Furi Review

Furi on Steam

A Symphony of Slashing- A Furi Review

4/4/2020 Zachary Wilson

In the perpetual search to find ways to pass time during this outbreak, I looked towards a game I played at launch but never finished. Furi, the futuristic hack and slash boss rush, was just the thing I needed to scratch that itch for another difficult game. 

Ferocious, Yet Fair

In your pursuit to kill all that opposes you and escape the prison designed specifically for you, the main character, who is unnamed, has 4 basic moves: slashing, parrying, dashing, and shooting. In what has quickly become my favorite gameplay model-giving the player more simple movesets and letting their applications dictate their complexity instead of just adding more moves-Furi ramps up the specific uses of these simple moves to gradually increase in difficulty and test the player's intuition. 

Furi has 10 main bosses, but their difficulty isn't exactly gradual-which was a deliberate choice of the developers-and it leads to some pretty meaningful story elements later on (I won't spoil them here). While certain fights felt unnecessarily tedious, specifically the fight around the middle portion of the game against the sniper boss, most gave a consistent and fair amount of challenge. This game WILL push you, but any fan of difficult games understands that this isn't a bad thing. 

You WANT a game to push you and force you to improve, and when you do, your reward is progression. In a similar ilk to defeating a hard boss in dark souls and feeling the rush of euphoria after victory, Furi continuously fills that desire to improve your skills until you persevere. No death was ever the game's fault, and taking the effort to focus a bit harder and recognize the bosses patterns is always rewarded. 

Even after beating it, I discovered new mechanics on a second playthrough that allowed me to get even better at slashing baddies. The immense depth of just these four simple moves was more than enough to keep me entertained to the end. Throughout my playthroughs I searched for more efficient ways of disposing foes and my precision was continually rewarded.  

ALSO, THIS GAME MAY HAVE ONE OF THE GREATEST SOUNDTRACKS OF ALL TIME-IN CASE THE GREAT GAMEPLAY WASN'T ENOUGH
Featuring tracks from various indie electronic artists, every track keeps you on your feet and boasts a rich diversity of electronic goodness. I cannot stress how much this makes a difference in a game where you spend a lot of time dying, as it keeps egging you on to get back up and finally beat that boss that has been giving you trouble. 

The Verdict

Furi was an enthralling experience, and it held my attention to a maximum for the whole campaign. Every boss was unique and forced you to figure out how to defeat them. Even after an initial playthrough, you will feel compelled to run right back through the bosses just to show your improvement, a mark of a truly fantastic game. The Game Bakers have truly constructed an utter masterclass of mechanics and music to make one of my favorite games of all time. 

10/10,  A Stunning Victory of Game Design





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