This game will forever linger in the back of my mind whenever I think about games in general, because it really does offer a very peculiar experience. In theory, it entails every game genre that I like: boomer shooter (movement shooter?), immersive sim, martial arts mechanics. I liked it, although there are many negatives that might hold you back from enjoying it, even if that seems like the stuff you would play.
First of all, it’s unfinished, early access, and only God knows when it will be finished. The dev went to prison, as far as I’m aware the sentence is about 3-4 years. Currently, it has 2 tutorial/spiritual plane levels, 2 actual missions, and 1 neutral, generally no-combat city type location where you mostly talk with NPCs. That’s if I remember everything correctly – I took a long break midway through before coming back to finish it. It also has an arena mode. So don’t expect a ton of playtime – not more than mine at the time of this review – or any kind of satisfying ending.
Aesthetics-wise, it also gives vibes of things that I have very fond memories of: environments, in-world politics (no, I’m not talking about commentary about the real world, I’m talking lore-wise), species, mystical elements. It all reminds me of old Star Wars games, like Jedi Knight/Academy, KOTOR, or other sci-fi games like Prey (2006), Unreal Tournament, Deus Ex… the good stuff. The author really cared about immersion; the game has a ton of details in its minigames and subtle, and sometimes not very subtle, lore all over the world. I would say sometimes they go too far with it. For example, the game makes us fill out documents and a registration form – I had to type the correct name of the character, date of birth, etc., and answer a ton of questions (no, they do not affect your stats or anything). At that moment, it felt like it was wasting my time. And another time, we went to the café to meet with a certain somebody; that certain somebody was late, and we were forced to go outside and “wait” (the next sequence triggers after we talk with any character). I understand the intent, but I think not appreciating the player’s time is one of the biggest banes of modern gaming.
When it comes to gameplay, it aims to blend a bunch of elements and somewhat pulls it off, but as a small indie project, it ends up with plenty of rough edges. For example, this game has parkour mechanics, and you can basically cheese the whole game with it by finding ways to jump over entire areas. There are many spots on the maps where you can endlessly jump till the ceiling (it takes very little effort); there are a set of mechanics, like wall jumps, weird double-jumply dashes, etc., that allow you to basically jump higher and higher. It is not a polished experience. Without all the elaborate parkour tricks, the basic movement feels very quake-y; but during shootouts, with enemies' aim being quick and their damage high, it reminds me of Blood. I like Blood.
There is a melee combat system, akin to more fighting-focused games, but I don’t feel like covering it right now.
It also has stealth mechanics that you can cheese through. In the 1st mission, that is, but in the 2nd, the dev decided to add a very annoying mechanic where, if you want to clear the area with stealth, you have to do it quickly; otherwise, a new patrol will come in place of the old one. I wouldn’t mind it if the timer wasn’t so short from the get-go; the stealth instantly became very difficult before I had the time to get used to it and master the system. You can still cheese it, btw — if you kill somebody and leave the area, a new enemy won’t come in their place. Yeah, the game is very buggy. Sometimes, I don’t even understand if there’s a bug or if the dev wanted me to perform something insane with the game mechanics. For example, right in the end, there is a section where you have to dodge the lasers Mission Impossible style (but they do damage). I legitimately didn’t find a way to not take the damage in the last phase; I don’t know how to dodge it. It’s not something you’d expect from a game, you know? In the very next room, there is a lifting magnet above the vehicle that I couldn’t climb onto (it’s needed) without stacking shelves on top of each other and climbing them. And I still don’t know if it’s a bug and the magnet is supposed to be lower, because when I reloaded the save, the magnet was basically inside the car (I only needed the chain holding the magnet, so I could go on no problem). But it felt very immersive when I was stacking steel racks, like it’s not scripted; I myself find solutions to the problems this world presents me with, and that feeling is persistent throughout the game.
The game isn’t too woke. By woke, I mean cultural Marxism, just so you know. The author is likely a lefty, but the game isn’t preaching stuff at you. Although, the “female protagonist” looks like a man. I don’t know if they tried to portray a buff woman, or if it’s the usual uglification of women, but judging by her face, I’d rather think the latter. Also, despite all the old games I mentioned that it reminded me of, the dialogue here gives off a slightly 'modern' Reddit/Twitter style. It's not too bad, but it's perceptible.
Fortune's Run is a very atmospheric mix of boomer shooter and immersive sim, but it's held back by bugs, unpolished mechanics, and its incomplete state – making it a niche recommendation for patient players who enjoy experimental indies over polish.
