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Hindsight is 20/20, but what about foresight? Upcoming 2D tactical martial arts roguelike, Forestrike, is all about exploring that very idea. You know how you can end up stewing over one wrong move in a pivotal video game fight? That one thing that if reversed would have meant a swift win? In Forestrike, the idea is to play through every possible eventuality or potential mistake before trying the real thing.
A conniving admiral has muscled his way into the royal court with grand plans to usurp the emperor. You play as Yu, the remaining apprentice of the Order of the Foresight, a group dedicated to protecting the emperor and practitioners of a special kung fu technique. That’s Foresight, the ability to preview a fight repeatedly to figure out the optimal way to down enemies. In action, it works as a sort of repeatable practice run, an Etch A Sketch that you can repeatedly scrub clean before triggering the fight proper. You still control the actual fight but armed with, well, foresight, you know what to expect.
Image credit Skeleton Crew Studio, Devolver Digital
Image credit Skeleton Crew Studio, Devolver Digital
Though we’re not talking about the depth of, say, an action RPG here, the combat system is pretty nifty. Between dodges, blocks, weapons, and different melee attacks, you’re served with options. To boot, there are different martial arts schools you can pledge to before each run. Old Master Talgun is all about defence, evasion, and using the enemy’s mistakes to your advantage. Master Nodai, on the other hand, focuses on endurance, retaliation, and absorbing damage.
As you get deeper into the game, fights play out as tactical puzzles where you’ll need to use the environment and your planning skills to come out on top. Dodge that meaty thug, then whack the one behind him to get his weapon, then lob said weapon at the third one at the back, before swooping in for a finishing chop to the trachea. That kind of thing.
It is another roguelike, so it’s all about runs, which might put off those of you feeling genre fatigue. But this might be one to cleanse the palate, if only because the Foresight mechanic makes the genre’s unforgiving death mechanic a little less daunting. If you can’t enough of roguelikes, then dig in – this one gets under your skin.
I’m partial to pixel art and Forestrike scratches that itch. It reminds me of a slightly drab, darkened Dave the Diver aesthetically. There’s something of Trek to Yomi in there as well. The pixel world is counterbalanced by pretty hand-drawn character vignettes and lovely interlude story screens. Though Forestrike is on the whole serious business, there’s some subtle humor in there that feels a little too sharp to be accidental. Throw in some good tunes, some solid sound work, and there’s very little not to like.
You can give the demo a go right now over on Steam. The full release is sitting in washy to-be-announced purgatory but publisher Devolver is ramping up its marketing push so it shouldn’t be too far off.
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