Furi

A fun and challenging experience coated with beautiful art style and music.

Furi is hard, very hard, cannot deny it. You can (and you will, if you're persistent) improve every time, but it IS demanding. Alas the game is also very tedious and repetitive. The bosses are as different as they are similar : every battle relies on counter-attacking, trying to be bold is completely useless : at best, your attack is deflected, at worse, you get hit. Except on the not-so-many "shooting phases" where you gradually lower the enemy health bar at a distance with your gun, you will always wait for an opening, while parrying or dodging. To have to always rely on this strategy through the entire game is a real disappointment. This lack of variety really contradicts the design of the game, with each scene being unique in his presentation and atmosphere. The "walking simulator" cutscenes between fights clearly add something to the mix, the voice acting is great, the characters having a great deal of punchlines to throw at you. This review cannot be complete without a word about the OST : all the artists have done a superb job, with a special mention to Carpenter Brut and Waveshapper (but all in all, nearly all the tracks are top notch).

Furi is difficulty in games done right. It tests your response time, your mechanics, your ability to learn and figuring out best ways to handle a given situation. The graphics, unsurprisingly, aged extremely well (although the models in cutscenes do show lack of detail). And the music.... I'm only placing this review now since the DLC reignited my passion but I've had Furi in my library for years. Always worth coming back to, even though the bosses aren't as challenging anymore given the hours I've put in.

I am going to risk annoying the reader by saying this right off the bat, but: you owe it to yourself to experience this game. Furi permiates with mystical themes, leaving you questioning who you are, where do you come from and where is it that you're headed, all the while being accompanied by a mysterious character, omniously narrating your efforts. But do not be fooled; it is not a game that imposes philosophical question upon the player, instead greeting them with the first boss straight out the door. It is a game comprised of boss characters entirely, with narration scenes in between that can, honestly, drag just a tiny bit some times--as they cannot, for the most part, be skipped. The pacing of the game is subtle and siblime. One doesn't notice just how well the game's bosses difficulty slightly provides ever more challenge until they revisit a previously beaten boss. The sense of accomplishment is only a part of the pleasure this game has to offer. All the while it rewards you with the skills it has help you gain. The boss design is superb, although some of them can be frustrating because of the very small margin of error they allow. Keep in mind, though, that this is precisely what makes you grow in skill and keeps those endorphines flowing once you've mastered it, so count it as a plus. The game's sound design and especially soundtrack is astonishing. It might seem at this point that I am just praising everything about the game, but rest assured I would be critical of it if there were things to be critical of. This game's sountrack underlines the encounters and the fights so well it makes you feel like *you're* the boss, which is incidentally the game's theme in a way. The sound cues are also very important to the gameplay and they are on point to say the least. It is hard for me to find this game's faults, even for the sake of seeming objective, so I won't even bother. If you've made it this far, dear reader: do yoursef a favor and experience this gem.

Combat distilled down to its essence. This game is as tough as nails, but you can feel yourself growing as you play. I'm 5 hours in and only on the 3rd boss. Getting my ass handed to me over and over, but I keep coming back for more. I can tell this is going to be a go to game for me when I need a quick hour of gametime to just enjoy some raw gameplay. I'll definitely be updating this review as I continue playing.