There’s something to old kung fu flicks that makes me always want to stop and watch whenever there’s one on. Regardless of the overall quality or whether or not I have already watched it, the genre in and of itself has always fascinated me. It’s probably because I’ve never considered myself anything close to being able to pull those moves off, and knowing how uncoordinated and undisciplined I am, it’s too late to try to, anyway. But games like Forestrike help at least make me feel like a badass, at least for the fleeting moments before I ultimately fail.
Developed by Skeleton Crew Studio out of Japan, it’s no wonder Forestrike is such a technical game. Their previous release Olija, albeit criminally short, left quite a mark on my mind, so much so that without even looking at any of its loading screens that denote the developer, as soon as I laid my eyes on the game during the few times I’ve ran across it in the past, I instantly knew Forestrike had some sort of relation to it. Both are ridiculously beautiful too, with some of the most gorgeous and well animated pixel art I’ve ever seen.
Taking place in a fictitious version of an ancient empire where a foreign power has taken control and threatens to destroy its proud societal structure. As a lone martial artist hailing from the Order, a group of practitioners that stand directly against and threaten the new guys in charge directly. In that, your journey is one of direct and indirect violence as fights take place both in and out of your mind. Living up to its name, Forestrike has you living through encounters repeatedly as you’re given the chance to “practice” before putting your plan in practice.
Funnily enough, for as much as you can train, the more complex bouts get, the easier it is for the game to get more unpredictable, throwing a wrench onto the carefully calculated gears that you might have assembled. Your list of moves also tends to get in your way if you’re not careful too, since the further you get, the more options are at your disposal given the roguelite nature of this run-based martial arts epic.
And that’s not even getting into the multitude of fighting disciplines that Forestrike offers as you discover more masters of the Order that you can follow and then pick from when starting a new run towards the Capital. Each has its own distinct style that radically changes the way you have to think about brawls, as well as the composition of them and the order of levels you’ll encounter through Forestrike’s handful of maps, all of that already being quite tough on their own before eventually facing off against a boss. Some are more straightforward, giving you a way to one-time dodge out of the way of attacks, for instance, while others require you to be skilful with your timing, betting all of your chips for the big damage that you inflict.
But there’s much more to the game than just fighting. Taking a queue from Hades, failure is not really the end in Forestrike as there’s a lot to partake in between attempts. You get more of the overall story and other characters’ backstory while running around at your home base, even if it’s not as heavily dependent on it as Supergiant Games’ genre-bending creation. The writing throws many proverbs your way and while there are light attempts at humor, it definitely takes itself way more seriously, much like its inspirations in the decades of movies from Asia, especially Hong Kong.
That is clear by the musical score on offer that seems taken straight out of a Shaw Brothers production, with plenty of strings, drums, and even sometimes a discreet gong to be hand, thrown in for good measure. It marries with the art style and animation that is slowed down and fast-forwarded for great effect. The aforementioned apparent unpredictability of later encounters is exacerbated with the deceptively simple controls that feel like they actually could’ve used more buttons on the controller just to alleviate some of the compound techniques that rely on the same controls, only used in different contexts, such in the case of dodging and fashing.
Then again, those who adore a challenge are sure to find a hefty one here. There’s little room for error once you commit to an actual fight after the planning stage. But if you aren’t exactly up to the task like I eventually found myself not being, there are some extremely welcome and flexible assist options that will put an extra oomph in your step and help you over some of Forestrike’s humps when needed. They help you get better if that’s what you are looking to do, but if it’s only a matter of seeing the ending, more power to you, literally.
Forestrike is a very neat twist on a genre that is in dire need of new ideas. What’s on offer here manages to be both unmoving and malleable, giving all manner of styles of play a chance to flourish. All the while, it does an incredible job providing an incentive, like any good master would, for disciples to continually grow if they put the necessary time and effort in.
