F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch review

Meh

by BloodScorchedSun

There are a lot of positive aspects of this game but it is ultimately held down by frustrating, subpar combat. I like the overall look of the game but the enemies are very bland robots that all look roughly the same. The story is fairly bland as well but plays service in directing you to filling out the map. The upgrades you get are a good variety of things familiar to the metroidvania genre. There are also upgrades to your weapons such as combos and you can upgrade your side items as well. The issue I found with both the abilities and the upgrades was the gate to the higher levels. I found myself running into dead ends a lot because I didn't have an ability and the map really sucks at pointing you toward the intended story path. Then I found myself overloaded with the upgrade chips because I couldn't use them until about 3/4ths through the game to where that opened up. Very uneven progression in a few areas. Then on top of that the sub items can be upgraded but there are a couple you have to get outside of just paying coins at the shop, which isn't mentioned anywhere. Going through on for the platinum really shows how unclear a lot of things were to players. The biggest issue I had was the gameplay. Just like every other game now, there is a parry system. It starts with a subitem that works well but takes a charge until you get an ability fairly late game. This mostly has a basic sidescrolling brawler style combat system but with a lot of knockback. You will constantly be getting hit and falling down during jumps or air combos. I really wish I liked the game more but it was so frustrating to play most of the time that it overshadows the good parts.