Forced is a top-down action adventure game from BetaDwarf, which stars you, the player, as a gladiator in a series of arena challenges.
Destined to fight your way through multiple arenas to seek redemption, you are accompanied by Balfus, a spirit who guides you on your journey. Each arena has 5 maps and a boss round. Each room has a theme associated with a boss and his appearance. The first boss, for example, is associated with classical Greek and Roman myth, whilst others are slightly more gothic, with sheets of metal jutting out of shards of rock for flesh.
Your character can take on four different personalities, each with its own attacks, styles, and talent trees. Each personality is represented by a weapon and corresponds with an element: Earth, Air, Fire or Water. Earth is based around swift, agile attacks, its weapon of choice being two melee weapons. Fire is associated with a large burning War-hammer, Water with an Ice Shield, and Air with a Bow that fires lightning bolts. Each element requires a slightly different approach in combat and features its own individual talent tree which you develop over time.
These talent trees are split downwards into two sections. On the left are actives abilities and on the right are passive ones. Passives include +3 damage on a fully charged attack or faster attack speed. Active abilities include blowing up enemies or putting a bolt of chain lightning through everything around you. The more levels you gain, the more options you have available. At max rank you have access to three actives and passives on your character for use in the arena. Whilst you have multiple talents on each ‘class,’ it is down to your personal choice and play style to pick your talents.
Balfus is your guide throughout this journey. He is not however, human. Balfus is your guide, but he only exists in Spirit form. His original purpose is to prepare all supplicants (you) for the challenges of the Arenas, but as the game progresses, you learn more about him and his character. He cannot be killed, but he cannot attack enemies either. This does not make him useless, however, as dotted around some of the arenas are healing wells and explosive items which Balfus can carry to either help you or to pass through the mechanics of the arena.
Gameplay is simple: complete the objectives in the arena. These can vary from merely killing enemies to destroying statues or spawn locations. The enemies are varied, some using ranged and others using melee attacks. You whittle away at enemies using RT, building up ‘marks’. These ‘Marks’ allow your chosen talents to deal high damage. The greater the number of marks, the more damage you do. Dotted in the arenas are walls, which act as obstacles to you and your companion, forcing you to find ways to move explosives around and allowing you to use choke points to ensnare your opponents.
The controls are very simple. LS is movement, whilst RS determines which direction you face. This personifies twin-stick shooters, and makes sense for a game of this type. RT is your basic attack (if you use the bow, you pull it back frequently to fire quick shots and build marks). LT and LB are the active talents that you have chosen. X controls Balfus. Outside of the basic menu controls, this is pretty much it. There is no variety in the controls.
The graphics are definitely not spectacular, yet the overall feel of the game is clean, with little frame drops. The game is operated from a top-down perspective, and whilst it is unblemished, you don’t tend to see any miniature details due to the top-down nature. Disappointing, yet understandable. The camera has an irritating feature. It tends to stick between your character and Balfus, sometimes kicking your character off screen whilst Balfus remains on the border.
Summary
Overall, Forced is an interesting concept. Designed to be a co-op game, it is easily playable solo. Whilst there are points where it is thoroughly enjoyable, the lack of more complex controls and the reliance on Balfus to bypass mechanics in the arena make it frustrating to play for long periods of time. Whilst each area is aesthetically different, each is essentially the same model under a different skin. The game is certainly enjoyable, but on a personal level has little replayability. Combat is OK, but runs out of enjoyment quickly, as you spend time avoiding enemies and their attacks, plus any environmental hazards.
Ben was a regular ICXM contributor between 2014–2017, publishing 45 articles across game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news. Their work focused on hands-on reviews, platform commentary, and breaking-news reporting during the Xbox One X launch year and Microsoft’s wider Play Anywhere / UWP gaming initiative.