F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch

And here comes a giant fist!

Let’s get it out of the way. FIST: Forged in Shadow Torch on the Nintendo Switch is a frustrating game. Not in the sense that it’s difficult, but rather that it is so frustratingly close to being something great and doesn't quite make it. Like doing a pole vault and you crack your ankle on the pole. There’s a lot of good stuff in here, but a mixture of the game falling short of its potential and the Switch hardware struggling to keep up makes this one a bit harder to recommend.

Developed by Shanghai-based TiGames in conjunction with Sony’s ‘China Hero Project’ initiative, FIST launched on PlayStation consoles and PC in 2021 before now making its way to Switch almost a year later. It's a dieselpunk Metroidvania in which you assume the role of an anthropomorphic rabbit named Rayton; a former pilot who has to take up 'arm' to fight back against the legion and their elite squadron, the Iron Dogs, who have occupied his home of Torch City. The arm in question quite literally being a giant arm that straps to Ray’s back — the eponymous FIST.

FIST hits all of the standard Metroidvania notes: explore, hit a wall, find an item to help you overcome said wall, open up more of the map, rinse, repeat. However, due to its heavy reliance on narrative, FIST feels decidedly more linear than something like Super Metroid. The upgrades themselves are also pretty standard, like an extra jump, wall jumps, and other weapons, and a few of these really feel like they should be in your standard kit — more on that later.

Once you get your full kit, Ray feels good to maneuver and the platforming challenges (and sequence breaks) are satisfying to pull off. That being said, Ray moves as slow as a rabbit with a giant metal fist attached to its back, so if you want to get around at a decent pace, expect to be spamming that dash button a lot.

One area in which FIST stands out a bit more from other Metroidvania games is in its combat design. Melee combat with a heavy focus on combos is the name of the game here; while not as deep as, say, Bayonetta’s systems, FIST’s combat is surprisingly satisfying. However, this is another part of the game where the aforementioned issue with upgrades feeling like they should be standard parts of your kit bleeds through. When we first got our hands on the game, combat felt like it was missing something to really make it click; like a dodge that can pass through enemies and projectiles or a parry. These are both eventually present, but one is the final upgrade you get in the game and the other is missable. It makes sense for extra moves and combo strings to be locked behind upgrades (which you can spend currency on at any save point) but these moves being locked away made things feel a bit off in the early game.

Ray also gains access to new weapons with their own set of combos, like the slow-moving but hard-hitting drill and the lightning-fast whip, these can be swapped through with the press of a button allowing you to use multiple weapons in your combos. He also has a range of sub-weapons like a homing rocket and batons which can parry attacks (separate from the actual parry). The kicker here is that these sub-weapons use the same meter as your healing flask, so they end up feeling like a waste of resources comparatively.

While not a super long game by any means at around 15 hours, FIST feels like it hangs around just a touch too long, paired with a sharp difficulty spike in the late game. There’s a segment revolving around slowly carrying batteries around, which is bad enough, but if they’re damaged they reset back to the start, and it’s incredibly frustrating. Not to mention the re-use of bosses throughout the entire game, with some fights recurring three or four times by the time you hit credits, making things feel a bit stretched.

FIST really struggles on the presentation front at times; while the game was quite the looker on PS5 and PC, the transfer to Switch isn't quite as elegant. It still looks quite good for the system, but elements like the fur textures during cutscenes look completely off, as well as some areas struggling to maintain 30fps. That being said, the presentation issues aren’t all the fault of the Switch. Cutscenes can cut to black abruptly; the voice acting can go from perfectly fine to weird, stilted line reads within the same conversation, and characters will even teleport about.

This glitchiness transfers to gameplay too, with teleportation happening to Ray occasionally as he gets hit. During one of the final bosses we experienced a glitch in which they just disappeared off the edge of the screen, soft-locking the game, which was immediately followed by infinitely respawning enemies on an elevator ride which once again, soft-locked the game.

The biggest drawback of the Switch version, however, is the load times. Loads between areas are on average 45 seconds to a minute long (we timed them). This is made even more frustrating because there are parts of the game in which you go to an area only to be told a minute later that you have to go back to a different area and thus another long load. The worst offender is in one of the late-game boss fights in which death means a 50-second load time followed by walking back to the arena, loading into the fight, going through the dialogue, and then finally getting back to the battle. Which is even weirder considering other fights will load you straight back to the boss.

Although we may sound quite negative when discussing the game, FIST: Forged In Shadow Torch really is worth playing; it just has so much potential that it doesn’t quite reach. It rides on the cusp of greatness so often, while not quite making it over the hurdle. We can't wait to play a sequel because if it was iterated on, FIST could be something really special. Sadly, due to the technical issues associated with this Switch version such as the unbearably long load times, it’s let down even further. Overall, a promising foundation that we hope leads to better things in the future.

Scoring Policy Review copy provided by Astrolabe Games

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Eh. I got through lego city undercover on WiiU. Long load times don’t bother me much. Hopefully the rest will be patched.

Pre-ordered it yesterday expecting to be able to play it now as eShop says released today but everywhere else is saying it launches tomorrow? Dualshockers says it’ll be available at 2pm on the 12th…frustrating if that’s the case. Haven’t had chance to try since so not sure if it’s changed but it wasn’t available to play around 3pm UK time earlier.

Anyway, shame to hear about the technical issues but hopefully I’ll be able to look past them, been wanting to play this for ages.

@cmdrmarc Why would they? It's a different site, and it's a different reviewer.

@larryisaman All games are released on a N/A time scale, meaning if you're in the U.K you wont get it before mid to late afternoon.

I have the game on PS5 and I tried to like it but something just feels off.

The combat is kinda maddening imo and the game just feels real samey for lack of a better word. Feels like you're in the same area forever and those areas aren't very interesting imo.

I'll probably try to finish it up at some point maybe.

@cmdrmarc Well it’s a lower score due to performance issues. And also it’s a different reviewer so they likely have different opinions.

Great review! Been debating this one on PS for a while but never pulled the trigger. I certainly won’t be buying it on Switch, with all of the performance issues and long load times. Thanks for the honest review!

That's too bad about the performance. I have this on Steam Deck and it runs great.

@cmdrmarc Well I don’t think they’ve ever done that in the past, they tend to keep their reviews separate

@cmdrmarc Scott McCrae and John Cal McCormick are not the same guy.

I don't care at all about this game, I just came here to say the tagline for this review made me grin like an idiot. Well done.

How is this even a complaint, a game is either too long or too short for some people and feels like something really arbitrary to be negative about.

Sounds too me like the reviewer is just marking this game off a checklist of other games he has to play in order to review and he didn't feel like being invested in the game.

@NinChocolate deleted all my messages for you

@cmdrmarc I’ll join your delete party. Yay us!

Yep, knew since it was announced it wasn't going to get enough love to make it good on Switch. Laughing at people who preordered.

@MisterMan Is there a reason people post here just to brag they bought a steam deck? I don't get it.

I'm still very much interested in this. Guess I'll have to check out some videos of the Switch version, because I've noticed over the years different people have different definitions of performance issues and how it affects them. Some folks also tend to exaggerate performance issues, especially when it comes to Switch versions. I have a hard time believing a game like this actually struggling to run on Switch, must be engine and/or optimization issues. Something that could be patched.

Even things don't get patched, this still looks like a solid pickup when it goes on sale.

Oof...Hopefully this will be patched up in time for its physical release. I'll keep my eye on this one...

@SteamEngenius Yeah, basically just to say that it runs great on other platforms so if you have the option - buy it there. Was that clear enough for you to understand?

Been anticipating this game for a while and will be a 1st day buy on PS5

Played it on the PS5 and was rather enjoying it until some of the silly difficulty spikes. First game in a long while I dropped to easy during the middle of and never looked back.

It's not impossible, but I don't really have the time to retry a boss battle 50 times and "get good" these days or at least not on a game like this. Eventually I just wanted to move on from what felt like an arbitrary boss battle. thankfully the game lets you change difficultly at any time.

Same here! Metroidvanias are one of my favorite genres and I've read it's a good one, but after a couple of hours I've lost any incentive to play it. At least it performs well on the PS5 so maybe I'll give it another go one day.

Maybe they’ll patch it then in a few months I’ll pick it up on sale.

@YANDMAN Not always, Nintendo games typically go live at midnight in the UK so I imagine it’s the same everywhere else for those. Other games tend to go up around 2pm I’ve noticed though, but still my issue is the eShop said this would launch today and as of 10pm UK time it’s still unplayable. Not a huge deal I’m sure I’ll survive, it was probably just a mistake on Nintendo’s/the developer’s end but still a bit annoying

@russell-marlow It was mentioned in the review though- “segment of slowly carrying batteries around” and re-using of boss fights. “Too long” implies unnecessary padding and “too short” suggests a game didn’t explore the things it sets up enough by the time it’s over or there’s not enough there to warrant the price tag- valid complaints as long as the review itself explains why they felt that way

It's already out on PS5 for quite a long time. It was even discounted already.

Loved my time with this on PS5/4. Really enjoyed it all. I wouldn’t write it off as bad. Lots to enjoy and it was nice to always know where to go. Combat was fun and I didn’t mind the 10 hours I spent with it.

@Bydlak everywhere I look, the physical release hasn't happened yet

You're right, I meant digital

I wasn’t aware this is from Tencent Games. It does looks okay, unfortunately a 6 for a Metroidvania game isn’t worth my time. 😁😎

A couple of hours in and I'm really enjoying it, much better than I thought it would be from the review here,

I'm still feeling the burn from Souldiers not running properly so was relieved that this is actually fun and works!

Some slow down here and there but nothing game breaking, its not Hollow knight or Metroid Dread but its a good time if you like metroidvanias.

@SteamEngenius he's also lying about "running great" on steam deck. Other platforms run better than the Switch but none of them "run great". The game definitely needs a few updates and fixes.

Was a damn fine Mvania on PS5. Just the right balance of challenge and difficulty. This was right in the sweet spot for me. Looked and played amazing with some rewarding upgrades. I did have trouble with the combo training from the Master but only for the last two lessons... Felt like quite an accomplishment when I finally nailed it. 9.5 for me. Shame this port seems botched. Hopefully a few tweaks will fix it.

@fluggy It’s not botched, not even close. Yeah, the load times are a little on the long side and it’s obviously not on par with the PS5 version but I’m sitting in my living room playing (and have been for a couple hours) and I’m looking at a really pretty, super fun game. Maybe it’s cause I don’t have other consoles but either way- this ain’t a 6.

@russell-marlow I don't think it is arbitrary, the point of the review is to convey the experience and the feeling of playing the game.

Often when I read that a game is too long, it usually means that it drags. It is more about pacing, It ends up feeling like a chore. Minutes last the same always, but minutes in front of the microwave tend to last longer than minutes having fun, if you know what I mean

@larryisaman I've never known a single game that I've pre-ordered go live at midnight our time, not one. So much so that I will never set aside time or a day off to play anything new as it never arrives until 3-5pm

@GhostGeneration Yeah, I’ve put about 3 hours in and it’s been good. Looks a bit ugly on the TV (better in handheld IMO) and the load times aren’t great but it’s been solid fun so far, nothing exceptional but I’ll definitely be sticking through with it.

@YANDMAN I played Mario Odyssey, New Horizons and Pokémon Sword all at midnight on their release dates. If you’re in US things are probably different considering all the different time zones, or maybe they just don’t do midnight launches for everywhere

Will continue to wait for a good sale

Funnily enough, this is the game that made me first give serious consideration to PS5 acquisition (my first ever Sony gaming device, believe it or not! Always have been a Nintendo-everything guy for nearly 30 years.). And now I've had the thing since January but have still not bought the game that prodded me down that path. Oh well. Genshin has been more than enough for my gaming time.

Sad to see this game sputter to a crash landing on the Switch, but as will(?) be the case with Genshin as well, I think some things are better off staying where there's hardware that can handle the demands.

@larryisaman I'm not in the U.S, hence my original comment.

I'm so glad I waited for this review. I wanted to play it handheld and was hoping it'd be good for Switch, but since the load times and performance are pretty bad I'm going to have to wait for a sale on Steam and play it on the Deck.

@MisterMan Thanks for the tidbit. I bought the Steam Deck specifically for situations like this. Which is that if the game either runs poorly on the Switch or isn't available at all and I want to play it handheld still.

@TheCold0ne There's a demo on Steam too if you want to check it out first.

@NinjaNicky to be fair, i don't think u can say he's "lying", because "great" is subjective. Great to him may not be great to u, so he could say it truthfully for himself, but it still may not meet your standards.

@MisterMan i wish there was a demo on switch. U would think that would be just as important, so users could see the performance for themselves. But, maybe they wouldn't want us to, as it may do more harm than good to sales.

@TheCold0ne In all the time I’ve put in (around 5-6 hours) I haven’t really had any performance issues and the load times aren’t that bad at all to be honest. I don’t know if things are going to get worse as time goes on but for now it’s a really solid version, just not the prettiest. But if you have a Steam Deck it’s a no brainer to get it on there to be honest, surely going to be a better experience there in every respect

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