Furi Review

One Step from Heaven

Furi is a mixture of Sekiro esque parrying and bullet hell mechanics. A game distilled down to a select few boss fights and literally nothing else. It has a reasonably forgiving health and lives system as well as a pace that encourages risk taking for speeds sake without punishing you for playing it safe. It's unique fighting game round esque health bar system means that you essentially get 2-3 shots at each phase of a boss fight, which allows for memorization without being tedious. The fights themselves are gorgeous and memorable and every attack is telegraphed so that it never feels like you couldn't predict them in advance.

So why isn't it resonating with me all that well.

Well, that's a misleading question. I think I know, and it boils down to about three things.

Firstly, and most importantly. The dodge. This is your main method of survival, the core of your entire moveset and the basis for 90% of the patterns you'll need to get through in order to survive... So why is it so bloody inconsistent. Why is it that at the end of my entire play session, I still was constantly clipping into attacks or ending up inside a bullet as I exit from the teleport it gives you. This is something I genuinely cannot get an answer to, but it's basically the biggest mark against the game. Which is a shame because I think I'll still end up recommending Furi. But there's something about the dodge, whether it's the bizarre animation lock/delay between attacks and movement, or just something weird about the top down view's angle compared to where my character actually is. But it just doesn't feel as smooth as I think the game wants it to feel. At least the parrying is solid, enough so that I literally won't mention it in the review besides saying it works well.

Second, the pacing. I played the first five bosses in story mode, and upon realizing that, especially going for all achievements, I would be spending as much time watching my character walk between bosses as I would be actually fighting them. I just used the built-in cheat code to unlock speedrun mode early. I tell you now it was a good idea, cause while the walks would probably do a stellar job at building tension if you've spent, say, hours on each boss. When you're breezing through them. artistic merit starts to take a backseat to boredom. Even when I was in story mode I was just on my phone playing Arknights. I appreciate the aesthetic and scenery, but at the end of the day. It's not what I'm there for.

Which leads me to the last issue, and probably the most subjective. But I got the feeling the game wasn't expecting me to play it like I did. I don't know if it was my attempts to maximize damage within each attack window, or just a question of playstyle. But each time I'd avoid doing a finisher animation, just to spam the blaster for inevitably more damage, it made me feel like I was missing out on part of what I enjoy about challenging games. I love going for style, I'll play Melee only in souls just because it feels better to win that way. I only minimally used the tricks in Sekiro because parry rhythms were so much fun. But the thing is, here the flashy and stylish finisher is, at the end of the day, less gameplay. It's a short cinematic offering no player input or influence. It's slower than just spamming regular attacks for crying out loud. 

Meanwhile, in the melee part of each boss fight, you have this amazing charge up ability. It locks you in place, requiring you to commit to charging it, and if you get hit at any point after it's charged you'll lose it instantly. Hit with it though, and you'll annihilate half or more of the bosses health in one fell swoop! It feels amazing, it's so satisfying to pull off.

So why do I deal more damage in the same time frame with my normal attacks!?

I guess that's the rule isn't it, awesome but impractical is a common trope. I guess it just hurts here because the game is already so minimal. One part lost here due to balance is a lot more impactful than, say, 1 of 8 weapon types in a different action game being unnecessary.

So, that's probably where I sit with Furi. It's good, and if you like the look of it you will probably enjoy it. But for a game so trimmed down it doesn't feel as refined as it maybe should be. But, then it did come out in 2016. Basically an eternity ago as far as tech is concerned. So perhaps the actual answer is that it didn't age too well.

Or maybe I'm curmudgeonly cause I still can't find a good Sekiro style hard game to play.