Red Fury

Stylish and mercilessly difficult. It has a lot of old game design decisions and withholds some important information but is a wonderful game to experience. Very short but with lots of little things to discover along the way. Beating the game normally should only take about 30 mins, but on subsequent runs you'll start wondering "why did that happen differently?" and then try experimenting.

A surprising amount of effort was put into this short little game, with every run feeling a bit different depending on how often you died, where you died, which bosses you killed or missed (or spared), etc. I got 5 different endings while trying to do a deathless run, and wouldn't be surprised if there were more. Your movement and attacks are very fast, but the overall character control feels more deliberate rather than fluid, demanding careful spacing control with your dashes, backdashes and jumps. Because of that the game plays much better using a keyboard. It's difficult but never truly unfair, with every enemy action being telegraphed by unique animations (again, surprisingly high effort), every hidden enemy having a hint to their location, and so on. The biggest and possibly crippling issue is performance - yes it can drop sometimes, and yes it can affect combat, adding to the difficulty. A good chunk of my playtime was me trying to find a stable framerate by switching between Windows and Linux, trying different Proton versions and launch options, and other tweaks, unsuccessfully. I still can't bring myself to give this game a thumbs down, but I understand if someone would. I…

A fast action game with great art and grim atmosphere that feels very authentic. The game has potential, but in it's current state is hampered by bad performance, questionable controls & design choices. The game offers a decent challenge, but also takes away this challenge by clearing bosses and enemies after you die, that you weren't able to defeat on your first attempt. Combat mechanics are pretty good, but feels hindered by bad performance. On my pretty good gaming PC my framerate is constantly shifting between 55-35 throughout the game, which is pretty bad. The game's length is quite short: my first playthrough took 75 minutes (with pauses in between because I was streaming and talking). Positives: +Art that looks inspired by oldskool manga like Dororo and Lone Wolf and Cub. +Grim & unsettling atmosphere that captures the stories, folklore and manga based on old times in Japan, you'll be confronted with torture, poverty, starving villagers & demons. +Very fitting and good music. Negatives: -My main gripe is that, after you die, the game clears (most) bosses and (certain) enemies that you didn't beat on first try taking away your opportunity to learn the mechanics and actuall…

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