There have been a lot of indie games experimenting with genres lately, and I have been loving the innovation coming from it. While not as extreme as mashing together an ARPG with a card game, like in Hand of Fate 2, Full Metal Furies does combine aspects of different genres to create a distinct creature. On the surface, Full Metal Furies takes the traditional side-scrolling brawler genre and updates it with RPG and class-based teamwork elements. However, there is something more lurking beneath the surface: a mystery waiting to be solved.

In Full Metal Furies, you play as the titular Furies, a group of female warriors out to save the world. The world has been ravaged by the never-ending war between several different Titans. These god-like creatures pay no mind for the human race or the destruction they cause as they fight each other. How do we solve this problem? Well, if all the Titans are defeated they won’t be able to wage war anymore. So, the Furies set out to do just that, smashing and shooting their way through the Titans’ armies on the way to topple the bosses themselves.

Full Metal Furies begins with a tutorial mission that is well needed. The combat has a lot of depth and I found it helpful to be eased into the gameplay mechanics. Every one of the Furies has the same basic actions. There is a standard attack, a power attack, a defense move (block, dodge, roll, etc.), and a special. All except the standard attack have a cool-down associated with them. This means you cannot just spam your specials or even your evade. Although the basic set-up is the same for each of the Furies, they all play very differently, which is where the depth of the combat begins.

There are four Furies in total, each with their own class: Triss is a Tank, Alex is a Fighter, Erin is an Engineer, and Meg is a Sniper. Erin can create a turret to deal damage over time, while Meg does high damage but has long reload times. They all feel distinct and each has a complete and intricate moveset to master. I never found myself favoring one over the other; each Fury balances out the team nicely and is fun to play.

Having a shield in this mess of bullets was a good choice.

On top of the Furies’ movesets being unique, they each have their own upgrade tree and equipment. These mechanics provide you with choices which can change up each characters playstyle. For example, Meg’s standard evade is a grappling hook that will pull her out of harm’s way. A piece of equipment will swap this with a protective barrier, so she won’t have to relocate in order to avoid damage. However, as part of her skill tree, you can upgrade her grappling hook to cause damage or have a low cooldown. Which option better suits your playstyle? Which better suits the encounter you’re trying to beat? Every Fury has multiple skills and qualities like this.

There are tons of these types of decisions to make for each of the Furies. Keeping a balanced team and understanding each of the team member’s abilities and styles is key to success. It’s especially important when the game introduces shields for enemies. These shields are color-coded to a specific Fury and only that Fury can deplete the shield. Not to worry though, there is a color-blind mode included to help players with this feature! Not only will having a balanced team help you in individual fights, but it helps over the long run, too. Equipment gets upgraded with use, providing permanent buffs and advantages that apply across your save. Since upgraded equipment is advantageous you’re forced to try new setups and playstyles.



My sniper can only hurt two of the three enemies here; I’ll need to switch to the tank to attack the one with the blue shield.

The game has two levels of strategy the player needs to work on. You need to make sure you have the right setup before going into battle – equipment, skill tree, and character selection – and you need to quickly react and strategize in the heat of battle – managing cooldowns and shields. This is what sets Full Metal Furies apart from traditional brawlers and causes it to really shine. It can be daunting towards the beginning, but once I was able to get the hang of it, these mechanics felt natural. I loved switching up Furies and their playstyles and learning new tactics to plow through the enemy forces. I can’t wait for the game to release so I can play online and experience this with other people.

It seems like this game was meant to be played in co-op. All of the Furies complement each other and having a full team can be an amazing experience, especially when everyone plays their class well. To promote this, Full Metal Furies allows for local, online, and wireless co-op. It also supports any controller configuration. That being said, the game can be played single-player and it doesn’t suffer for it. I spent most of my time playing by myself and had a blast. In single-player, you choose two Furies at a time and you can easily switch between them on the fly in the middle of combat. Being able to focus on one character and fully play your role in co-op is great, but in some ways, I actually preferred the complexity of managing two characters at the same time.

The Furies are ready to kick some Titan butt!

While the combat is the meat of Full Metal Furies, there is a puzzle aspect to the game as well. You’ll find monoliths throughout the world with cryptic clues on where to find more. I also came across a giant machine in the clouds that required me to input runes in a specific order. Why is this there? How do I learn the correct order of the runes? What will happen when I do? These are questions I’m still trying to figure out. I feel there is so much more to discover in Full Metal Furies, and I’ve only scratched the surface. It’s like there is an entire other game included and I’m excited to unravel more of this mystery.

Guess I need to go look for a dead tree that isn’t there and press a dead button? What?

The writing also deserves to be mentioned. Aside from the occasional joke that falls flat, the dialogue is well written. Each of the characters not only has their own playstyle, but their own unique personality as well. The story is told through comic book-esque cutscenes, where the Furies chime in and add flavor. For example, Erin is a bit of a nerd and provides interesting factoids throughout the game. The story and the character building make this more than just a “go here, kill that” type of game. I found myself invested in the story.

Yup, this logic checks out. Let’s just fight, bro.

Full Metal Furies has been previously released on PS4 and PC, but unfortunately failed to find an audience. From what I’ve read, the devs wanted to protect the mystery around the puzzle aspect of the game and therefore chose to keep advertising and press coverage minimal. As a result, few people even knew about the game. I am a huge fan of Rogue Legacy and was shocked to find out a new game from Cellar Door Games had been released. Full Metal Furies is a fantastic game and a worthy addition to their lineup. More people need to experience this game. With this release on Switch, I truly hope it finds the audience it deserves.

As always, thanks for reading and let me know what you think in the comments! Come read about my complaints about the eShop or watch our latest video review on SINNER. If you want to keep seeing ad-free content like this, please consider donating via Ko-Fi and Patreon. As volunteers, we appreciate all the support! Also, come find us on Discord, Twitter, and our subreddit!

