With decades of history and tens of thousands of games released every single year, finding a game that does something unique is harder than ever before. A fresh idea can really capture the attention of gamers far and wide and lead to a hugely successful game, be it the automatic firing of weapons in Vampire Survivors or the Nemesis system of Shadow of Mordor. I can’t remember the last time a single idea in a game impressed me as much as the central hook of Forestrike, a martial arts Roguelike with seriously intense combat.
In a country ruled by a once great Emperor now controlled by an evil Admiral, it’s up to martial artist Yu to take on overwhelming numbers of warriors and save the day. This would be impossible without the aid of his master’s training, and of course his unique power of Foresight. There’s actually way more narrative in Forestrike than I was expecting, with various allies all talking to each other in a flurry of proverbs. It’s the combat that’s the real star of the show though.
Fights in Forestrike generally feature you taking on a handful of opponents at once, with only lightning fast reactions and some cool moves on your side. The aim of each fight is to try and get away unscathed, because you’re going to need that health for the later bosses and tough encounters of the Roguelike run. On your first run you’ll try to do this with your one time use dodge ability, which causes a single enemy attack to phase through you and hopefully crash into a foe approaching from the other side. Otherwise you’ll just have to land a light or heavy attack first to overcome the odds, or maybe punch a projectile back with perfect timing if you’re feeling flashy.
There’s a ridiculous amount of precision that goes into a battle, and that’s where the clever hook of the game comes in. With your Foresight you can fight each battle of the game as many times as you want, repeating the same punches until you figure out the perfect way to overwhelm your opponents safely. Once you feel ready you’ll then have to commit to a real fight, where the consequences of losing your health are real.
It’s hard to really get across quite how genius this idea is, and it enables the combat to be particularly brutal without success being completely impossible. Sure, for the first few foresight attempts of a tough fight you’ll likely get your martial arse handed to you, but that just makes it all the more satisfying when you perfectly punch your way through unscathed. It enables you to look like an expert simply because of a bit of practice, and before you know it you’ll be using less foresight to succeed.
Despite your exciting powers of thinking ahead, before long you’ll face a battle you can’t win and be sent back to your base battered and bruised. It’s here where most of the narrative will happen, and if you’ve done well enough you’ll unlock a new master. The master you choose to serve affects your main ability in combat, so instead of the dodge ability you’ll gain the power to block an attack or dash through an enemy. These really change the core way you’ll approach encounters, and also come with their own brand of Roguelike upgrades to grab.
Based on the path you choose to take back the kingdom, you’ll be given different rewards for beating up the baddies. Slowly but surely these will hopefully lead to a build that makes you much more formidable in combat, thanks to abilities like taking no damage from weapons or using ancient magic to swap places with the enemy you punch first. My favourite early ability to pick grants extra dodges when you successfully get a friendly fire kill, enabling whole fights to be won without even raising a fist.
These upgrades aren’t limited to temporary upgrades either, with permanent buffs unlockable the more you play. You’ll always feel like you’re progressing in some way as long as you beat a boss or two on a run, and with the constant flow of story the game never stagnates. Coupled with all the fun different enemy combinations, abilities, and optional objectives it’s incredibly moreish, as long as you don’t mind taking a licking on the regular.
The difficulty will be the thing that puts most people off, because even with the power of foresight this game is brutal. It took me a whole lot of hours to reliably start beating the second of four areas, and at any time you could lose everything and have to start over again. The only other issue I really had with Forestrike was the narrative, which is just a bit too dreary and full of stuffy ancient teachings.
Forestrike is a delightful martial arts Roguelike that rewards practice and lightning fast reactions. The ability to play fights over and over to train yourself against foes is one of the single most intelligent mechanics I can remember a game implementing, and it lends itself to the wonderfully brutal combat encounters. Its excessive difficulty will likely put some off, but those who have the patience to master the art of fist combat will be greatly rewarded.
