Feist

Feist is a little oddball of a game. It's rather Limbo-like but fails to capture the same atmosphere that made LIMBO special.

Even so FEIST is not a bad game per say, I rather enjoy it. The art style is lovely, the music and ambience great, and the backdrop and environment is actually rather nice. It's a fun little platformer, where you play a feisty little furball that's recently escaped a trap and is now trying to escape this strange forest that's filled with hostile creatures. The AI is rather good, and certain enemies will relentlessly hunt you down, and even throw you against objects to try and kill you. You actually use the same method to try and defeat them, as you can pick up sticks to use as weapons. Although they break after contact with an enemy. Or you can pick up pine cones, and small logs to use as projectile weapons. At the same time the most irritating enemy I've ran into is the fly, they'll relentlessly pursue you, and fire projectiles at you. They're also rather difficult to kill as a stick won't kill them with one hit. It will bring them down, and then you can pick them up and actually use them as a weapon. While extremely annoying to face you can use them against other creatures, especially the large murderous furballs. Throw a fly against them and you'll turn the two against each other, and you've done some damage to the large monstrosity. They are usually the bosses at the end of levels, so try with all your might to get past them. The combat is entirely reliant on the games physics engine, and while it's not super complex it does a great job. Hitting enemies, moving boulders, and throwing objects all have decent velocity, impact and gravity attached to them, and without it the game would be horribly I feel. The physics engine is also reliant on it, and you can move logs, stack rocks, or use these sticky plant seeds/pods to make little platforms. So what's the main issue with FEIST? Well despite it being charming, and fun for a little platformer with physics based puzzles and combat; it's just too short. The game clocks in at 2.5 hours unless you've gotten stuck or died too many times. This makes it rather hard to justify the price tag of €15. Add in that the game; while charming just doesn't capture you the way LIMBO did it makes it awfully hard to say whether it's really worth the price. Personally I enjoy the game, I actually find it somewhat relaxing. Even the combat is strangely relaxing. It's not intense, and the mood of the game; along with it's ambience and subtle music is rather soothing.