Mini Review: Forestrike (Switch) - A Roguelite Kung-Fu Fighter That Lets You Plan The Perfect Takedown

Forestrike is yet another roguelite to add to the Switch pile, albeit one that sets itself apart by focusing on slower, meticulous gameplay. Taking on the role of martial artist Yu, you embark on a deadly quest across multiple regions, taking on a slew of enemies as you go. Rather than attack your foes with reckless abandon, however, you have an ability — ‘Foresight’ — to plan out your strategy with no major consequences.

Essentially, each battle presents you with two options: Foresee and Fight, mapped to ‘L’ and ‘R’ respectively. The former lets you practice the fight as many times as necessary to nail a perfect victory. Once you’ve figured out how to proceed without messing up (and likely dying), you can go ahead and fight for real. It’s an intriguing concept in theory, but it does remove some sense of danger from the experience.

I will say, though, Forestrike is tough. There are typically four or five enemies in any given fight, all possessing different strengths and weaknesses. One might charge at you immediately, while another lobs spears or other objects in your direction. Learning how to turn their attacks against them is often crucial to victory. For example, you can take up a defensive stance and cause one enemy to pass right through you, thus crashing into a hapless fool standing right behind.

Once fights begin, you generally have to string together a bunch of moves in one go if you’re to achieve a perfect victory, while messing up will mean opponents deal immediate damage. Executing the right combination of attacks, dodges, throws, and more results in an elegant dance that’s extremely satisfying to watch. Of course, once you commence the fight for real, you either win and proceed to the next level (while bagging some sweet dosh) or lose and go right back to the start of your run.

As you progress, you’ll gain new, permanent techniques via the different martial masters that accompany you on your journey. The initial master introduces the aforementioned pass-through technique, while the next grants the ability to block through brute force, causing enemies to crash into you and fall to the ground, and so on. Other minor buffs, perks, and techniques are gained in between fights, with the game presenting you three optional cards from which to choose. Very roguelike, then. Naturally, as you gain abilities, you’ll find yourself altering your strategy and gaining confidence. Eventually, you might even be able to complete fights without using Foresight at all.

Overall, however, while Forestrike boasts strong gameplay and a lovely, abstract pixel-art aesthetic, its core hook removes a sense of risk. This is definitely a difficult game at its heart, but the ability to practice your runs with no consequences dulls its edge a bit too much.