4/5 ★ – Hill417's review of F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch.

After a grueling battle where I just barely survived an onslaught of enemies, I pulled out my flask of carrot juice to restore the health of the protagonist Rayton the Rabbit, to continue my mission of finding some classified document that could turn the tide against an army of machines that have occupied a city populated by anthropomorphic animals. That sounded serious didn’t it? Well that is because “F.I.S.T. Forged in Shadow Torch” takes itself very seriously with its dark narrative, but I found its overdramatic approach to the plot to be entertaining along with its action packed gameplay. Let’s look at the plot. Rayton is a former solider of an elite task force who’s lost his will to fight because an army of machines known as “the Iron Dogs” have taken over his home of Torch City. He quickly sings a different tune when his best friend Urso (a bear) is kidnapped by the “Iron Dogs” so he now Ray has to reduce him with his battle suit… or part of it. You see his suit was destroyed and the only working part is a comically oversized fist that is attached to your back. However that won’t be enough. Later on you will obtain a drill and a whip to swap between whenever the situation calls for it. These serve as your weapons with their own set of skills. The fist is for… punching, but can also pick up and throw enemies, perform uppercuts, and open doors by —again— punching them. With the right combos then you can be spinning in the air and come crashing down. The drill also serves as a fan where you can pull and push enemies away, with the right combo then you can spin the drill into a whirlwind deal massive damage or create a mini tornado. You can use the whip to close the gap between you and your opponent. There are even more skills to learn by obtaining “data disc” and the only way to find them is through exploring the world. I’ve played a lot of Metroidvanias. A lot of them will always encourage you to 100% the map, but don’t offer much in way of rewards other than more health, but in this case the more I explored the stronger I could potentially become. If I found the combat boring I wouldn’t have bothered, but F.I.S.T. makes combat so exhilarating, fast paced, and most importantly: fun. The crazy part is, is there are more helpful collectibles to find like plant seeds, where you can exchange them for money. There are also posters you can turn in for a color palette swap of your weapons. Something about punching your enemies with a pink fist just feels right you know? Speaking of the enemies, a lot of them are suspiciously Japanese based. We have robot frogs that know ninjitsu, a couple of bosses that resemble samurai and ronin, and a late game boss that is literally called Yokozuna (a Yokozuna is the highest ranked sumo wrestler). Given the fact that the developers are Chinese and “Torch City” is based off of China in the 1940’s and that Japan loves mechs. I think the setting might be heavily influenced by the occupation of China in World War II, but maybe I’m reading to much into it. Since we’re talking about the city I want to admire how detailed it looks along with all of the backgrounds. As far as the acting goes, everyone turns an entertaining performances, but some of Rayton’s delivery was a little flat. Like the team only did one take and thought that it was good enough. Another problem is the ending. I don’t think the developers knew how they wanted to close the story because the final cutscene is so abrupt and the credits just barging in I was to busy thinking to myself “that was it?” rather than relishing on my hard earned victory. I would usually ridicule a game for having such a disappointing to end, but it isn’t 30 hours long nor is it excruciatingly difficult. I was having a blast in what has been the most enjoyable Metroidvania I’ve played these past few months.