Really fun and pleasant action/adventure game that's very similar to Hyper Light Drifter, which is a pretty good game to be compared to. One of the biggest strengths is definitely how varied it is, the game never lingers on anything for too long. That does end up making the runtime a little on the short side, and I think I still would have enjoyed a longer version of this game, but the pacing here is excellent.

The combat is very nice feeling, if a bit simple. There's nothing really unique to it, but it's still engaging and a bit challenging. The upgrade system is a little weak, you just get some minor and not very interesting stat boosts, I thought the alternate weapons and upgrades to your abilities were much more interesting but at least in my playthrough I didn't really get those until late game. I feel like it's a bit of a misstep how fun the last of your four main abilities is with how late you get it in the game, there's still a lot of optional exploration at that point but the main part of the game left after you have your full set of abilities is fairly short. I also would have liked the final mountain area to have a bit more exploration like the previous ones, it felt kind of lacking in comparison.

The art and music here is really excellent, the environments all look great and are very creative, as well as the characters being memorable and having really nice animations. The soundtrack is surprisingly good, it's a little understated at first but I found myself humming the songs a lot between playing. These tie really well into the story and world, which were pretty interesting. I don't know if the story would have held my attention as much in a longer game but it was good enough for the short length here. I do think some of the individual characters worked better than the main narrative did, I really enjoyed the sub-story of your companion as well as your main enemy throughout the first of the three main sections of the game, and while they tried to do a bit of the same later I didn't think those landed quite as well.

Really pleasant experience overall and especially easy to recommend when you can play through it in just a couple days. I don't know if a sequel to this would really make sense, but I hope the devs make some sort of spiritual successor at least, I could definitely go for more of this.

I came into Rift Apart not expecting too much but this was a ton of fun. The phantom dash alongside the hover boots and wall running make for some really nice movement options, and the weapons all feel really responsive (thanks to how well they implemented rumble and sound effects in the DualSense controller) and are a lot of fun to mess around with. If I had to nitpick, I would say that they could have used the rifts more or implemented that into combat somehow, and it was a bit short for the price. That said, it's a really pretty looking game that just feels fun to play and doesn't drag on or have much monotony to speak of, and I'll be gladly looking forward to any sequels in the franchise if they'll be this good.

On a scale of 1 - 10, it's an 11, and I'd give it a 12.

Jokes aside, let it be known that I generally do not like video games that are difficult for the sake of being difficult and most boss rush games (as an example, I stopped playing Cuphead around the 3rd boss because I really was not having fun). I decided to go play Furi because all my friends had given it a lot of hubbub and the soundtrack is filled with bangers.

For all the attention that this game gets for being difficult and uncompromising though, more attention should be given to just how well designed the overall experience is. The tutorial is literally a boss and gets you right into the actual meat of the game, which is a bold design choice yet also makes complete sense; it quickly adapts you to what you have to face for the rest of the game. Every boss has a distinctly different design with their own characteristics and forces you to adapt to a slightly different strategy every time, keeping you on your toes. But this isn't an issue at all, because the game is more than happy to let you adapt. You can regain your health via successful parrying and shooting green bullets (think of it as risk leading to reward), and getting knocked down only results in the boss resetting its phase. Since you still have 3 overall tries and you get another try every new phase, there is more than enough time to adapt. The fighting itself is a good mix between bullet hell, close quarters combat, and dodge and punish; all of these aspects are touched on with no excess. And in the case you suck at one of these aspects or parrying, there's a practice mode where you can hone up your skills to your own delight. Worthwhile, because boy does it feel good to get a successful parry on attacks.

Now granted, I took care in making sure I only fought one boss a day (with the exception being the last day, because I don't count the Beat as a boss and I just wanted to finish the game by the time I got to the Star), both to make sure I was doing other things with my day, and so I definitely wouldn't get burnt out from getting too angry, as was often the case with these very intense and difficult games. But not once did I get angry, which shocked me. It was just a thrill getting down to the action and having a fight of a lifetime 9 times in a row. Final shoutouts go to the Edge, which is one of the best designed bosses I've ever seen in a video game; you either get your ass handed to you in a minute, or you know what you're doing and you blaze by him in 4 minutes. One of the toughest bosses in the game, yet it doesn't waste your time as an HP sponge like many other tough bosses of video games.

Needless to say, this was a pleasant surprise, but a more than welcome one. Furi is worth playing even if you don't usually like difficult video games, and that's the highest compliment I can give it.