Game: Foregone
Genre: 2D Platformer, Action,
System: Nintendo Switch (also on PC, PS4 and Xbox One)
Developer|Publisher: Big Blue Bubble
Age Rating: EU 16+ | US Teen
Price: UK £26.99 | EU € 29,99 | US $29.99
Release Date: October 13th 2020
Review code provided with many thanks to Big Blue Bubble
In the City
The city of Calagan is under siege by the dreaded Harrow. You play as the cities best super soldier on a mission to stop the bad guys whilst learning a little more than you expected. Foregone’s plot is gradually fed to you through books that you find around the levels, adding plenty of lore to the world. The game also includes voice acting which was a pleasant surprise. As you explore the levels your character will often monologue her thoughts adding a little more depth and insight to the experience.
The graphics are one of the notable stand outs. Yes, if you’ve played Dead Cells your funny bones are probably tickling right now as the two feel strikingly similar. But if your old like me you may be thinking Vectorman on the Mega Drive. The characters look sorta 3D but they’re 2D. The point is the animations and colours are gorgeous in this game and a lot of time and care has been put into creating a fascinating world. Let’s dive in – shall we?
Dead Souls
The game plays as a 2D action adventure. Due to the game’s Dead Cells look and even feel I mistakenly thought this game was originally a rogue lite. Not quite. The levels are pre-determined and the game shares more in common with the Souls like genre than the rogue lite. By this I mean when you die you loose all your ability points and any money accumulated but you have a chance to gain it all back if your able to reach the spot where you originally died. If you fail though the points and hard work are gone forever. Foregone though offers gamers an alternative if they choose.
On death a character allows you to reclaim 50% of the points, so you don’t have to take the risk, but of course this does add to the risk reward choice. Being a idiot I often opted to just try to reclaim the points from the point I fell. It didn’t always work out but I was happy living with my mistake. Since the game was so much fun to play I had no trouble just playing through previous sections of the game farming for more points.
Time for a Upgrade
Money can be used to buy upgrades for your weapons, armour and trinkets. You collect blue orbs which unlock more abilities on a nifty little skill tree. If you suck at this game you can farm for blue orbs over and over again until you have buffed your character up significantly to take on the tougher challenge. But if you like your challenge steep you can simply opt to power through the game as best you can.
Fluid Combat
You are equipped with a main melee weapon and a secondary ranged weapon to help dispatch all the baddies you come across. Combat is fluid and a ton of fun. Though I did encounter a little slow down at times when playing on the TV. I never encountered any issues whilst playing in handheld mode.
There are a variety of weapons to experiment with and discover. Enemies will drop loot constantly so once you find a spare moment you can examine your wares and decide what the best build is. I particularly liked the ‘gunchuks’ not to be mistaken with num-chuks. Hey, it’s the future of course, melee weapons have guns attached to them. But you want to go old school you still have classic weapons like the bow and arrow which my wife insisted I equipped.
Each weapon felt unique and since you can carry tons of loot it’s easy to play around and experiment with your new wares and upgrade them when you return to the blacksmith. My only minor issue is that ranged weapons hone in on the nearest target when you hold the button down. Sometimes the game wouldn’t hone in on enemies at a certain steep angle despite being really close to you. Other than that the controls are solid and the gameplay very satisfying.
Unlike the famous Soul series I didn’t feel this game was too difficult for new entry players. The game is instantly rewarding and satisfying to play. While the difficulty does of course increase in challenge especially at boss fights. Checkpoints are never too far away giving you just enough push to try again rather than scaring you away too quickly like some games.
Foregone but not Forgotten
Foregone is brilliant looter action game worth sinking time into to. The graphics are gorgeous the combat fluid and rewarding. I enjoyed exploring the world and experimenting with various weapons.
It may look like certain games but Foregone easily stands on its own. A real treat on the Switch.
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot
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