FORCED

If you’re itching for a hardcore co-op action experience, then you’ve struck gold with FORCED.

Quotation forthcoming.

Forced is absolutely brutal, requiring constant team communication, clever problem solving and the mastery of combat skills. It can be an incredible amount of fun and is highly recommended for any group of gamer friends (casual gamers may get their asses kicked).

Authentically unique take on the hack 'n' slash genre that demands a romp with friends.

Forced is a gleeful return to form for cooperative play and a nuanced single-player adventure with trials you’ll be scratching your head over for days. It can become needlessly difficult and frustrating at times, but in the end you’ll feel all the better for sticking with it.

I can’t stress enough how much fun Forced is when you’ve got even just one other player. It’s a smartly designed cooperative action game with lots of depth, great variety in its challenges, and a great combat system that encourages teamwork over all else. It’s a shame then that online play, at least at the time of this review, is too laggy for me to recommend, and playing solo is oftentimes more frustrating than fun.

Modest visuals, weird camera behaviour (it follows all four characters at once, so you can’t get very far from other players) and connectivity troubles are pretty much the only shortcomings of this otherwise fantastic game. If BetaDwarf quickly fixes the bugs and starts churning out new challenges, this will be a must for all fans of cooperative games.

Great when played with a group of friends with a bunch of headsets, infernal when tackled randomly online, and only decent when alone, FORCED is an interesting and inspired cooperative experience, that will excite veteran players with its high challenge level.

Potential frustration aside, I enjoyed my time with Forced, and there’s nothing else quite like it on the market. Slightly tighter mechanics and a more solid feel to the combat would have been nice, but as a whole it definitely comes recommended —just be ready for the air to turn blue from time to time when it comes to multiplayer.

It's not quite deep enough, and the difficulty curve ramps up to an insane degree pretty quickly.

When it comes to RPGs, FORCED is a pretty good game in general. The way the game works is different than other games in the genre and the mechanics are fun to play with (especially the different weapons), but the game just feels more geared towards co-op play and doesn’t seem as much fun when going solo.

It has some faults, but for the most part you’ll have a good time fighting and thinking your way through this game’s many levels.

Developed by a team of Danish students, this action-RPG can offer great co-op gameplay if you can find the right company to help you through your adventures.

Forced is an honest cooperative RPG with some good ideas suitable for 3 or 4 players but a hard nut to crack for lone wolves.

It's a one-trick pony, but it's a good trick indeed.

Forced is a mix of hack'n slash and puzzles, and it does the job in a rather effective way. You will enjoy it more in coop mode (up to 4 players) than in solo mode, but beware of the frustration: the game is extremely difficult.

If you are in search of a fresh and compelling cooperative game, FORCED is the game for you. But if you are in search of a valid single player experience, look somewhere else.

“FORCED” feels like a game made for a very specific niche of players who really enjoy co-op games with a bit of a brain and have a thing for leaderboards.

This is not your run-of-the-mill hack&slay. The combination of the magic globe, special attack and environmental puzzles is worth a look – especially if you can look beyond the weak online-mode.

Sadly, the game isn't quote as compelling as its journey. [Feb 2014, p.91]

Interesting in co-op, practically unplayable in single player, Forced is an fair action game, than unfortunately lacks style and diversity.

It's a rough ride, but ultimately a fun one. FORCED is a twitchy thinker's punch-drunk romp that wears its scars with pride.

Forced is an enjoyable experience, more or less. The combat is fluid but feels a little too loose and unsatisfying, as though you’re not quite connecting that large axe with that demon’s face. The mark system is a brave attempt but kind of unnecessary at times, while Balfus is useful in single-player but potentially all over the place in co-op mode.