Here's another one that came out of nowhere, at least for me. A cyberpunky boss-rush with boss designs by the guy who made Afro Samurai. Take old-school DMC, God Hand, that kind of game, and distill it down to its quintessence, then rig everything up with neon lights and put on some synthwave and you've got Furi. It's got the minimalistic storytelling that's so in vogue these days: You're an unnamed swordsman fighting to escape a floating prison with the help of a guy in a rabbit mask. Each layer is a single masterfully designed boss fight.
This is a game I didn't know I needed until I played it. Amid all the inexplicable Dark Souls hype I was beginning to wonder if it was possible for a sword mans game to be balls-hard without resorting to incomprehensible gimmicky bullshit. And then Dreadlock Jesus came, and the rabbit guy is his prophet. The thing that really sets this game apart is responsiveness and readability. Controls are about as tight as they can get, a hybrid between distilled beat-em-up action and twin stick bullet hell. You have a set of moves that never changes and mastery of the game comes from improving your skills at using those moves, rather than finding better items or new abilities. You can shoot, parry, swing, dodge, and focus, and all of your moves aside from parry can be charged for greater effect.
Additionally the game's readability is something every game should strive for. You will never die to bullshit. You'll never die because you didn't know some stupid gimmick (fuck you capra demon) or because the game sucker-punched you. The crisp aesthetic and clear telegraphs ensure every time you get your ass beat (and you will, many times) you know exactly what happened. Bosses have six health bars with a shield for each health bar. The shield phase has free movement with a mix of bullet hell shootouts and up-close action until the shield is depleted, at which point you shift into a melee phase with a much smaller area of battle. In this section the shoot button instead focuses, forcing you to stand still but enabling massive damage if you can fully focus and then land a hit. Once a bar is depleted you go to the next shield phase and the stakes get higher with new movesets and abilities. You have three health bars and losing one resets the fight at the most recent shield phase.
Boss design is also great with stylish and unique visuals. The three-faced jailer taunts you as he's bonking your ass with his staff, while the second boss is straitjacketed and fixed to a motorized wheel, howling feedback and tearing through her restraints as she gets angrier. Every boss is outrageous and climactic in its own right, and like Shadow of the Colossus the limited number of fights hardly makes it a short game.
Anybody else play it yet? Is it not fuckin sweet? I'm mainly happy with it because of the dark souls comparison above. It's nice to have a game that's tight and readable but still controller-throwing hard in an era where "difficulty" seems to be synonymous with "bullshit."
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Topic: Furi - Get Out of Superjail Free - Special Guest Donnie Darko (Read 1287 times)