definitely want to go back and find the upgrades that you missed before taking on the last boss.  The feeling of finally downing a boss that you've been struggling against is very rewarding.

+ The platforming isn't too stressful and doesn't detract from the enjoyability of the game.  There are definitely areas where you'll need navigate some tricky obstacles (and there's one Ori-like chase sequence), but since it's not a straight platformer, it's not too bad.

Cons:

- You're going to want a controller.  I used my trusty, bargain bin Amazon Basics XBOX 360 controller and it worked like a charm.  Mouse & keyboard is possible, but is always way more challenging.

- Performance was pretty good but there were moments when things got a bit slow--mostly when re-visiting the "core" base area where the vendors are located.  It's generally pretty short-lived, but definitely noticeable.

- There is an ability to parry enemy attacks, but the timing required is pretty bonkers.  I managed to do it mostly by accident and actually figuring out how to consciously do it would require quite a bit of practice.  It is helpful during boss fights.

- Replayability is limited.  You'll maybe want to go back and try to 100% the zones or mess around with "Slum Fighter," but there's not a lot of other reasons to go back.

Recommendation:

No price beats $0, but I would pay for F.I.S.T.  It's a solid game with very enjoyable fighting--even for someone like me who is horrible at fighting games.  It looks great, is challenging (but in just the right way), and smacking down baddies never gets old.