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

Like most video game-loving folks, I’m guilty of jumping on every hype train that pulls into the station. I revel in gobbling up every detail about an upcoming title, watching every trailer and trawling through interviews until I’ve just about experienced the whole damn thing before it releases. It’s for this reason that I love when a game creeps up out of nowhere and surprises me before I get a chance to oversaturate myself with info. That’s exactly what happened with the Metroidvania action game F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch. First catching my eye during a State of Play livestream, I decided to leave it there and go in as fresh as possible, but was that approach wise or is this one a rabbit’s foot that’s out of luck?

The backdrop for F.I.S.T. is like any other – a downtrodden diesel-punk city occupied by a variety of anthropomorphic animal people are under the dictating rule of a shady corporation that maintains their dominance by policing the streets with vicious, robotic dog-men. It’s like Shakespeare, but with a pinch more fur. You play as Rayton the rabbit, a gruff, retired resistance fighter who’s content with leaving the past behind him. Unfortunately for Ray, that past of his refuses to stay down and when his close friend Urso (who’s a big old bear by the way) is arrested by the Iron Dogs, he’s forced to gather his old gear and start back on a path of violence. This setup is an interesting one and the furtizens of Torch City are all endearing, but I unfortunately gave up on the plot about an hour in, largely thanks to some very wonky writing. It’s important to note that I never grew tired of the setting or the characters, they’re both interesting and well designed, it’s just the dialogue that lets things down slightly.

It may not be the safest place, but Torch City sure is pretty

Working in the opposite way to the story is the gameplay. As you’ve probably deduced by now, thanks to the cover art and, well, the name of the game, Ray’s tussling tool of choice is a back-mounted mechanical arm that was, at one stage, part of a larger mech. Gearing up with his mighty fist, Ray sets out to release his friend and take down the Iron Dogs. Combat and traversal start off in a very simple way, with Ray being able to jump, dash and throw light and heavy punches, which are enough to see off basic enemies. During the first half an hour, this is more or less what you’re saddled with and, if I’m honest, it didn’t grab me…to begin with. After learning your first basic combo from a martial arts master raccoon a short while later, however, my tone changed dramatically.

Ray’s mech fist delivers weighty and impactful attacks that, when strung together in one of the many combos that you can learn during the course of the game, feels devastating. Better yet, you’re not just stuck with the fist either. Throughout the course of the game, you’ll get the chance to wield three distinct weapons, the fist, a drill and whip, each coming with its own move sets and upgrade options. As you defeat enemies you’ll gain resources that you can spend at upgrade stations to unlock the power that can be used to inflict huge damage on your mechanised foes, the most powerful of which are tied to a meter, so you’ll need to use them wisely. Ray also has access to a number of secondary items such as a healing elixir (carrot juice), a long-range homing pistol and short staves that can be used to parry your opponents’ attacks.

Having such a wide arsenal to choose from means that each combat encounter feels different to the last. Will you roll in throwing punches and blasting fools with a cannon or will you play defensively, counter an attack and then grind the Iron Dogs to dust with your drill arm? The choice is yours, but no matter how you decide to skin the combat cat it will be fun as hell.

Hmm, skinning a cat may have been a poor choice of words, especially when she can hurricanrana an Iron Dog’s head off

The enemies on the other end of your mechanical mauling are suitably varied as well, ranging from the lowly grunt that merely throws a punch, right up to the burly gorillas that can pound the ground and create waves of damage-dealing electricity. The enemy composition in most fights means that you’ll have to swap and change your gear out mid-fight to stand a chance, which makes for more interesting encounters overall. I did, however, notice that the odd room would be filled with one too many ranged baddies, resulting in some frustration as I couldn’t close distance quick enough to avoid a few licks. This didn’t occur often though, so it was a fleeting issue.

The boss enemies provide the biggest challenge. Most start off simple enough, but as damage is dealt, their attack patterns change and the tension is raised. I thoroughly enjoyed battling most of the unique bosses, that I won’t spoil here, as they were designed to truly test your skill and handling of the abilities that you’ve unlocked. Awkwardly though, if you don’t put resources into certain key abilities that you may not vibe with, you’ll find certain bosses to be almost insurmountable. It’s a shame that you’re given choice as to how you want to fight, only to hit a brick wall thanks to your preferences. This can result in some necessary grinding to unlock the required ability which will irritate some players without a doubt.

Getting around Torch City and between fights, F.I.S.T. flexes some impressive platforming prowess that encourages exploration, with jumping, dashing and wall hopping all feel extremely responsive. Certain sections of the game are filled to the brim with environmental hazards and require near-perfect precision, but the traversal mechanics are so sound that I knew that my failures were my own and not thanks to design shortcomings.

You best believe that I painted the drill to look like a giant carrot

Like any good Metroidvania, you’ll unlock new abilities and gear that will allow you to uncover more of the map, a map that is filled to the brim with secrets and hidden collectables. Combined with the aforementioned slick platforming, I felt compelled to explore and push the boundaries of what was reachable. The map is fun to traverse and satisfying to uncover, if a little bland in places.

The diesel-punk aesthetic is cool, and I do love the mechanical nature of everything, but locations did start to feel a bit repetitive after a short while. I found myself checking the map every few moments because this corridor looked a lot like the last and it definitely looked like the one before that. Luckily, the character design is one aspect that I never grew tired of. From the underhanded and sneaky rat clans to the robotic canine foes, every character model is full of character and life. I actually grew to love the Iron Dogs, who reminded me of the dim-witted Droids from Star Wars: The Clone Wars in their banter when left alone.

This is what brushing up on your skills means, yeah?

Final Thoughts

I might not be ready to jump into the furry world and cosplay as Rayton anytime soon, but F.I.S.T. has impressed me nonetheless. The interesting world and well designed characters are let down by a fairly uninteresting story with rough writing, but that can almost be completely forgiven thanks to the excellent combat smooth platforming and brilliantly constructed world. The Metroidvania genre is a bloated one, but this hopping good time manages to set itself apart from the pack.

Reviewed on PS5 (PS4 version played) and PC // Review code supplied by publisher

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