First Impression: Fury Unleashed

By Chris Picone, 22 August 2021

Fury Unleashed’s artwork sucked me in immediately – gave me some really strong Guns, Gore & Cannoli vibes; retro but super slick. The protagonists reminded me of Metal Slug or Two Crude Dudes and the baddies looked like some sort of awesome Aztec-inspired undead. I’m also a sucker for comic books, and I think that aspect of the game’s been handled really well. Consider me sold.

Jumping into the game, I found exactly the sort of gameplay I expected – very Guns, Gore & Cannoli (read: fast-paced Metal Slug), except you get a melee weapon as well as your gun; also, your guns have unlimited ammo but you can’t cycle through them although you can change as you pick up new ones through the level. Unlike Guns & Cannoli, however, Fury Unleashed is a roguelite. So there are substantially fewer levels but the levels are designed for replayability and the game’s insane difficulty curve is mitigated by the fact that you get to keep your upgrades from one run to the next. Initially, every run through felt very different as – aside from the level layout changing, the enemies and bosses encountered on each runthrough also differed, sometimes drastically.

The verdict? It’s a fast-paced, unforgiving platformer, although not inaccessible (I’ve been alternating between playing solo and co-op with my young fella). It has an awesome range of weapons, enemies, and bosses, and interesting level arrangements. The graphics are awesome and the gameplay is super slick. I’m onto the second comic at the moment (fighting Nazis!) and I’ve still got at least half the game in front of me. Loving every minute so far.

Links: https://store.steampowered.com/app/465200/Fury_Unleashed/