FIST is a great game, but I'm hesitant to call it a good Metroidvania.

Each area the game takes you through is fairly linear, and you'll only revisit them if you want to get collectibles or data disks (used to unlock some moves). Otherwise you never need to return. There's a few areas midway through the game you can 100% complete on your first pass.

I find the combat system enjoyable, but I question some design decisions. It's a gambit every time you go into to attack, because you don't know if you'll interrupt your opponents move or not. Many attacks from enemies will just super armor their way through and hit you anyway.

You start with a dash, but not really a dodge. You can't dash through enemies until you get a VERY late game upgrade, which personally made combat flow much better not being body blocked by enemies. You aren't given a block / parry ability until about halfway through either. I've played games with a similar parry mechanic, so it wasn't too out of left field for me to figure out, but it does NOT like analog sticks. I had to swap my movement to the D-Pad on my Logitech F310. From there parrying was actually pretty easy. But just like with enemies super armoring through attacks, sometimes parrying will stun the enemy completely, and other times it will just negate damage. Early on you also get a charge up punch which is shown that it can be used as a counter move against a bosses rocket punch, but it's never utilized again after that.

Storyline wise it's better than most Metroidvanias. My only complaint is that if you press the confirm button too soon in a conversation where action is happening, then you'll go from talking to punching without seeing what triggered it in between.

Eventually you get a hang of the combat and find what combos work well for you and steamroll most enemies. Some of the bosses can be challenging, but not anything too rough.

FIST is a great game, but I'm hesitant to call it a good Metroidvania. Each area the game takes you through is fairly linear, and you'll only revisit them if you want to get collectibles or data disks (used to unlock some moves). Otherwise you never need to return. There's a few areas midway through the game you can 100% complete on your first pass. I find the combat system enjoyable, but I question some design decisions. It's a gambit every time you go into to attack, because you don't know if you'll interrupt your opponents move or not. Many attacks from enemies will just super armor their way through and hit you anyway. You start with a dash, but not really a dodge. You can't dash through enemies until you get a VERY late game upgrade, which personally made combat flow much better not being body blocked by enemies. You aren't given a block / parry ability until about halfway through either. I've played games with a similar parry mechanic, so it wasn't too out of left field for me to figure out, but it does NOT like analog sticks. I had to swap my movement to the D-Pad on my Logitech F310. From there parrying was actually pretty easy. But just like with enemies super armoring through attacks, sometimes parrying will stun the enemy completely, and other times it will just negate damage. Early on you also get a charge up punch which is shown that it can be used as a counter move against a bosses rocket punch, but it's never utilized again after that. Storyline wise it's better than most Metroidvanias. My only complaint is that if you press the confirm button too soon in a conversation where action is happening, then you'll go from talking to punching without seeing what triggered it in between. Eventually you get a hang of the combat and find what combos work well for you and steamroll most enemies. Some of the bosses can be challenging, but not anything too rough.