F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch from TiGames and BILIBILI is an interesting Metroidvania on PS5 that places you in the role of Resistance fighter Rayton the rabbit. Check our F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch review!
F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch from TiGames and BILIBILI is an interesting Metroidvania on PS5 that places you in the role of Resistance fighter Rayton the rabbit. The game takes place six years after the Robotic Legion defeated the Resistance, which is why Rayton had kept a low profile… until now. With his friend Urso under arrest, Rayton must once again don the mighty Fist to finally take a stand against the Robotic Legion. Do you have what it takes to finally bring down the evil regime?
You’ll control Rayton with the left analog stick, jumping with the X button and attacking with the Square and Triangle buttons for light and heavy attacks, respectively. The R1 button will allow him to dash. You can change between weapons with the L1 and L2 buttons and can select them directly with the D-Pad when needed. Press up for using your starting F.I.S.T., press left for the Whip, and press right for the drill. You can use the Touchpad to access the map, as well as the menus that show your overall status – the weapons and abilities you’ve obtained – as well as any special items or devices in your inventory. Select an item to use by way of the right analog stick, and then press the R2 button.
As you can tell from the screens and the trailer for this F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch review, the game looks great on PlayStation 5. It’s one that certainly has an AA polish to it, with detailed characters and great-looking locations to explore. Bonus points for the detail during story cutscenes. The game makes good use of the haptic feedback from the DualSense to give everything an extra oomph. You’ll feel how your F.I.S.T. comes into action, attacking during combos with light attacks from the left and from the right and then delivering a downward strike at an angle, and the controller will react accordingly. Charge up a heavy attack, and the controller will rumble as the F.I.S.T. strikes the ground with great power.
Since this is a Metroidvania, that means you’ll gain new weapons and abilities as you progress through the game that will allow you to explore areas that you couldn’t previously reach. The first one of said new abilities will be a wall jump so that you can get to higher areas. After this, you can probably guess what the next ability you will get will be. That’s right, you’re getting a double jump! This, combined with your initial dash ability and the wall jump, will allow you to explore a big chunk of the map, but there’s still more for you to collect!
As you play the game, you’ll defeat a ton of enemies that will drop Furso, which is the in-game currency for purchasing new moves for your weapons, so that you can make short work of the stronger enemies that carry shields, have heavier armor, more hit points, or all of the above. You can purchase new combos as well so that you can mix and match as needed. You’ll need data disks to be able to purchase some of them, so be sure to collect as many as you can. Furso can also be used to purchase stuff from Jingles. These include HP Extracts, SP Essence, a Data Disk, a Plant Seed, and more!
There are plenty of collectibles to search for during your time with F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch. You can find HP Extracts that can help you increase your overall health bar, SP Essence that can boost your stamina, EP Compound, which will increase your ability meter so that you can use your devices more often, plant seeds, skeleton keys that are needed for opening up special chests, posters, and data discs. There are even vinyl records to collect!
This one features a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy, and it’s a long list! There are 24 Bronze trophies, 17 Silver trophies, and a pair of Gold trophies to work on. What do you need to do? Some of the objectives are increasing your max HP, EP, and SP for the first time, another trio of trophies for taking said stats to the max, collecting all posters, opening all locked chests, finding all plant seeds, unlocking all abilities for the Fist, Drill, and Whip, discovering all secrets in Torch City, or juggling an enemy in the air for 15 seconds. And since this one is Cross-Buy, if you own a PlayStation 5 console, you can work on adding two Platinum trophies to your collection.
The game also includes some bonus extras for you to enjoy. There’s the always-appreciated option for listening to the game’s whole soundtrack, as well as an art book section where you can check out 73 pages of artwork created for F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch. Do know that the art book does contain some spoilers, so you should definitely consider playing through the game first before checking it out – you know, just in case!
As a Metroidvania fan, I was looking forward to checking out what F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch had to offer. This is a solid game in the genre with tight gameplay mechanics and an excellent presentation with an AA polish to it. F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch is out on PlayStation 5 with a $29.99 asking price, and since it’s a Cross-Buy title, your purchase will give you access to both the PS4 and PS5 versions of the game at no extra cost. You can also go for the physical F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch Limited Edition from Microids.
Disclaimer
This F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by BILIBILI.
