Sunrise Parabellum Forestrike Review

I just finished Forestrike after about 23 hours. I completed a normal run with every school and playstyle. I skipped the reality runs since it didn't interest me but I will get to that later. I had been curious about the game since late 2025. The premise caught my eye right away and so did the art. Now that I'm done with it, I wanted to share what I really liked and what didn't in this spoil free review, and hopefully help you decide if this is your kind of game or not ^^ ***First impressions : art, mood and sound*** Forestrike's pixel art is charming. Minimalist, but very expressive. Animations are clean and they do a lot with very little. The art direction is strong too. Colors feel carefully chosen, and the whole game carries this feeling of melancholy, solitude and quiet nostalgia. About the character design, I found it surprisingly memorable. During dialogues, characters are shown through static illustrations but they feel alive anyway. The drawings are well colored, full of personality and surprisingly expressive for something that doesn't move. The soundtrack fits perfectly. Calm and meditative when things slow down, then intense and punchy during fights. Same goes to sound design which is worth taking a second to mention: Audio cues help you read enemy attacks, feel impacts, and even notice the environment breaking around you. The dynamic shift in sound between foresight mode and real combat is subtle, but appreciated. ***A combat system built like a puzzle*** At its core, Forestrike is less an action game and more a strategic puzzle game with action execution layered on top. Every fight works the same way = You enter an encounter, observe enemies, then replay the fight in your character's head using the foresight system. You test things. You fail. You adjust. Once you think you cracked the puzzle, you replay it but "for real" for a last time. That final run has no safety net. If you die, the run is over. In other words, it's a loop that challenges both your ability to think and your ability to execute. You don't just need a plan but you need to perform it cleanly as well. The combat mechanics themselves are deep. You start with basic moves, then slowly unlock techniques. Those techniques interact in a lot of interesting ways. There is also room for creativity and experimentation that can make two players having the same techniques, approach a same fight completely differently. Some encounters demand very specific solutions though. Sometimes even pixel perfect ones, especially if you are low on health where any hit can be fatal. Memorization and precision matter a lot. But man when you finally win against a tough fight, it really feels earned. Not lucky. Earned ! ***Schools, masters and replay value*** Forestrike really shines through its different schools. Each one pushes you to rethink how you approach combat. They keep the game fresh, even when the level structure stays familiar. Every master has a philosophy, a personality and a playstyle that matches who they are. Most schools feel balanced. One is noticeably harder due to a lack of defensive tools. One is very strong (maybe a bit broken but also very fun). One just feels incredibly cool and stylish to play. I honestly recommend completing the schools in the order suggested by the game. At some point, the difficulty spikes hard. Precision becomes unforgiving and one mistake can cost you everything. But if you push through that wall, things start to click. And more importantly, they become fun again. Despite how punishing the game can be, I found it fair to be honnest. You always know who is attacking. Enemy patterns are readable. You have tools to attack, defend, counter, and even use enemies against each other. When you lose, it's usually because of a misplay. Pressure makes you rush. Stress gets to you when you know death means restarting the run (unless you're holding one of the very rare revives). Progress comes from getting better, and that is a really satisfying feeling. Some fights felt impossible at first. But every time, I found a solution. Most encounters can be cleared without losing a single hit point if you really think things through. The only exception was one fight, very late into my playtime, where losing one HP felt unavoidable (luckily I was usually at full health) ***Level design, game structure and repetition*** I think the level and game design do their job well. Encounters are handcrafted puzzles where the goal isn't just to win, but to win cleanly (and with style if you feel like it). You find the right sequence, then you train yourself to execute it perfectly. At the same time, that is where tension comes from = One wrong input -- too early or too late, and things can spiral out of control. A single mistake can snowball into a messy death you weren't prepared for. And let me tell you it can be veeeery frustrating, especially when you were having a great run with strong technique combinations. Levels do repeat in structure after a while. Enemy placement doesn't change much between runs. What changes is how you deal with them. Different schools and unlocked techniques keep things interesting, even when you recognize the layout. /!\ Still, repetition is there. Cutscenes and dialogues repeat every time you finish a run, and that got old fast. The core loop is strong and compelling at first, but the meta loop is weaker. Motivation to keep reaching the end can fade. Personally, the masters themselves and their distinctive playstyles were interesting enough to keep me going. ***Characters and story*** I really enjoyed the introduction of each master and how their personal arcs conclude. I found them well written, and being your companions during your runs makes them memorable. Their personality and philosophy also feel coherent with their respective school and playstyle. The story is serviceable. Calm, a bit spiritual even. And even though its beats stay the same, reliving them with different masters was interesting. Their perspectives change the tone. Small story elements and characters are introduced gradually across runs, which helps keep things engaging. There's also a nice coherence between gameplay, story, and the foresight mechanic. Everything feels aligned around the same idea which I really appreciated. ***Reality runs and some rough edges*** /!\ Reality runs are where things get tricky. The game removes the very mechanic it has been teaching you to rely on.: No foresight, no safety net. You are expected to fully know enemy behavior, systems and timing, with a bit of RNG. It's hard. Very hard. I don't think I'm the target audience for this mode and that's fine I guess. /!\ HOWEVER, what bothered me more is that the true ending is locked behind the reality runs. It contradicts the core philosophy of the game and turns the experience into something closer to a hardcore roguelike, with more reliance on RNG and that didn't sit right with me. /!\ There are also technical issues. Combat feels good but it has the potential to feel much better. Feedback on attacks, blocks, and defense is sometimes lacking in my opinion. And occasional stutters and slowdowns hurt the flow. **_Conclusion_** To me, Forestrike feels like a difficult idea to pull off and I think the studio mostly succeeded. It blends tight combat, smart level design and a unique foresight system into something that feels thoughtful and demanding. It's obvious this game is not for everyone since it can be repetitive and frustrating, and it asks a lot from the player. But if you enjoy games that reward patience, planning and mastery, I believe there is something special here. *Since 2026, I stopped using numerical scores because I find them meaningless and overly reductive. While I may still assign a score for myself as an internal reference, it isn't meant for readers. Instead, I focus on experience based verdicts: Is a game worth avoiding, cautiously approaching, passing time with or genuinely recommending? My goal isn't to try being objective, but to be honest about how a game feels to play. As for **Forestrike**, it's a game **_I recommend_** for sure. I also took a look at the studio's other work and I'm genuinely interested in trying *Olija*. Also, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what they do next. ~ Thank you for reading <3