Developer Skeleton Crew Studio and Thomas Olsson have teamed up with my favourite publisher, Devolver Digital, to bring us a demo of ‘Forestrike’. When conducting research, I became excited about its concept.

You play as Yu, a Forestriker, but what is a Forestriker? A Forestriker is a gifted martial artist who can play out combat scenarios in their mind before they are enacted in real time. The plot revolves around the Emperor being influenced by evil Admirals, resulting in the people’s suffering. Yu takes on the journey to free the Emperor from this influence.

My excitement was not disappointing as the gameplay of running combat scenarios was like watching a martial arts movie where the protagonist plays out the combat before whooping everyone’s arse. The combat becomes like a puzzle as you try different tactics to find the most optimal result. Varying enemies will change your approach in each scenario as they, too, will have different abilities like dodging, blocking, or power attacks.

Depending on which of the five unique masters you choose will also affect your abilities. Currently, only the Leaf School, which specialises in redirection, is available. I had mountains of fun dodging attacks and watching the enemy pummel their teammates.

After each combat scenario, the story will progress, and you will be presented a map where you can choose a path, giving it a rogue-like approach where you will have to choose between options like earning money to spend in a store or acquiring additional abilities. It creates additional replayability beyond the different schools, as your choices will differ from those made available on your chosen path.

At the end of the map, you will have a boss fight to complete, where the boss will come with multiple abilities, putting your foresight to the test. There appear to be four stages, but the demo only allows me to play the first map and the first level of the second stage. I am looking forward to experiencing more of the challenges to come upon full release.

The combat in Forestrike is presented on a two-dimensional field in pixel art, which is nice. Everything else, such as the story presentation, is presented in beautiful, Asian-inspired watercolour stills. The difference in art styles did make me wish the combat was presented in the watercolour art style. Maybe the choice was made to ensure combat remained fluid, but I can still dream.

Combat sounds are clean and crisp, with each action identifiable. The only other audio is the music, which is influenced by Asian styles and pairs perfectly with the game’s theme.

Forestike may not have been something I foresaw coming. Still, I can foresee myself having hours of fun replaying combat scenarios and stages and experimenting with different Schools of Mastery, all for freeing the Emporer to liberate the people.

Written by: Ashley Barnett-Cosgrove