Giving players a chance to check out the semi-cyberpunk world that is inhabited by a human-like animal society, TiGames has released a free demo on Steam for their upcoming game F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch. After the announcement that their publisher bilibili set up during this year’s state of play, I had to dive in and give this game a shot. I have to say that I am happy that I did because the demo itself was pretty awesome!

Gameplay

This game features a lot of the expected controls for both 2D platforming and combat. By this, I mean that it will be an easy-to-learn system that will only be as useful as you manage to utilize it to be. If you decide to use only the basic attacks in combat, you are likely going to end up having a hard time during certain fights, so make sure to branch out with different styles and combinations. Same with the platforming aspects; if you don’t learn to utilize a mixture of when to dash, when to jump and/or double-jump, and the like, you’ll end up having a hard time.

In the demo alone, you’ll get to unlock a couple of the available moves that are provided in the skill tree at the mechanic boxes that are placed in every other area. While these do provide a free boost in health, if needed, you can access the upgrade system that will cost the points you have collected from defeated enemies, broken boxes, and hidden chests. There are also some upgrades that will require a special chip card that you can only obtain from defeating mini-boss-type enemies.

If you’re curious why the game is called “FIST,” it is thanks to the fact that our rabbit main character uses a mechanical backpack device that is essentially a giant hand. This is only used for combat, so don’t expect it to be useful for platforming sections - at least, according to what is in the demo.

I will say that the platforming aspect of this game is either going to be somewhat simple or incredibly difficult. The only time I had an actual challenge in the platforming aspect was when I took a pathway that turned out to just lead to a hidden collectible. I hope there are more sections like this and they utilize the challenge that platforming can bring when it comes to utilizing multiple platforming-related skills in the proper use to succeed.

Expectations

As I mentioned above, I hope they end up taking advantage of the possibilities that a multi-ability wielder has when it comes to platforming segments in a game. This can provide players with a challenge that can possibly be overcome in a multitude of ways.

The guidance system, or lack thereof rather, definitely needs to be added to the game though. When I reached the point in the game that I was told to head downtown to face a specific enemy, I had no idea where that was supposed to be. Worse than that, when I found the spot, it is not what I would consider downtown, but I could see why they called it that at the same time. Some type of guidance system needs to be added, even if it is a random mark on a mini-map, a mark on a map that fills out as you traverse it, or an arrow points in the general direction I need to get to.

Fighting the final boss of the demo was easily the hardest part of the game so far as it felt like the difficulty changed up dramatically. Honestly, that was a perfect swap in difficulty and I believe that boss fights should be the hardest part of a game by a dramatic amount! I hope to see them keep this up and for each boss fight to gradually get harder than the last boss, but the space in the middle to only get slightly more challenging with the combat as it should be more focused on story progress and platforming.

Conclusion

F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch is off to a great start with this demo and it has me excited for the game’s launch next month! If you are even considering this game, then just go give the demo a try to see why you are going to want it because there is no way you’ll play that demo and not want the game afterward. Of course, there is always room for a bit of improvement, but with the game still being developed, we should see a clean and complete version of the game at launch.