Foregone, developed and published by Big Blue Bubble, is a 2D action-platformer that mixes the tight combat of metroidvanias with the structure of a loot-driven progression system. It’s a game that wears its influences openly—echoes of titles like Dead Cells, Castlevania, and even Diablo ripple throughout its design—but it forges its own identity through hand-crafted level design, a grounded tone, and a sense of fluidity that prioritizes precision and pace. What sets Foregone apart from many of its peers is its balance between accessibility and complexity. It never overwhelms the player with dense mechanics or punishing difficulty but instead focuses on delivering a consistently engaging rhythm of combat, exploration, and reward. The result is a game that feels familiar but refined, a deliberate attempt to craft a more structured and story-oriented take on the fast, rogue-lite formula. The game casts the player as an Arbiter, an elite warrior tasked with defending the crumbling city of Calagan from a mysterious force known as the Harrow. This setup serves as a backdrop for what is primarily a journey through ruins, laboratories, forests, and fortresses—each region offering glimpses of a civilization that has been hollowed out by corruption. The story itself unfolds through fragments of logs, brief voiceover monologues, and environmental cues rather than lengthy exposition. It’s a minimalist approach that lets the world speak for itself. The Arbiter’s mission feels lonely and burdened, as though she’s fighting against inevitability as much as against her enemies. While the narrative isn’t particularly complex, it carries an undercurrent of melancholy that adds texture to the action. It’s not the story that drives the experience, but it provides just enough weight to give the combat and exploration a sense of purpose. Visually, Foregone is a stunning display of modern pixel art craftsmanship. Every background is alive with motion—clouds drift, rain falls, machines hum, and ruins decay in slow, atmospheric detail. The lighting effects are particularly impressive, layering soft glows, shadows, and particles over the environments in ways that create depth and dimension. The Arbiter herself moves with remarkable grace, her animations flowing seamlessly between attacks, dodges, and jumps. There’s a tactile sharpness to the visuals that reinforces the feeling of precision in combat; every swing, bullet, and explosion carries visual clarity. The art direction avoids over-saturation or chaos, instead relying on a cool, moody palette that fits the game’s tone of desolation and resolve. It’s one of those games that can stop you mid-combat just to admire how its world looks in motion—a reminder that good 2D design can still rival fully 3D productions in visual storytelling. The heart of Foregone lies in its combat system. It combines melee and ranged mechanics in a way that constantly pushes the player to stay in motion. The Arbiter can carry both weapon types simultaneously—a sword paired with a bow, for example—and the flow between them is designed to feel seamless. Ammunition for ranged weapons is regenerated through melee attacks, which creates a natural rhythm of alternating between close and distant combat. Each weapon class has its own timing, reach, and combos, from swift daggers and dual blades to slower but more devastating hammers and greatswords. The responsiveness of movement and attack inputs makes every encounter feel deliberate, even during chaotic battles. Enemies telegraph their attacks clearly, allowing the player to react with quick dodges or precise counters. The game rewards aggression balanced with awareness—you can’t simply button mash your way to victory, but neither does it punish you excessively for small mistakes. The combat strikes a satisfying middle ground between skill-based precision and approachable flow. Complementing the combat is the game’s progression system, which borrows from loot-driven RPGs. Enemies drop weapons, armor, and accessories of varying rarity, each with different stat bonuses or passive abilities. The loot comes frequently, ensuring a constant sense of reward, but it also creates a subtle tension: deciding whether to chase better numbers or stick with a weapon that feels comfortable in play. The Arbiter can enhance or dismantle items at specific checkpoints, using collected materials to improve stats or craft new gear. Beyond equipment, there’s a skill tree that unlocks new abilities, from energy blasts and healing fields to more aggressive dashes or area attacks. The system isn’t overly complex, but it offers enough customization to tailor your playstyle. What makes it work so well is that it never bogs the player down with excess—progression feels like a reward for mastery rather than a grind for resources. The level design in Foregone is distinctly hand-crafted rather than procedurally generated, setting it apart from many modern platformers. Each area is built with intentional flow, mixing combat arenas, traversal challenges, and secret detours that reward exploration. While the world is segmented into stages rather than a single interconnected map, the pacing between linear progression and optional discovery feels well-judged. There’s a genuine sense of advancement as you move from one biome to another, encountering new enemies and environmental mechanics. Boss battles serve as climactic tests of both reflexes and endurance, often demanding mastery of movement and timing rather than brute force. These fights are among the game’s highlights—tough but fair, visually striking, and punctuated by the game’s excellent music, which blends somber tones with driving electronic beats that echo the tension of combat. Despite its many strengths, Foregone has limitations that hold it back from greatness. The story, while serviceable, never develops beyond its initial premise. Characters remain underdeveloped, and the Arbiter’s personal arc feels more implied than realized. Some of the game’s progression systems can also feel superficial after a few hours; while loot drops frequently, the differences between gear often amount to incremental stat changes rather than meaningful gameplay shifts. Enemy variety is solid early on but thins toward the later sections, with reskinned or behaviorally similar foes reappearing across multiple biomes. Additionally, while the combat feels responsive, certain platforming elements—particularly sliding and double-jumping through hazards—can feel slightly inconsistent, breaking the game’s otherwise fluid motion. These issues don’t ruin the experience but remind the player that Foregone is a tightly constructed game operating within modest ambitions. Nevertheless, the overall experience of Foregone remains deeply satisfying. It captures the joy of fast-paced, skill-based combat within a beautifully realized world while maintaining accessibility that makes it approachable to both casual and dedicated players. It may not innovate on the metroidvania formula in dramatic ways, but it refines it, polishing familiar systems into a cohesive, enjoyable package. Its blend of deliberate pacing, handcrafted design, and high production value make it one of the more underrated titles in the genre. For players who crave a balance of elegance, challenge, and visual artistry in a side-scrolling action game, Foregone delivers an experience that feels both classic and contemporary—a testament to how far tight design and visual excellence can carry a game, even without reinventing the wheel. Rating: 8/10
Expand the review