Forestrike Demands Absolute, Unconditional Kung Fu Pixel-Art Perfection – Hands-on Preview

Like a demanding, wizened kung fu master insisting you repeat a training exercise until you’ve gotten it exactly right, Forestrike shows no mercy, absolutely insisting you achieve perfection before proceeding to the next level. Despite being squarely centered on martial arts mastery, this pixelated 2D roguelike has more in common with a chess match than an action game, as you repeat encounters until you’ve perfected them in one of the most satisfying, unique, and immediately compelling brawlers I’ve played in a very long time.

If you’ve ever wanted to live out your most epic kung fu fantasies where every moment plays out like you can see into the future, Forestrike very well might fill that need unlike any game has so far. The premise is simple: you’re a martial arts master who can enter your mind palace and practice each combat encounter as many times as you want before heading into battle for real. After a dozen or more rehearsals, even the most seemingly insurmountable scenarios went off without a hitch as I moved with the precision and speed of someone who knew every enemy’s move before they made it – because I quite literally had. And since this is a roguelike where just one or two mistakes will send you all the way back to the beginning, having that handicap is extremely important to success.

In one level, I practiced again and again to resolve an encounter where I had to protect a traveling merchant from a band of ne’er-do-wells, and in another I challenged an extremely tricky boss who was annoyingly good at dodging, eventually beating him by getting his henchmen to accidentally hit him with friendly fire. Each level is its own miniature puzzle that must be solved and practiced before you try it for real, and even after all that, there’s always a chance your nerves will get to you and you won’t pull things off quite right, resulting in an untimely end to your journey.

But sometimes beating your opponents isn’t enough – after all, when you’ve got unlimited time to practice walloping the enemy in clever and creative ways, why not go beyond simply achieving victory and aim for a bit of flourish? Sometimes this is incentivized via optional missions, like one where you’re encouraged to knock the hat off an enemy’s head, have it land on your own, then don’t let it get knocked off of your head for the rest of the encounter; those can be a great way to earn some extra gold for upgrades (like armor that will allow you to take one additional hit without ending your run) when you next find yourself at the shop. But if you’re like me, you also just might find it funny to see if you can get through an entire fight only using misdirection and dodging to get the enemy to kill one another.

The really crazy thing is I only played a little beyond the first of five regions, where encounters were still mostly on the simpler side, the number of unique enemies was fairly low, and I didn’t get to try out any of the other four fighting styles. Having gotten just a peek beyond that, it seems there’s a whole lot more in store, including some absolutely nutty looking encounters – like creepy banshee monsters that were introduced at the tail end and charged at me with reckless abandon. The demo I played also focused on the School of the Leaf fighting style, the first of five total schools you’ll be able to unlock and incorporate into your build, each of which has their own flavor and abilities you unlock on each run. The Leaf style is all about evasion and misdirecting enemy attacks to encourage friendly fire, and some of the abilities shown in the sizzle trailer that played at the end of the demo looked like they extended that idea to its logical conclusion – like by linking yourself to an enemy, then magically switching places with them when you take a hit. In a game that was already impressively clever in a short hour-long demo, I’m extremely excited to see what else the developers have got up their sleeves.

Finally, I have to mention just how beautiful and stylish Forestrike looks. Don’t be fooled by the pixel art simplicity! Animations are charming and detailed, character art during dialogue makes you forget they’re represented by pixels to begin with, and the music, sound effects, and overall presentation are absolutely unforgettable. I’m telling you, friends: this is one to watch!