Pretty fun, and very pretty looking Metroidvania. Definitely worth a playthrough if you like this genre. It took me about 37 hours to 100% it.

Most of the game isn't terribly difficult, but a lot of environmental challenges are unforgiving. However, the master level martial arts challenge and final boss are extremely difficult and are, by far, the most challenging parts of the game - even on normal.

The few critiques I have are:

- You can't see what your moves are unless you're at a repair station.

- Drinking carrot juice takes far too long and is extremely clunky, which is weird because the rocket item that uses the same mechanic is vastly more responsive.

- There aren't enough fast travel location and there was no reason to have a subway system and a "teleporting" system, they should have stuck with just 1 of those, or given the subway more spots to travel to.

- Putting the teleportation device to the main town inside Urso's attic(?) was an annoying choice. Especially when you couple that with the fact that once you leave Urso's attic to go to town you have to wait for the town door to open every single time you go to it from Urso's.

- The combo system, while kinda fun and interesting, is sorta pointless since you can't use them on anything except low level normal enemies. More difficult enemies and bosses will just ignore your combos and special moves while hitting and interrupting you. Learning the master combo is completely pointless since you will never ever be able to use it outside of that challenge.

- The Underwater portion needed more polish. The fact that you are forced to only use 1 fist type the entire time underwater seems like the mechanics weren't fully fleshed out. The underwater fighting isn't intuitive at all.

- There are a lot of enemies that fight dirty or just take way too many hits to kill. The ninja frogs are a huge offender. They do look cool, but we never learn why there are a bunch of frog and wolf-like robots that are the enemies.

- There are some mediocre treasure chests that take a ridiculously long time to get to. It feels like the secrets in this game could use a tune up. Sometimes you'll spend a ton of time navigating to a secret room only to find 20 coins in a chest.

I would still recommend this to anyone who likes Metroidvanias because it is a good one, it just needs a little more polish.

What a great metroidvania this is ! If you liked Ori, Hollow Knight and so on, this one is absolute must for you ;)

This review is based on early impressions. I am about 2 hours in, and I am loving it.

EDIT: OK, so I am 12 hours in and I did NOT expect like 30 to 40 % of this game to take place UNDERWATER...It is fun to use your drill to propel yourself around, but it gets old rather quickly, and there are plenty of underwater traversal and combat sequences, where your options are limited. I still have a very positive opinion of the game, but I think it could've cut down on this. I mean, it gives you so many great options for both combat and traversal, yet takes those options away for a large part of the game, which I think is frustrating. Other than that, the review stays as it was before.

F.I.S.T. is a 2D Action Metroidvania, not unlike Guacamelee, with heavy emphasis on traversal and combat. The premise is very simple: you play as a bunny with a giant mechanical arm, and are trying to rescue your friend from an oppressive force.

The arm is your main weapon and it allows you to perform all sorts of crazy wrestling moves. Combat is tight, responsive and the animations and audio-visual feedback are just insane. The second weapon I unlocked was a Drill, and that is even more over-the-top, as it allows you to perform tornadoes for huge AOE damage. There is also quite a nice amount of depth to be found, as you can switch freely between your weapons, to create stylish combos and toss enemies around, like in Devil May Cry (although the game does NOT have a style meter, that rewards you for switching up your tactics).

Outside of that, the usual metroidvania stuff is there, exploration, opening up new areas, backtracking, finding secrets/upgrades etc, I am sure you know the drill. What I commend the game for, is that the upgrades that you unlock in order to open up previously inaccessible areas are actually woven into your general gameplay, rather than just being one-off keys. I found so many metroidvanias underwhelming, because you would unlock an ability/tool that can only be used to open a door, and that's it. But not in F.I.S.T., as here you will learn to do a Sucker Punch, that allows you to break-through doors, as well as send enemies flying. Chef's Kiss

Some minor gripes include an over reliance on ranged enemies. Thankfully projectiles are generally slow, and you have enough movement tools to avoid damage, it's just a little repetitive to always have to prioritize the same enemies in every encounter. There was one boss which I also found to be a little frustrating, but I did manage to learn its patterns, and checkpoints tend to be generous enough (although I found no way to skip the intro cinematic to the boss, which became a little annoying on repeated attempts, even though it was less than 15 seconds long).

Should I have a major shift in my opinion as I play through the game, I will be updating my review. But for now, this is a heartfelt recommendation for any action game fan.

---see where this game landed on my Metroidvania tier list beneath this review!---

I enjoyed F.I.S.T. that much that I chose to 100% it.

It's my favourite metroidvania that uses the combo-combat you find in fighting games. Probably because I dislike those systems and F.I.S.T. allows you to get by without needing to really master much of it. It's also arguably the nicest looking metroidvania to use a 'somewhat' realistic 2.5D artstyle (Grime and The Mobius Machine being some other examples).

You end up with 3 different weapons that attack in UP/Down/Left/Right directions and have 3 buttons to attack (X, Y and B) that can be combined with different directions, though many attacks require you to train and unlock them. You can pretty much get through most of the game spamming X and using the 'press and hold X' attack with your starting weapon, though you will fare better if you can throw in a bit more than that.

F.I.S.T. is a high quality release that gets most of the basics of metroidvanias right while looking quite nice as well.

The map is for the most part what I want out of a metroidvania map. Areas in different colours, anything I missed marked. ..Except for the collectable Posters. Fortunately the one I was missing I could look up online and locate it that way. They are quite easy to walk past, plenty of other posters in the game are just background scenery which contributes to not always spotting them on your first pass.

The fast travel points are a bit spaced out which I can imagine irritating some players, but I found it fine, but then I don't mind a bit of a hike.

It rates as an A- for my personal enjoyment.

To get any higher than that it would've needed to:

1. Draw me into its world with great music like Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom or Astalon: Tears of the Earth. The music in the game is perfectly fine, it's just less my style and kind of quiet in the background, perhaps I should've increased its volume.

2. Provide more non-linearity. The game did have plenty of places to backtrack whenever I got a power, so I can't fault it too much, but I think everything had to occur in order (Of course, don't quote me future speedrunners!)

and 3. ..I suppose I never cared much about the bunny and his story. It was perfectly serviceable as a plot and world, but it didn't capture my imagination all that much.

Basically, F.I.S.T. does almost everything right for a metroidvania while at the same time just not appealing to some of my tastes to become an absolute favourite.

=====================
My Metroidvania Tier List (PC) (excluding Metroid & Castlevania titles)
=====================
-Not an objective list, purely how much I enjoyed the games-

S+ Aeterna Noctis |
S Tier (Truly Special) Astalon: Tears of the Earth | Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom | Hollow Knight |
S- Blasphemous 2 | Cathedral |

A+ Afterimage | The Last Faith |
A Tier (Amazing) Elderand | Ori and the Will of the Wisps | Doomblade^ |
A- Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights | Depths of Sanity | Environmental Station Alpha | F.I.S.T. |

B+ Blast Brigade | Haak | Biomorph | Turbo Kid |
B Tier (Really Enjoyed) Alwa’s Legacy | Steamworld Dig 2 | Islets | Blasphemous | After Death | Pronty^ | Mortal Manor* | Escape From Tethys | Outbuddies DX* | Monster Sanctuary | Elliot Quest | Rebel Transmute | Moonlight Pulse |
B- Haiku, the Robot | The Mobius Machine | Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown | Ultros |

C+ (Fun) Lone Fungus | Ghost Song | Death’s Gambit: Afterlife | Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night | Kunai | Kingdom Shell | Axiom Verge | Rabi-Ribi | TEVI | Treasure Adventure Game |
C Tier (More or Less Enjoyed) Flipwitch | Infernax | Plague of Yamorn* | Column on the Sea | Jrago* | MF-01 Aerostrike^ | Laika: Aged through Blood | Xanthiom Zero | Carrion^ | Chasm | Wuppo | The Mummy Demastered | Momodora 4 | Momodora 5 | Catmaze | Castle In The Clouds | Omega Strike | HunterX | HunterX: code name T | Aggelos | Midnight Castle Succubus | Sheepo |
C- (Meh) Ato | EldritchVania | Cookie Cutter | Elephantasy | Rusted Moss^ | Grime | Moonscars | The Messenger | Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth | Iconoclasts | MindSeize | Ebenezer and the Invisible World | Luna’s Light* | Tales of Kenzera: Zau |

D Tier (Didn’t enjoy enough to play through) Castle In The Darkness | Alwa’s Awakening | Nitrojet* | RIN: The Last Child* | Pharaoh Rebirth | Yoku’s Island Express | Guacamelee! 2 | Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse | Beholgar* | Phoenotopia: Awakening | Insect Adventure* | Clunky Hero* | Headlander | Strider | Minoria* | Souldiers | Bone Appetit | The Witch & the 66 Mushrooms | Transiruby | Destroy Space Aliens | La-Mulana | Rex Rocket | Guacamelee! | 8Doors | Timespinner | Gato Roboto | Super Panda Adventures | Omega Mouse Zero* | Ataraxie* |

E-Tier (Didn't like) Sheba: A New Dawn* | Ex Vitro | Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap | The Weird Dream | Ginsha | Dandara | Vernal Edge | Blaster Master Zero | Medusa* | Lost Ruins | Sundered | Salt & Sanctuary | Valdis Story | Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet | Touhou Luna Nights | Chronicles of Teddy | B.I.O.T.A. | Shadow Complex | Aquaria | Nyaruru Fishy Fight | Apotheon | Future Fragments | Gungirl 2 | Bad Pad* | Chakana* | Lootbox Lyfe | Slavania* | Angel’s Gear* | Fearmonium | Magicians & Looters* | Tres-Bashers* | Dust: An Elysian Tale |
===================
^ = Mouse & Keyboard are STRONGLY advised.
* = Very raw indie or contains some jank or lack of polish.
---------------------------------

An excellent metroidvania with great graphics, great english VA (especially for a Chinese game), and fun combat. Highly recommended.

Fantastic game. Beautifully optimised with Nvidia, DLSS, RT and Reflex. Runs really well and a very cool aesthetic and story.

The map is huge and there is alot of secrets within it. I cannot wait to dig more into it.

Great graphics, Excellent map. Loving the game at the moment and could be a contender to beat hollownight or dare I say it symphony of the Night.

SO good, and a steal at its modest price. Reminds me a lot of Strider (2014), Shadow Complex, Biomutant, and even a dash of Bionic Commando. Solid exploration and secret-hunting and super-satisfying combat mechanics with a cyberpunk-fu story and environment backdrop that echoes The Ascent and Ghost of a Tale. A *very* good addition to any Metroidvania fan's collection.

I'd give it maybe a 7/10. The story is lightweight and the dialogue is... off. But the gameplay is (for the most part) really polished. There's also a weird thing where if you navigate between areas too quickly then you can run around in empty space for a moment before it starts to load in.

Also, the difficulty spikes are insane. Even after I dropped it to Easy, some specific fights just wrecked me. I did manage to beat it, though.

I'd say it's worth it on sale if you want an interesting Metroidvania with furries.

This game is so challenging I can't finish it. There is a level of coordination that I can't master. The challenge is intense. The game is pretty intense. It's exactly how old games used to be...unbeatable. If you're looking for something to conquer add this to your queue.

I used to think that Chinese game studios only made gatcha games and rip-offs of better games made in other countries. Then I played FIST. What else can I say? It's a masterpiece among modern Metroidvanias, easily up there with the likes of Bloodstained, Guacamelee and Axiom Verge. The map is sprawling without being confusing, the combat system is in-depth while being easy to pick up, and the story is a compelling tale of corruption, betrayal and heroism in a dieselpunk world inspired by early 20th-century China. If you only play one Metroidvania this year - hell, if you only ever play one Chinese-made game in your entire LIFE - make it this one. You owe it to yourself.