Path of Fury – Episode I: Tetsuo’s Tower is an upcoming fight sim that’s all about punching your approach by means of gangsters whereas making a one-way journey by means of the ’80s-inspired underworld. We went hands-on with the primary two ranges forward of its March twelfth launch on Quest, so learn on to seek out out extra.
I grew up on a gradual weight loss program of movies like Massive Hassle in Little China (1986) and a numerous parade of ’80s and ’90s Chinese language kung-fu flicks as a child, which implies I’m considerably of sifu myself—at the least that’s what Path of Fury needs me to really feel, because it tosses a Shaolin Temple’s value of Cantonese and Russian-speaking gangsters to punch by means of as you make your option to more and more robust underworld bosses.
Even after a fast intro, I’m nonetheless not fairly certain why I’m blasting by means of armies of dudes, dealing out successive physique pictures, uppercuts and blocking kicks, however what I can let you know it’s positively a exercise. I can even say that, regardless of the sport’s on-rails design, the world-building may be very a lot on level, serving up a mixture of low-poly, PS1-era baddies in a vibrant, diverse world.
With out giving an excessive amount of away, you begin out by interrogating a captured gangster for data, main you to begin your first mission at Tetsuo’s Tower, a typical crime lair that’s fronted by an evening membership stuffed with heavies. As I discussed, it’s on-rails, which implies each step ahead is basically an automated teleportation by means of the corridors resulting in your subsequent gang of dudes. That did little to distract from the mission at hand although: punch, punch, block, punch.
Whereas pretty easy, the punch and parry system feels delightfully like a retro recreation, giving off arcade cupboard vibes that appears like its drawing from mid-90s titles like Time Disaster (1995). As a substitute of ducking behind cowl and reloading although, I’m parrying incoming punches by tapping a highlighted goal on a fist or foot, and moving into for a flurry of blows with the opposite.
Beating an enemy is so simple as timing your punch to the highlighted physique half, and doing it on the required energy; purple for onerous and robust, gray for fast and tender.
This successfully means you don’t have a lot freedom on take down unhealthy guys, though the flipside although is Path of Fury is all in regards to the type of Instructed Movement you see in video games like Till You Fall (2020) or Beat Saber (2019), which prioritizes making you’re feeling like an knowledgeable badass at particular moments. And it completely does the job.
Path of Fury is being developed by Leonard Menchiari, the indie dev behind a slew of non-VR video games equivalent to side-scrollers Trek to Yomi (2022) and The Everlasting Fort [REMASTERED] (2019). Taking a look at Menchiari’s earlier titles, it’s no surprise why Path of Fury feels nailed the traditional side-scrolling beat-’em-up really feel. What’s extra, regardless of being the developer’s first jab on the medium, it’s a extremely well-informed VR-native expertise too.
For now, I’ve only a few gripes with the 2 ranges I performed. I didn’t depart me overly winded, however I can wager a full half-hour of punching continuous will simply fill out your default each day exercise objectives. For being such a low-poly affair, it’s exceedingly good at establishing scenes and providing up detailed environments that I want I might linger in and discover.
It does really feel a bit sparse on choices in the intervening time, supplying you with solely a pause and restart button throughout gameplay. The 2-level taster I performed didn’t characteristic a seated mode, and if you’re blasted too many instances, visually reeling over can really feel overly uncomfortable, which I’d hope could be modified earlier than the ultimate recreation comes out in March. There’s additionally at the moment no problem slider of any kind, which is a bummer in the event you’re simply trying to waltz your approach by means of for the sake of the story.
That stated, greater than something, Path of Fury appears like a kind of cool and trendy additions to your exercise routine that provides sufficient enjoyable and interesting gameplay to trick you into getting your coronary heart charge up, even in the event you weren’t planning to within the first place.
