You want to know one of the things I always wanted to be? A skilled swordsman. A fighter who moves his way diligently around the battlefield while making precise cuts using his blade of choice. A man who can dodge every blow swung towards him, and strike the enemy where it hurts the most so he can open up their weak spot. Someone who can protect the weak who do no harm from the bad who aim to cause nothing but calamity. Sadly dreams like these don’t always come true, especially in real life where we are too busy worrying about the future rather than looking towards these interesting desires, but they can come true through video games. It’s great to see how technology has evolved over the years to provide virtual experiences that allow players to become what they want. So if I want to be a skilled swordsman then I can become a skilled swordsman. Same goes with becoming a space marine, huntress, and more.
Sometimes video games can be difficult and earning the fantasy you want will require practice, effort, and time. This is what turns most people down and eventually gives up on living the fantasy they want through virtual simulation. It’s the constant rising challenge or difficulty curve that prevents players from instantly obtaining what they want. There is a difference between when a game can be punishing, and when a game can be challenging but offer satisfaction and reward. People often struggle to figure out the difference between the two distinct methods of power fantasy. How to master a challenging game and understand the mechanics so that the player can start slicing through enemies and having a fun time. Take a good chunk of FromSoftware’s games for example. I recently beat Bloodborne and it was amazing, and currently I’m trying to make my way through Dark Souls which I plan to review soon.
These games are extremely challenging, have hard to predict enemy patterns and AI, and punish the player for refusing to learn or get better through each death. It can be demoted to numerous casual gamers, but these games have their specific audience and niece. The people who are willing to get back up no matter how many times they are kicked towards the ground. Once these players take the time to learn, prepare, and improve they begin to understand the learning method these games benefit from. They become someone willing to strive through the darkness and get to see the beauty that lies with these games. The art the developers created for the player.
How about Team Cherry’s critically acclaimed metroidvania, Hollow Knight. It is an extremely difficult game with surprisingly complex 2D combat and a world brimming with terrifying secrets, but it rewards players for taking the time to explore it and find out more about the world. Unlock upgrades that are cleverly hidden, so they can face the foes later down the line. Plus it’s a great way to make use of exploration and roaming freely through the world. I have seen quite a lot of challenging games in recent years, but up until now I have never seen a game quite like Furi.
Developed by a small independent studio named The Game Bakers, Furi is a fast paced bullet hell action game that pits you against creative and challenging opponents. It’s mainly just a boss rush game similar to something like Cuphead. Boss rush games are games that are focused on nothing but bosses. There’s no levels to venture through or basic minions to fight up until the boss. It’s just you and a list of big bad fighters. Boss rush games are generally really short, especially once you get to the rhythm of the combat, but it seems like The Game Bakers knew what they were doing with their game. While Furi wasn’t a lengthy game and got buried underneath the plethora of other releases on Steam, it did receive quite a bit of positivity from those who dug it up. People praised how creative and thrilling the bosses were, how rewarding the lightning fast combat was, and how it’s narrative was told through obscurity and wonder. Sure it wasn’t perfect, but Furi did a lot of things right as an action game.
I heard about Furi quite a few times from reviewers like Yahtzee Crosshaw and other outlets, and seeing how The Game Bakers announced their new project Haven recently, I decided to check this title out. I’m so glad I decided to check out Furi, because this is such an underrated gem. Furi not only blew my expectations, but proved to be one of the best bullet hell action games I have ever played. I don’t even like bullet hell games! It succeeds in way more areas than it needs to, and while it does have a few problems the game is just an overall joy to play. Today we’ll be talking about why I absolutely loved Furi and why it deserves your attention. So grab your glowing saber, load your plasma pistol, and prepare to fight for your freedom.
Story
You have no recollection of who you are and where you are at. You don’t even know your name and how to speak proper words. You wake up to find yourself strapped down onto some contraption and a strange three masked man walks towards you. He slaps you about and tells you have been kept there in that contraption for quite some time. You can tell you are a prisoner and you are being punished for something you have done. What are you being punished for? What type of person would you have to be to receive such punishment? The three masked man beats you up some more and you black out once again. This is it, your personal hell for the rest of your life.
Suddenly a new voice wakes you up and releases you from the straining contraption. You wake up again to find yourself laying next to the feet of a man with a giant purple rabbit hat. He doesn't tell who you are and how he ended up in the same room as you, but he also knows you have been trapped there for a long time. He gives you a glowing saber and automatic pistol that once belonged to you, and from the looks of it you recollect yourself being a skilled swordsman. Luckily you happen to remember all your skills and the rabbit headed man says you both have to escape. He is stuck there in the mysterious prison with you and the only way to get out is to escape.
The prison you are being held within isn’t your ordinary iron wall and bar. It’s made up of nine different floating islands each with a jailer ready to stop our unnamed protagonist. The jailers will fight the prisoner if he shows up and won’t submit to defeat until he is dead and put back into his cell. The mute prisoner is then nicknamed The Stranger by the rabbit headed man and starts strutting away from his cell. The Stranger encounters the three masked man again known as The Chain and they then fight on a floating platform with lightning being struck down upon them. The Stranger wins the fight and begins moving forward to the next floating island. One jailer down, eight more jailers to go. Who forged the prisoner? Why are there about nine jailers? What is hiding down on the planet's surface below? Well, the Stranger will have to fight like hell if he wants to discover the truth of who he is and what his purpose is.
Gameplay
Where Furi shines best is none other than it’s fast and addictive combat. The game mostly consists of bosses like I stated early in the intro, and while there are only ten bosses each of them have multiple phases that challenge the player’s reflexes, memorization, and skills. The bosses will be shooting projectiles in multiple directions, immiting shockwaves that travel along the ground, and even try to get up close and personal to deal heavy amounts of damage. Luckily you have your unique skills and two weapons that allow you to counter against each attack they throw at you.
You have an automatic pistol that fires in any direction and can be charged up for a heavy damage dealing shot. The pistol serves two purposes. One is to break up certain colored projectiles so that the screen isn’t filled with so many of them and so you can open up areas to avoid attacks. Two it’s to attack from afar and slowly chip away at the bosses’ health bar. You’ll be spending a majority of fights shooting actually, since most of the time it’s pretty dangerous to take on your foes close ranged.
The second weapon you have is your energetic katana that allows you to hack and slash at your enemies up close and can be charged up to deal heavier damage. The katana deals more damage than the pistol, but finding the right time to use it can be difficult. Don’t just hack and slash at the boss, because they too can counter your attacks. When they flash that means you have to deflect their attacks. Deflecting is important, because getting hit will leave you stunned and the quick bosses can cut you down within seconds if you refuse to deflect. Not only do you avoid taking damage by deflecting, but you receive a small amount of health back everytime you time a perfect deflect. Allowing you to keep pushing forward without having to do a hitless run.
At the beginning of each fight you have three lives, each one used when you fall during a battle. You gain another once you get through a single phase, but if all of them are used up then game over. You’ll have to start the fight all over from square one. So fight carefully and make sure to get your hits in at the right time. Eventually the boss will unleash a final phase which follows you avoiding a storm of attacks and going in for a final blow. It feels satisfying, especially since the previous phases built up to you finally defeating them. With your swordsmanship you should be able to defeat each of the ten jailers and escape from this place that is basically hell.
Thoughts
Furi is one of those games you have to play at least once. If you stick around long enough then you’ll understand why many view it as an underrated gem. The combat is extremely satisfying to master. Deflecting attacks and bashing your sword against foes really feels like you are playing as an enhanced cybernetic swordsman from the future. There’s also a few design choices that help keep the combat interesting. The fact you regain health whenever you perfectly parry helps keep the fight going as it allows the player to regain resources for adapting the aggressive playstyle. The boss has clear signals as to when they’ll start firing projectiles and when they will charge up close to melee attacks. You also regain a life whenever you go through a phase, so at least you have more than just three attempts to beat them.
The bosses are extremely fun to fight and even when the fights get into a very chaotic state the game keeps pushing the player to fight on. You enter this calm state where you stop caring and just avoid the projectiles. The amount of neon lighting and bright colors in this game is lovely and helps give Furi it’s own style. The main character’s design is quite stylish to look at as his scarlet red cape flows through the air and his chest is lighted up with the same blue color his saber is streaked with. The soundtrack is an absolute banger helping give that feeling of a skilled badass who can cut down any foe who stands in his way. It helps push you on like I said. The controls are snappy which is great for a game that demands quick reaction. It is weird that I have to use the right joystick to fire, but yet again I never played these types of games before.
The story ended up being quite good, even though it has a very light presence. The Stranger is just this unknown wanderer who just wants to escape from his cell and figure out more about the truth, but he slowly begins to realize people are extremely afraid of and that his history is darker than it seems on the surface. It’s one of those plots where you begin to wonder if you are doing the right thing. The voice acting is fantastic for an independent game. All the characters besides the Stranger and one boss are voiced, and The Game Bakers did an amazing job recording them. The bosses help build up tension with their threatening remarks and their motives can give insight on what your treacherous past is. The Hand is a fierce warrior who will protect his son and people from danger and he seems like he fought in some grand war before from the way he is familiar with fighting fierce warriors. The Song is a woman who seems sadened from the murderous actions she has taken in the past, but wants to redeem herself by offerng peace and the chance to settle down. Then there’s one boss near the end who tries her best not to physically confront you and runs away in sheer fear. Calling you out for the monster you truly are.
All the bosses are very cool and luckily they don’t overstay their welcome. It’s not like Cuphead where the boss takes less than five minutes in a successful attempt, but may take multiple minutes to finally nail down. In Furi they give clear signals as to how close you are to success and at least one phase is really easy to go through. I am heavily praising Furi right now and how awesome it truly is, but what are some problems I have with the game so that it doesn’t seem like I’m sucking it’s weiner off?
I like the neon colors and lighting, but depending on what console you decide to play on the graphics can look a little choppy. The facial animation isn’t good, but what do you expect from an indie studio? You aren’t expecting God of War levels of polish is what I’m saying. The game is quite short depending on how skilled you are, because there's only like ten bosses with one of them offering you the choice between a good ending or an immediate bad ending. Lasting about four hours for most beginners. However, that’s a good run time for a game like Furi. We wouldn’t want it to be a ten hour long game, because by then the combat would get repetitive and the game would be overstaying its welcome. Plus, Furi has high replayability to how excited you are to master your skills and it even has a speedrunning mode for those wanting to go through the game again without cinematic cutscenes.
Besides that, Furi is an amazing game. It’s addicting and has even more replayability thanks to harder difficulty modes that change boss behavior and add extra projectiles to their attacks. It’s a shiny gem that sadly a lot of people skipped on for how hard and unforgiving it is at first, but can still be appreciated for how it came out in the end. I just wish The Game Bakers the best of luck for their next game Haven and that it can come close to the awesomeness they brought with Furi. This game is an absolute masterpiece. In the end I give Furi a 9.5/10 for excellence at best.
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