Bleak Faith: Forsaken

As someone who loves souls-like games, this one is difficult to rate for me... [h1]Positive:[/h1] The world and exploration is amazing, and whoever is behind that should pat themselves on the back for a job well done. It's one of the few games that comes close to Dark Souls in that regard and you could probably spend 30-40 hours just exploring. Some of the bosses are fine, nothing special but they are better designed than the general enemies. There is a perfect parry or perfect block system, what ever you wish to call it, which works fine, it's even quite powerful as it guarantees any follow up heavy attack is a critical strike. That's pretty much the only positive I have to say about the combat. But it's let down by how janky the animations of some enemies are. [h1]Negative:[/h1] The combat is exceptionally slow and unremarkable. It's a super easy souls-like, there is no other way to say it. It even gives Lords of the Fallen 2014 a run for its money in the way too easy souls-lik...

It's like if Dark Souls 1 had a baby with Shadow of the Colossus, and then E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy had a baby with Silent Hill, and then Souls of the Dark Colossus had a baby with E.Y.E. Silent Hillmancy, and then they dropped THAT baby on its head a couple of times. Three thumbs up.

The authentic Ryoga Hibiki experience. Where the hell am I now? You will become familiar with this expression. But in a way that is wonderful! Exploration is the high point and this game does it in a remarkable way. Some of my game play time was spent just gazing at the surrounding world. It has great depths and horrors, but also enormous heights and awe-inspiring scenery. You can even swim. Technically it runs well, no real bugs worth mentioning. Since it has a limited budget, better production values would have been great, but it did not detract from my experience. The combat is acceptable, but you are probably not going to be playing it primarily for the combat. But why would you want to? I am close to the end and look forward to replaying with a different build. I really do hope the devs have enough success to create a sequel. And thanks devs for the hard work with this world.

Thumbs sideways, no question, but since that isn't an option here we are. The stamina gauge system really hinders this. I have no interest in playing a game where I can't attack or dodge because I am too tired. I swung an axe but now I can't do anything because I "used up stamina." Picking up items is dreadful because the inventory system doesn't open to an "all items" or "all gear" screen, you have to go section by section to see if what you picked up was a weapon, leggings, a ring, amulet, etc. Do I have a new weapon? Nope, keep guessing which slot it went into. Your iframes also don't work because some enemies have attacks that don't care about iframes, instead, they require you to jump. HAHAHAHA what is the point? You want to make me roll around like a fish to dodge attacks except sometimes, nah you have to jump because reasons. Oh it was an attack from the ground so you need to be on the "not ground" and therefore jump. LOL OK. I'd play Vintage Story if I wanted mindnumbing realis...

im here for the vibes and the vibes are good.

The game is pretty good considering it was made by three people. Overall, I will give it a thumbs up because of: Pros: - Great environment design. A lot of megastructures, interesting industrial and medieval (yes you heard that right) architectures and a lot of liminal feels. This is this game's greatest strength. And the main reason I kept playing it. - Cryptic but interesting worldbuilding. - Some cool combat mechanics. The game is able be original in terms of souls-like combat with it's own design choices. Which is impressive, with all the soulslikes around. Cons: - The feel of the combat is the biggest setback of the game. The sound design and the animation design of enemies and bosses makes it so the combat doesnt feel like it has enough impact. It's not horrible, but it's very "floaty". It doesnt feel sharp. You cant feel like you fully connect with it. - Music is cool but nothing uniquely great. To the point you dont even realize that much that the bosses have their own music....

In a Nutshell: Great game! There are visual glitches, sometimes feels clunky, but man! The atmosphere, the exploration, the combat! I highly recommend this hidden gem!

Good game

Great atmosphere that overcomes any of the shortcomings on gameplay for a first foray into soulslikes from a really small team. It's honestly super impressive what they were able to churn out. Hope this does well and these guys can iterate and make another game

Phenomenal game one of the coolest video game worlds I've ever seen with some amazing enemy, character and armour designs. Plenty of weapons to choose from with simple combat controls that feel super responsive. If you play games for immersion and to explore amazingly designed worlds and vistas then this is a must play!