Do you like card games but are you bored that they are all the same? Are you passionate about adventures where you make your own decisions? Then I have the ideal game for you: Foretales, developed by Alkemi.
forest It is available for PC and Nintendo Switch
Another story of saving the world, but…
The days of my life would not be enough to count the number of titles I played where my mission was to save the world from some entity that wanted to end it. And let’s not add to this list those that I never had the opportunity to try…
This premise is a repeated figure in the world of video games, so much so that, at this point in the game, all the similar titles end up being.
In forest we put ourselves in the feathers of Volepain, a bird that dedicates his life to stealing. After recovering the lyre from a mysterious client during one of his “expeditions”, our beloved bird begins to have terrible visions where everything is plunged into chaos. He soon understands that the future of the world is in his hands, and he has very few turns to save it!
Yes ok forest part of an otherwise clichéd premise, the reality is that it manages to escape more than effectively from all those commonplaces. Despite not innovating in this area, it does not feel like it was just another story from the heap. On the contrary, the story is quite attractive.
This is mainly due to two points: time and decision making. Each vision has a number of turns before it is finally fulfilled. This is where decision-making comes in: we can have, for example, two prophecies soon to be fulfilled; It will be up to us to choose which defeat to accept – or which way to go, if we want to be more optimistic.
Much more than a card game
During the first few minutes forest It can feel a bit overwhelming, especially for those who are not used to this type of titles. There is a lot of information that is shown on the screen and it seems even more the information that is thrown at us.
However, it is intuitive enough and friendly enough in terms of user experience to always make us feel accompanied. From the start, at the top of the board we will have an icon that we can always access when we don’t know where to go. The cards will also be highlighted with their possible combinations just by moving the mouse over them.
The board in question is made up of multiple zones. At the bottom we will find our characters, to their right the inventory cards (gold, food, fame, infamy) and to their left the skill cards. In the center will be the general cards that will allow us, depending on how we interact with them, to advance in the story. We can also access the general deck to see what cards will come next
On the sides we have two types of cards: rest and combat. Resting will allow us to recover ability cards, although if we don’t give anything in return (such as gold or food) it will add more enemies to the combat cards.
And yes, you can not miss the combat. Although pigeonholing forest in a card game it would be not doing it justice, in its bases it does not cease to be. And, like any card game, we have to fight.
If we talk about combat in its purest form, it is not at all different from any other title: our characters have x amount of attack points, x health and can use other cards that do more damage. Ditto with the enemy cards.
However, forest He doesn’t sum up his combat to just those steps. Do you remember the letters located in the lower right? Well, we can use gold, food, fame, etc, to bribe the group of enemies in front of us. In this way, we will be able to get around them all without spilling a single drop of blood.
forest manages to take the basics of card games and exploit it to the fullest, adding his stamp. The same thing happens with his “narrative adventure” side: he takes the basis of this type of titles and adds an extra plus. The Alkemi developers managed to combine these genres, add little quirks to them, and thus give us a completely renewed product.
The feeling of being in a tavern?
forest It hits full from the visual. On more than one occasion I stood admiring the board and everything on it. Its background is classic: the old and trustworthy wood, an element that does not make us feel that we are playing on an unkempt table in a tavern. To this is added the play of light and shadow that changes little by little depending on the area in which we find ourselves.
And the cards, what about the cards!? Yes forest If it were a physical game, I would run out and buy it just to get the deck. They are simple, but careful; each card seems to speak for itself. A visual section full of details and scenarios that know how to accompany everything that history tells us.
With Travis Willingham as narrator
The soundtrack knows how to accompany the various situations that are presented to us, although it does not really stand out in a way that is really striking.
However, at this point there is something (or someone, rather) that takes all the applause: the narrator. Travis Willingham, who gave his voice to numerous animated characters (including several from the Marvel Universe), is the one who narrates this adventure for us. Its tonality, its pauses, its forms; everything fits perfectly. His contribution really helps a lot to enhance the overall story.
System Requirements
MINIMUM: OS: Windows 10 – Processor: 2GHz – Memory: 4 GB RAM – Graphics: DirectX 9 compliant card – DirectX: Version 9.0 – Storage: 2 GB available space
RECOMMENDED: OS: Windows 10 – Processor: 3Ghz – Memory: 6 GB of RAM – Graphics: DirectX 9 compliant card – DirectX: Version 9.0 – Storage: 2 GB of available space