Furi Review

A review of Furi which talks about the game at length. This is one is particularly heavy on gameplay/story spoilers. If you have any interest in playing it I recommend doing so before watching the video.
A note on performance/video: I usually try to get the best footage of a game that I can, within reason at least. After initially playing on the PS4 I bought the PC version so I could capture the highest quality footage but found that performance was inconsistent. The framerate is more stable and screen tearing wasn't much of an issue even with vsync disabled but there was some relatively severe hitching during some bosses. In the end I decided to capture mostly PS4 footage since it felt more consistent to play despite some screen tearing and frame drops. If you notice those things in the video, that's why.
I don't think the relatively simple visuals of Furi justify poor performance on modern hardware so I hope The Game Bakers will put some work into this area in future. That said the issues were infrequent enough not to sour my opinion on the game.
By the way if you play the PS4 version the patch with multiple control schemes isn't available yet but you can use the Accessibility menu to change the parry button to something else.

[@I-Rex232]

hey matthewmatosis, what do you think of maybe anouncing the game you will review a certain amount of time before uploading the video? perhaps a week maybe? this way everyone could play the game before the video will be up and will be able to enjoy the video to its fullest at the time you upload it

[@MrFoxInc]

I wasn't even aware that this game exists and when I saw that Matthew does a review on it, the first thing I did was look it up on Steam. It felt like preparational homework before class starts - and I dig that. But it's true that it would make more sense if Matthew announced, with due time between, that he's gonna release an in-depth review. Maybe on Twitter or something.

[@Kass686]

I really like this idea, because he starts most videos by saying "you should go play this game yourself before watching the video" and it would be much easier and incentivizing to do so before the video was even uploaded.

[@MrFoxInc]

DrTheKay I checked, he didn't specifically mention this one as far as I can tell, but I do seem to remember he occasionally announces other games.

[@I-Rex232]

DrTheKay maybe but not consistently

[@Amagys]

I'm struggling to understand what would be the benefit to doing this? The only thing I can surmise is that you /must/ watch the review the day the video is uploaded. Wouldn't it be much easier for you to save the video, play the game then watch the video after? Him announcing it serves no tangible benefit or purpose.

[@Lactovacilo939]

To befair, all previous games from the studio were phone games about squids. Going from that to Furi was a huge step.

[@johannliebert2870]

You forgot to mention a mobile beat em up they made that even got Street Fighter DLC. But yeah, they went from mobile games straight to Furi. Insane.

[@gadellomagnollo1810]

Holy shit I loved those games. I had no idea that was them

[@Lafflefalafel]

I was expecting the Voice to be the final boss. The way he talked seemed so manipulative, he was always telling us how we felt, how we needed to get rid of the bosses.

[@Shinigami13133]

It's because he needed it as much as we did. He was also a prisoner, stuck in a cage of his own making. He had a daughter planetside that he couldn't see because the jailers wouldn't let him leave. His only recourse was to use us to break out, and he thought he could relate to our imprisonment, so he took the role of our conscious.

[@KhoaLe-uc2ny]

@@Shinigami13133 the stranger his literally "his only chance" at getting out and saving the planet.

[@cloak211]

You mention the possibility that bunnyhead dude designed the prison to deliberately turn The Stranger against his own kind. One thing I found interesting with this idea in mind is that the beautiful scenery in the walking sections doesn't corrode when Stranger walks through it. Bunnyhead probably intended this to give The Stranger, a war machine who hibernates when he's not fighting, an idea what it's like to be human.

[@neonblade8591]

Or maybe it's so the song can do her job right without constantly going "eew why is the Floor black?"

[@davidgn40]

@@neonblade8591 The Song probably only stays in her own stage, but yeah that's a pretty funny possibility lol.

[@bariyou]

Furi is the kind of game that makes me just wanting more. More story, more gameplay, more music, just M O R E . It's such a stylish game, and I'm a sucker for plot being given by a charismatic character, as opposed to text dumps. Everything about Furi just ticks every box for me, and I love it so much.

[@GreenEyedDazzler]

Burr Durr if only the gameplay had depth

[@aiodensghost8645]

@@GreenEyedDazzler the gameplay has enough depth to be the game they envisioned... then again I grew up playing Shadow of the Colossus and ICO (*the two games Furi reminds me of*) so *what do I know?*

[@SpookyShayOClery]

yea

[@Joeggurnaut546]

I always prefer games that leave me wanting more rather than giving me so much that I'm sick of it. Less is more, and I want more of that Less.

[@Arkanthrall]

"Furi is a game solely about player growth, not character growth." This. More games should be like that.

[@Ten_Thousand_Locusts]

There's some character growth in it. Although I guess that depends on your choice.

[@ADEtheMayhem]

Devil May Cry. All the growth you seek lies there

[@catoboyproductions7098]

@DarkSonic180 hahaha yes

[@catoboyproductions7098]

@DarkSonic180 ahahahahahaha YES

[@catoboyproductions7098]

@DarkSonic180 It is based on how you master your combat style not just emotionally. You have the same exact abailitys in every fight but due to "character growth" you can go on par with the burst on furier. Considering I had a shit time with promenade chain and then made it all the way to the star on furier and won twice I think the game would be based on development in skills and understanding. If you honestly think that this game doesnt develop your character then you are mistaken and nead to play the game on every difficulty so Hahahahaha YES

[@g.c.9065]

On a scale of one to ten, this game is an eleven, and it would give itself a twelve.

[@PolyesterGiant]

nice ref

[@jimmyjam2373]

This is probably one of my favorite if not my favorite game ever. I really think you did a great job with this review. I would disagree with you on a few non major points but I think you were very fair and brought up some great points that I never considered despite having >150 hours in this 10 hour game

[@thiagopessoa4725]

How many hours do you think you've got in now? Hahahaha im on my first playthrough.

[@iquemedia]

New upload HYPE!! See you all in a few months

[@MetalHearts100]

years*

[@am11king29]

Ique that's a bit harsh considering that he puts in so much work

[@iquemedia]

AM11king That's the reason why I love his videos, so much time and effort put into each one. I don't mind waiting months for another upload

[@MrMalkraz]

I honestly think the story and the Stranger himself would've been more interesting without the alien backstory, ending on him being some enigma that's poisonous to the planet.

[@ryukenxx2]

MrMalkraz I wanted it to be that he couldn't help it if he killed things just by walking near them, he just wanted go be free.

[@nekromorg]

One of the best gaming experiences I had in 2016.

[@Nukle0n]

Still waiting for that analysis of handheld Zeldas that you announced in a dream i had...

[@SinclairLocke]

KingK did it

[@salokin3087]

Mats uploaded a new video. It's 12:22am here... Yeah I can stay up a bit more.

[@Birmanncat]

15.25 here

[@DevilsAdvocateofnazareth]

huh? midnight? how does midnight work? jesus fuck...

[@ChurchofScientology5]

civilised people use 0:22 instead

[@AceSimGaming]

Civilized* (nice spelling) people would realize that whole world does not work the same as your country.

[@linkking46]

Why? 12:22 am is not after noon, is after midnight, 12:22 pm is after noon. It can be forgiven for not knowing since it's a common misconception, but wrong nontheless

[@wonderguardstalker]

This is just what I needed to not kill myself today.

[@montymcmonterson2890]

You and me both, random youtube user, you and me both..

[@nerdybeast123]

As an aspiring game developer, I watch all your reviews so that I can learn how to make the best games possible down the line. As well as to be super entertained :) Love these reviews man!

[@0meg4f3n1x]

Please, stop teasing us... Make a MGS5 review already ;) JK, keep up the amazing work!

[@Pan_Z]

MGSV was a disappointing game with an abundance of ideas but failed implementation. There ya go

[@0meg4f3n1x]

I know, but I would still like to have his opinion on the game, with a 1h video ^^

[@Pan_Z]

Oméga-Phénix I would do. However, after uploading over 3 hours of MG related stuff, I think he's still burnt out on it

[@RandomTwat]

He stated that we should not expect MGSV any time soon. Here's what he said on his Patreon about MGSV: "I feel like enough time has passed now for me to give this one a fair review but it’s not something that interests me at the moment. Kind of a selfish reason not to do it but if I’m not feeling it then the video will be sub par and I don’t want that. I do intend to finish the MGS series by doing this one some day but it’s not on my list right now."

[@0meg4f3n1x]

Fair enough. Thanks for the answer btw =)

[@vvolfflovv]

Excellent critique and constructive criticisms here. Hopefully the devs will see this.

[@101deathcore]

the oar unpredictable thing is a refernce to a historical samuria who often used weird weapons in odd way to put off his dueling opponents, one such weapon famously being the oar. Where he said it made him unpredictable.

[@black1blade74]

I agree that they should have made the walking segments skipable on the 2nd play through. A lot of far criticisms in this video though and it hasn't lessened me feelings of loving this game which are probably so strong as I got it for free unexpectedly. Due to the simpler mechanics this is the fist game I have ever been able to come close to truly mastering, unlocking all the trophies and getting in the top 200 fasted speedruns (not too great a feat I know as this is a pretty niche title).

[@black1blade74]

Blaze Howard It is but you still have to get S rank on the overall story mode.

[@cometcourse381]

Jin Roh is cool.

[@Frikgeek]

I really liked the Furier difficulty. I quite like Bullet Hell games and character action games and Furi felt a lot less memorisation heavy than most bullet hells which worked really well for the much faster pace. The bullets are a bit faster but a lot less numerous than your average bullet hell, making it more reliant on reaction time and good dash usage than simply memorising the "safe spots" in the pattern. Though I would've liked to see a lot more homing bullet patterns rather than just screen filling ones.

[@PurpleFreezerPage]

RPG mechanics ruin action games for me super often. Either cause you pick OP progression options and it ruins the challenge (Hell is Other Demons) or you pick the wrong options and it severely handicaps you (Dark Souls). If Dark Souls was like Furi and I didn't have to worry about grinding weapon upgrades or doing the different areas in the best order, I'd ADORE it.

[@alfredoamendez4299]

I have the opposite opinion but that's ok, everyone is different, if Dark Souls and many A RPGs didn't have those mechanics i wouldn't be interested to play them, that's the main reason why i play games like Dragon's Dogma, Monster Hunter and the Souls series.

[@tyler-xo3rb]

@@alfredoamendez4299 you play those games to watch the numbers go up?

[@alfredoamendez4299]

@@tyler-xo3rb And for the combat systems, everyone is different, i like progression systems that rewards me for my efforts, that's one of the main reasons why i love the Souls and the Monster Hunter series.

[@lindthechaoticheretic8708]

Furi is my game of the year!

[@LordSkullkid]

Oh my god yes!!! Keep the hard work going man

[@thecodemachine]

I LOVE this game. Totally underrated.

[@lolololololol012]

i really enjoyed the walking bits. I just hit the auto walk button and enjoyed it like a cut scene. The camera angles where really unique and well directed, the dialogue was cryptic enough to give me something to think about and the environments themselves where all very ethereal and visually engaging. In summation I feel like the walking segments where an opportunity to enjoy everything that wasn't the combat. That being pretty good music, stellar art design and decent writing and voice acting.

[@Richard-ec8xy]

it feels to me like a showcase of the song leading into the next fight, ur reward is u get to chill out look at some dope ass environments n hear a cool tune

[@El_Andru]

Yeah, I was also relaxed by the intense fight I just had. Auto walk and have time to enjoy beautiful scenery and music. I would agree on Matthew on the points about not able to skip these segments or jump back to them when you chose. Yeah, it's a bit hypocritical when you can return to the Star, but not the other guardians and that you can skip cutscenes, but not walking segments. This point mainly affects replayability.

[@Omgacow1000]

My game of the year, and probably my favorite game soundtrack ever

[@ThatDudesDude]

What I liked about Furi was that you really wondered what the Stranger had done to be trapped in such a well guarded prison with such powerful adversaries who's purpose was to keep him trapped there, more less. And it was answered when you left the prison and the first step you take literally kills everything around you. I thought that was such a cool thing to do, it didn't really matter if he was good or bad but what he passively did. And the chilling track that started as you saw the ground around you die as you walked was so perfect. It really was a good game storywise I think, it delivered emotionally, and gameplay wise. I don't count the "true ending" as canon, was incredibly stupid if you ask me, but then again, you didn't :3

[@Grgrqr]

Matthewmatosis enjoys top down camera angles, part 2

[@GooberGamer]

I was interested in this game, but the walking segments and the clunky look it has kinda turned me off from it.

[@dixego]

It's great. It's truly pure mechanical fast actiony fun.

[@GhostSilk]

It really is tough in that regard. The boss battles are really phenomenal for their mechanics, characters and soundtrack, but the walking segments are easily the worst part of the game. It's stylish enough to ignore for some, but I can easily see how annoying they can get.

[@Nerathim]

The high-pitched sounds are not compromises, they complement the rhythm of the fights really well. The OST playing during boss fights is always upbeat, energetic music and the sound before the attack fits in this audio background because it's a sharp, quick sound. It catches the player's attention and speeds up an already intense fight and it makes you appreciate the music more because of the contrast it makes. Simply replacing those audio cues by obvious animations wouldn't have cut it, especially against some bosses like The Edge. Bosses look more menacing, less forgiving if their attack pattern does NOT show an obvious animation hightling their weak point. Wind up animation wouldn't fit a boss rush game like Furi that relies so much on speed.

[@thewerepyreking]

I loved this game and this was a good breakdown of its ups and downs. Thanks.

[@RRRadish]

Definitely on-point. It's not flawless but it was definitely a highly positive surprise and I hope the Game Bakers continue to develop action games building up on their experience with Furi. When it comes to first attempts at a genre Furi is very promising.

[@IEnjoyBeingNaked]

>Matthewmatosis will never trash a mediocre/overrated game again :(

[@Mohammed-yt7iz]

I think this is a good thing because he would focus on other smaller games that deserve the spotlight.

[@juntistik]

Guess that means no Metal Gear Solid 5 review. :(

[@dmc1673]

Give it time, he's currently reviewing underrated games, that don't have much attention. Isn't it better to shine light on games that don't have any?

[@juntistik]

I wasn't trolling, I have the ability to be objective about things and not blindly gush about Kojima and his respective games.

[@PressA2Die]

Bioshock? Edit; ah, I missed the 'again'. Nevermind.

[@AesirAesthetics]

Quit spamming my sub box, I expect you to only upload every 7 months ;)

[@hayleynoellebroders8247]

My game of right now is the W101 and the first since Furi I've been actively learning to see it through it's entirety. Furi will always be a perfect game to me for letting me fully luxuriate in its systems that were streamlined enough to make getting familiar, learning and eventually mastering it, all the time feeling remarkably fair, but rewarding. Top 5 for me.

[@sephyrias883]

23:18 no god, please no! I've had to hear that phrase so often during my first playthrough >.

[@matilyn_rf]

The Ys games have more RPG in them, but they're a marriage of Bullet Hell and combat that I think accomplishes a lot of what Furi is, and do it really well. Oath in Felghana would be a good start. Or Ys Origin.

[@Not-A-Witch]

Another brilliant review. I'm really looking forward to this 'season of content' idea Matthew. I really hope you find the time and resources to keep making these videos. Great job!

[@CGoody564]

The speedrun mode skips and ignores sections of the game that contain details contributing to the story? Who would have thought.... :P

[@AntiNihilist]

22:30 oh gosh...he didn't run during the credits...which is half the point of that part of the ending. That half being you are now FREE to do and go wherever you want. After hours of being restricted where and how fast you can walk, you can finally run around and enjoy your freedom, except then the other half of course is that you have become death, destroyer of worlds

[@TheMoi]

Oh hell yeah. My favorite game of 2016. Had to comment before watching, I'm so hyped.

[@boltblackjoker]

Been watching a bunch of game reviews lately. In the last few dozen, maybe hundred or so, this is the best one I've watched by a large margin. Fantastic analysis with a great mesh to gameplay. Keep it up.

[@RMarsupial]

Question: Matthew doesn't seem to mention this. Are perfect parries still detrimental considering that you can get some pistol shots in BEFORE activating the "cinematic counterattack"?

[@PurpleFreezerPage]

He's totally right. This game's health system does boss phases RIGHT. So little in this game felt cheap, that's why I was super committed to beating it.

[@MultiFortunatus]

Reminds me of El Shaddai.

[@EpicShadow26]

One of the best games of the year.

[@NetConsole]

God what a disappointment. And i'm really getting sick of these stylized graphics that wants you to believe they're so special and artistic when it in actuality starts to look ugly after just a few minutes.

[@Rannos22]

Need to wake up a bit more thought that said Fun Review

[@neonblade8591]

It was a fun review

[@Galaxy40k]

Well, Furi just shot up to the top of my "to play" list now haha. I don't want to be spoiled but gotta dive into this video!

[@protogionlastname6003]

You're gonna run back into your cell and beg to to lock you up again

[@yewwowduck]

>Shouldn't watch this review until you've played the game Kind of a useless review, then, huh?

[@Yaeven]

Are you going to do a voice reveal when you get to 118k subs?

[@cometcourse381]

"Voice" reveal?

[@Pan_Z]

Doesn't need to be the initial reveal in order to count as a reveal

[@darkroom0716]

I've got to say, you're probably the best damn interviewer I've yet to encounter on KZbin, or perhaps at all. Instead of relying on humor (which isn't a bad trait itself) you go into great depths and always explain your reasoning. Keep it up, you've quickly become a reviewer I trust to tell the truth and explain things properly.

[@SwordHandler222]

You should do negative reviews about games many people like. Those would be the most interesting.

[@Jaketg93]

commenting during ad to support channel

[@Frans421421]

i love u matthew please keep making awesome videos

[@Djellowman]

Still the best action game sound track though.

[@wuwei473]

Katana Zero is a close 2nd

[@Daniel-Rosa.]

Either through slowing down the footage or going silent, you can improve your videos even further by making sure the images illustrate what you're saying (something I'm sure you already work for, but) _with the same timing_ of your sentence, *at all times* - The way it is, sometimes our attention gets split in half (like at 3:49, there's a cutscene, dialogue, subtitles, all detracting from your voice's input ). Check out Every Frame a Painting's video essays, take a look at the timing with which his images illustrate his voiceover. I say that because your insights and the work you put into your writing are already up there *(so great).*

[@HeyJoshyJosh]

I can't be the only one who had no idea until watching this that you could parry projectiles!

[@XXXKruszakus]

This game has easily the best soundtrack I've heard in my life. I've been playing these songs during my workouts for the past year - still love it.

[@johannliebert2870]

You might like Hotline Miami 1 and 2's OSTs. Pretty sure some of the same composers who worked on Furi's OST also worked on those.

[@TheDominitri]

Thanks Matt, this nails everything I didn't like about this game! I felt like the only one with these problems.

[@brightsuperstition]

People have been complaining about the things Matthewmatosis pointed out here for months. If you look at user reviews or just check out discussions on Furi, chances are you'll find lots of people complaining about these things.

[@TheDominitri]

Ah, I've only seen praise - I like the game's premise but the combat just isn't fun to me for a lot of the reasons Matt pointed out. With that said, the devs have my attention for whatever they do next.

[@hayleynoellebroders8247]

I personally think The Beat is genius; she's the last boss and the only reason she serves that role is because they figured nobody trying to escape would ever have to deal with her. The Edge has the best walking section because the dialogue instills in you that he's the real final challenge; he's trained up to this point to be the thing that might finally lay you out, and given his ability to cut you down much faster than anyone, using only precise sword strikes as opposed to maxamilist technology and brute force, there's every reason to see him as the real final hurdle; the satisfaction of escape. Rather than a victory lap in its ease, The Beat feels antithetical to that principle: cutting her down as she begs for her life, no mastery of the mechanics required, all the while knowing she was never meant to experience such punishment, really makes you feel like a monster. Once more, genius.

[@DrBreezeAir]

Matt you're the best. Will you be making videos on Bloodborne and/or Dark Souls III? BTW I completely agree with your DSII Critique video.

[@astraamastacia2427]

What you say in this video is true and i agree with that They did fuck up and destroy the fights with shooting and parrying but still all i want to do is S rank all the bosses I dont know whats with this game that makes me so fucking happy playing it We got a new dlc too! U honestly love this game,and the mistakes they made gives new opportunities for speedruns

[@moritzkorsch9029]

Another way you could improve the unskipable walking scenes is (at least after you played through the game once) you could control the Rider (the player caracter) like before, but running. This is possible in the game after the end credits have blacked out (during the credits you only walk like in every walking scene) so you could argue the inclusion was an oversight or - like the other points you made - hypocritical.

[@TerribleTF2]

So if you could make a "Furi 2", what would be the biggest changes you'd make? Would you like non-boss sections or would you rather they stick to the current formula and try to refine it?

[@MrRaggaedeman]

What pushed me to play this game for almost 30 hours was the notion of perfecting my play. After getting through Furier, I gave the speedrun a go and did a very mediocre job. After that I played a lot of training, trying to find more and more opportunities to land more and more hits on the bosses to cut of a few extra seconds of my time. In the end I did a failry decent job and landed barely in the top 50 ranking on steam. Although I'm pretty sure by now I did quite a big drop. It felt good, I had a lot of fun trying to get good at the game and in the end got a nice rank as a reward. In so far, the game very much hit a nerve for me. Simplistic gameplay with a lot of playerbased improvment. Also I kinda liked the special appreciation form the devs for clearing Furier. It's not much but it was a nice little extra reward. Not a perfect game but still I'd say it was still worth it despite the pretty hefty pricetag. I probably will revisit it once I sort out this whole "XBONE version gets an extra boss"- thing that is going on right now.

[@rafaielw]

Dark Souls 3 Critique OR RIOT!!.

[@RockingTheFro]

I just beat Furi and I can finally watch this review! I thought this game was so hard playing with a wireless controller. I got to The Edge before I caved and I was shocked how easy he was with no latency. I still loved the game though.

[@calibris]

"I found an easy way to beat this game even though it was advertised as 'hard'. 0/10" ~Matt

[@PatFagan]

The boss room where the voice "manipulated" it's guardian, along with the accompanying lines, had me thinking that he was its guardian, while at first I thought the game was trying to make us like him because he was helping us. He talks about how he tried so many times to escape, and you were the only way. He didn't want to be a guardian, and needed a good fighter to help him escape to his family.

[@internisus]

Outstanding critique.

[@thirstisr34l]

I actually hate fight scenes where it's hard to follow through the movements of the characters and a lot of anime have fight scenes that just have it weak to none at animation. That being said this game does it fine as a game.

[@teddybearmuderful]

this channel needs more views

[@SuperBlahmaster]

I think it's fine to have the player do the walking segments the first time, but they absolutely should have been skippable on repeat playthroughs. Also being kicked back to the start after doing The Song's ending was a huge annoyance, I did it on my first playthrough and it majorly soured my experience. Though it does speak to the game's quality that I was willing to refight all those bosses right away. Also I think a chapter select would have gone a long way. It's become pretty much a staple of modern action games so its exclusion is really odd. There's a practice mode and speedrun mode but those don't have the story bits.

[@El_Andru]

Lol, you and I had the same experience. I had moral doubts when she gave me a choice, I was walking back and forth debating between "I need to escape here" and "I've been killing without hesitation so far" but "If I stay she can Undertale backstab me" but "I am powerful I should give it a chance". Anyway the game interrupted me and made me choose that ending. It was nice, until I had to repeat it all.

[@JohnXuandou]

Me personally the mediocrity of everything is a deal breaker for this game. Just as Matt said, it IS a mediocre action game, it IS a mediocre twin stick shooter, and it IS a mediocre bullet hell, and if the gameplay is not engaging I can't force myself to get through a game. I feel like I might have appreciated this game more had another game by the name of The Red Star did not exist. I've already seen an attempt at an action/bullet hell crossover, and it was miles better than this one, and they didn't have to cut corners and make compromises to get there.

[@ZerogunRivale]

As always an excellent video. The game looks interesting despite its failings, so I may pick it up.

[@szymonroganowski7803]

Hey Matthew, this game's footage really reminds me of Ys games which made me wonder, have you played any of them and if so, whats your opinion on them?

[@blackdragonkalameet3844]

nice to see more regular content

[@beebee404]

I know you don't read comments, but you should definitely go back to the voice you used for the Bioshock Critique and the DS2 critique. Sounds way better

[@robgleeson3476]

Phantom Pain review please please please. You're a genius :)

[@Goobious_Maximus]

Yes I LOVE this game! Anyone who played Metal Gear Rising needs to get it!

[@543resident4]

>2016 >STILL won't do a bloodborne video >STILL won't do a MGSV video why is this allowed

[@user-ir8rd6oy4w]

Bubberducky He's focusing on doing underrated games that deserve more credit. Give him some freedom on his projects.

[@normalguycap]

Those take too much effort. He doesn't do that anymore. He's gotten older.

[@CGoody564]

Neucom because it's his channel and he can do whatever the hell he pleases; That's why it is allowed.

[@vincentninja68]

I didn't like this game, I found the controls too clunky, camera obtrusive, and the lack of checkpoints in mid fight too cruel on repeat attempts. Therefore frustrating given the difficulty of it. --- Speaking of frustrating, challenging games, I would loooooove if you talked about the Ninja Gaiden Franchise. Ninja Gaiden Black, Ninja Gaiden 2, or Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge. Shockingly, there are very few reviews of discussion videos talking in great detail on what I consider to be the greatest action game series ever made. I could not think of a more qualified, eloquent and analytical youtuber to give the Ninja Gaiden Series justice. Please consider this request!

[@Darluk]

This is what the Afro Samurai game should have been.

[@tanton50]

Dark Souls 3 review?

[@Achromasloth]

Great video as always Matthew, welp, now I'm gonna watch your Dark Souls 2 critique for the 50th time.

[@kiteracer95]

PTSD at 10:26

[@w1mark275]

I fully agree that the way they handled the song's alternate ending was a terrible decision. Personally, when I first played the game I was curious what would happen if I stayed in the song's garden for too long, to be surprised with a very flat alternate ending which deleted all my progress in the game. I was thinking, "Maybe I unlocked furier mode?" which I soon found out was not the case, instead of being rewarded any way, it seems like the devs felt to punish you for your curiosity. This surprise would have not been so impactful for me if it wasn't for the fact that Furi up to that point was very difficult for me, and I was not happy (furious even) to have to struggle through them a second time just to get back to where I left off as if all of my previous effort was for nothing.

[@dairycans]

my first playthru after beating the boss right before the song i got up to get a drink without pausing and when i sat back down at my computer it was at the end of the credits, i was very confused lmao "wow that's it? game sucks lol"

[@TojekaSteve]

I assume you haven't tried Promenade difficulty, otherwise it's ripe for criticism. I played it out of curiosity and felt like how much challenge and action it removed made it was the worst way to play the game; to the degree that I thought it should be removed entirely.

[@BoukenJima]

Nice, great video. I guess the only point I'll disagree on is the fact that you state not every game needs to have free-form combat but the depth you're looking for is pretty much free-form combat. Given there is a speedrunner mode and that Furi bosses are entirely rigid in their attack cycles I think figuring out the optimal way to beat every boss is exactly what was intended.

[@MirageMiM]

the main character's clothes and weapons are almost identical to the design in Hyper Light Drifter. Not that this is a problem, it's just that the dash mechanic and the color palette are also incredibly similar. That's left a bad taste in my mouth about this game since I heard about it

[@drunknmonk12]

Another brilliant review/analysis, keep them coming M.

[@TheSp0rki]

Nice but why didn't you dissect the story in this review? You touched on a few things but didn't go into detail. A few extra minutes talking about the story would have been cool.

[@dairycans]

This is a badass well written video essay. Here are two quick comments on it: 1. Perfect parrying actually being detrimental to efficiency is a part of the combat that's cool imo. It's a part of that 'player growth' you spoke about in depth. Also the name "perfect parry" itself is misleading wording, since it actually means you parried as slow as possible and could be reacting faster, so for it to be detrimental seems fair mechanically. 2. I swear I've watched every review of Furi that exists (imweird) and they all talk about the walking segments being annoying, but a brave choice pacing wise. But I've still never heard anyone go in depth on autowalk and the intentionally difficult controls that stick to the same frame of reference from the last camera angle. I strongly believe the jank controls are an intentional choice and a reference to the plot itself. The prison is there to change rider. You feel like it's your choice to defeat the bosses, but there's a barrage of almost 4th wall breaking lines about the concept of control. "You're gonna beg me to lock you up again" and "you feel like you have a choice but it is written" (that ones a little on the nose) I think that the autowalk is just an interesting commentary on control itself, since every player will think at first "of course im gonna use the autowalk this shit is annoying with the camera flipping everywhere" but then maybe, just maybe, they might be like me and think "maybe I can make it though the whole thing without autowalking if I try" It's an interesting metaphor if it's intentional (pretty sure it is but maybe I'm just over-analyzing a QOL feature) dope video

[@TheAntiSanta]

I was under the impression that The Stranger had amnesia the whole time, and doesn't remember anything until after he reaches the planet and sees that he's killing it

[@plzlemme]

absolutely fantastic review, can't wait for the next one

[@JayTohab]

A game that wants to push you to be better... sounds like Assault Android Cactus! :P

[@niespeludo]

Tohab another great game that is sadly overlooked.

[@rodrigopacheco12]

AAC is a much better game than Furi, no bullshit pretenses of having a narrative experience and definitely no unskippable bullshit. Also, its gameplay is way more focused, not just a collage of gameplay done better in other games

[@JayTohab]

Simple, and elegant. :) Imma play that game now...

[@Arkanthrall]

You got my interest. Game wishlisted.

[@SniperDiplomat]

No mention of furier mode making the danger flash come at seemingly random times, compounding the animation issue? I was so turned off by that, I dropped it on the first boss.

[@MmmDoggy]

Interesting. I never had the problem of the parry-while-shooting, mainly because I played right when it came out and didn't know you could even do that.