In a year where a new 2D Metroid comes out, there was little space for a brand new Metroidvania IP to take center stage, but F.I.S.T. Forged in Shadow Torch deserves the spotlight. You play as Rayton, an anthropomorphic bunny who is trying to save his fellow veteran Urso the bear. To do this, he must fight hundreds of the robotic Legion army and traverse a wide variety of areas. FIST excels at capturing the progression, exploration, and utility of a Metroid game while having a satisfying combat system from the Castlevania games. Minus some technical issues, FIST deserves to stand next to the genre's best.

The titular FIST is the primary weapon and mechanic for the game. From the mechanical arm, you gain various upgrades and tools that allow you to see more and more of Torch City. New weapons introduced later add in an excellent balance shift of combat styles and switching between those tools to create massive damage combos can be immensely satisfying. I was impressed with the multi-tool functions of these weapons, not only serving one element of the gameplay, but working it into even the exploratory mechanics. Combat is mostly fluid and fun to execute, and bosses are difficult and pose engaging roadblocks to overcome. I would have preferred a little more regular enemy variety, but there are constantly new weapons you'll need to counter to survive.

Exploration is the heart of the game, and it is consistently a treat. The environments built here are astoundingly beautiful and have a visual depth in its design to really bring the player into each new area. The opening section Old Town has city blocks-worth of buildings and billboards framing the action in the opening hour and it sets the tone for the rest of the game's astounding visual direction. The music is similarly well-placed, and while there aren't many memorable tracks, they fit very well in the moment.

The game's road to getting 100% is a core principle. Each area has its own completion percentage showing you exactly what you're missing, and certain tunnels you haven't shot down. Most collectibles are ability upgrades, to your health and special meter for example, but others like plant seeds can be brought to the in-game hub Joffre Street, which houses a few shops and becomes the game's central area to dart through on the way to the next mission. There isn't a ton of things going on here, but it felt cozy to drop some collectibles off in the town, then be on your way.

Unfortunately, the game isn't flawless. Overall, the performance on base PS4 wasn't great. The game had frequent pop-in, slowdown, and loading issues. I would run into a new room and see only the skybox, just to wait for the room to form around me. None of this was necessary game-breaking, but it did impact immersion into the space. Additionally, there are some odd choices for very specific things in the game. About midway through the game, a parry mechanic is introduced, which is mapped to the left stick. You need to face the attack and hit the left stick to parry, but this doesn't activate nearly well enough and should have even given the option to map to a face button. Any inputs in general suffer from a slow response time, which takes getting used to in bigger fights. The "equipment" button for healing only worked 70% of the time.

The game also suffers from poor communication. In trying to platinum the game, all maps were 100% complete, but there were still secrets to be found. Rather than just basing the percentage off of area explored, but things in that area, this would have alleviated some minor late game issues. Markers, and map icons would also be appreciated, as well as a bigger font size and menu option. On my big screen, it still became hard to read certain things.

Despite some accessibility and QA gripes, FIST is one of 2021's hidden gems and I'm glad I got the time to get through its wonderful set of levels and challenges. Its late game is frustrating to complete, but if you want a solid fix of Metroidvania gameplay, you have found your next timesink.