After weeks of struggling I finally finished Furi the other day. At times I grew a little frustrated with it and put it aside, but I'm glad that I always picked it up again and managed to see it through.

Furi is weird little genre-blending game, borrowing elements from many different games. The entire game is a series of boss fights: you are a neon ninja cyberpunk prisoner trying to escape back to your world and each boss is a successive jailor. "The jailor is the key: kill him and you will be free."

There are no upgrades or different weapons, armour or any RPG elements. You start the game with all your abilities and controls and as you progress through each increasingly-harder boss you become stronger, not by upgrading but by actually improving your skill, your control and understanding of the game mechanics. Your character has two weapons: a gun and a sword. The sword can do light/heavy attacks as well as parry and dodge (with i-frames). You can use your gun for ranged attacks with a twin-stick shooter control scheme. Progressing in the game is all about learning the patterns of each boss and finding ways to counter their movesets. The combat is extremely satisfying, on the level of Dark Souls and defeating a Furi boss delivers that same satisfaction.

Each boss is entirely different and will use unique and often surprising attacks and their environment to try to kill you. But the intense boss encounters are broken up by these peaceful exploration sections where the narrative is developed. Each boss inhabits an entirely different realm and as you approach the next boss, you can explore his/her world as you begin to slowly reveal the story (of the game-world and each boss) and the mysterious past of the protagonist. These "walking" sections offer a calm, quiet rest between fights, a nice way to break up the intensity. The overall appearance of the game is bold: lots of neon, crazy 70's hair, strange architecture, and carefully-chosen colours. Combined with the entrancing beat of the electronic soundtrack (reminiscent of Daft Punk), this game-world is positively oozing with style and flavour.

Originally I wasn't going to play Furi because I'm not a big fan of bullet hell games, and the art style didn't appeal to me. But I'm glad I decided to give it a go because I eventually got into it and really enjoyed it (and the bullet hell sections are minimal).

In terms of challenge, this game is tough as nails. Even the "tutorial" boss gave me a lot of trouble to begin with and I definitely struggled through other parts of the game. But the controls are tight, the fights are fair and no death ever felt cheap.

Now for a few small complaints. Firstly, the game has four alternate endings, one of which happens half-way through the game (if you make the wrong decision). This happened to me and it wiped my save file, so I had to start the game over from the beginning, which was extremely frustrating. For anyone playing this, I suggest backing up your save file into a folder after you beat each boss... the game should really have the option to save manually. My other complaint is the final boss: I expected the fight to test all of the skills I had developed up to that point. Instead, the last fight is a big gimmick that puts you in a little "mini-game" uninteresting, frustrating and unrelated to the previous fights, and gives you unfamiliar skills, weapons and camera. Personally I thought this was a big blunder in terms of game design, and it felt completely out of place compared to the rest of the game which I enjoyed so much! Still though, it was tough and it felt great to finally beat the game, the final boss, and to unlock hard mode!

For anyone who likes a challenge, I would highly recommend Furi. It has a really unique vision, atmosphere and art style.. refined, addictive and satisfying gameplay, a wonderful thumping soundtrack, a formidable challenge and a brilliantly-executed narrative.

A few years ago I tried this game and dropped it after the second stage because it was too hard. Now for some reason I decided to pick it up again and really loved it. It is still hard, but in the years I might have get a bit more proficient with the controller and used to parrying and quick dodging so it felt more manageable.

Very little can be said against this game. It fully accomplishes what it tries to do: a series of hard fights against weird bosses. Half hack and slash, half bullet hell, and very focused on its handful of mechanics.

Each boss has several stages with slightly different behaviours and attacks. Between each stage there's usually a "sub-stage" in which you go into close-up combat, so fights feel fresh throughout. The enemies not only are very different between each other but they also tend to have a good variety of attacks, so for the most part even retrying the same fight has some level of variety.

Something I appreciated is that after each stage, both the boss and the character go back to full life. So if you finish a stage with just one hit left, then you are not instantly killed in the next one while you learn the new attacks. I really liked this mechanic.

The bosses themselves are all memorable. They represent shallow archetypes. The one that wants revenge, the one that fights you reluctantly, the one that is fighting for his son. But they do flesh out some interesting lore and are they all have interesting designs. A particular favourite is the second one, which is pure pathos and changes dramatically between each stage.

Each level of the game is masterfully done and waved together. Gameplay, enemy design, voice acting, writing, and the fucking music. The soundtrack features banger after banger. Absolutely incredible.

Furi lacks in a lot of areas; its typical electronic hip music (here's looking at you Brut) doesn't fit the game and feels out of place. The story is light and inconsequential to the player's enjoyment, and it's very short. What makes it good? What makes it deserving of such a rating?

The game is challenge and tight action incarnate. Moving constantly from place to place, stick shooting and knowing when to place a good charge shot, evading curtains of bullets, and parrying at just the right time is key in this game. The game is a focused set of ten bosses at its core, ranging from snipers to melee fights to long-distance to everywhere in between. Each boss may come with its own set of challenges and frustrations, and are thankfully unique.

That said, Furi isn't bad looking; its rendering looks not as detailed but is fresh with color and smooth effects. The walking feels unnecessary (but thank goodness for an automated walk button) but allows a nice look at some creative looking areas.

Is this game for everyone? No. Am I elite for liking this game? Heavens, no. Furi fills a niche that I often look for; slick and challenging fights that encourage repeated play for mastery. No padding, no RPG elements, just a straight-up challenge. And I like that type of straightforward nature in a game.