Devolver Digital’s latest game turns the beat ’em up into a puzzle game

Forestrike is a newly announced kung fu action game from popular indie publisher Devolver Digital and Olija developer Skeleton Crew.It stands out from its peers because it turns a roguelike beat ’em up into a puzzle game with its titular ability.

In Forestrike, players have to make it through a series of encounters with just three health points. Attack animations are slow, so enemies will likely hit the player first if they don’t know what to do. Players can use the titular Forestrike ability to enter a meditative state before every battle to see how enemies will behave and find out what the best strategies to defeat them are.

I went hands-on with a very early build of Forestrike ahead of its reveal, and it’s promising. I’m already digging how this system turns the game loop of a beat ’em up into that of a puzzle game. When elements like guarding, dodging, picking up weapons, and roguelike run-specific buffs get added to the mix, fights get even more complex and thrilling. It turns what’s typically one of the most frustrating and repetitive parts of a beat ’em up game into a core mechanic that gives players the space and time to discover the proper series of attacks required to come out on top in a fight.

The most courageous players don’t even have to use this ability but doing so will make Devolver and Skeleton Crew’s latest incredibly difficult. Think of Forestrike as a 2D Sifu that swaps out the aging system with a mechanic that lets players practice every fight before they get into it.

Forestrike will launch sometime in 2025.