The Xbox One X is going to be the most powerful console ever made when it releases later this year. A huge part of the messaging around the hardware’s technical superiority has focused on the GPU. It is monster with 6 TFLOPs of processing power, far outdoing the original Xbox One, and the PS4 and PS4 Pro.

Developers in general have been fairly impressed by the new system, and the possibilities that it affords them- but of course, like with many others, there are a lot of developers waiting to determine the full extent of the GPU’s abilities before they pass final judgement on it.

We recently conducted an in-depth interview with Steffen Kabbelgaard, CEO of BetaDwarf, the developers of Minion Masters: Forced To Duel, Forced and its followup Forced: Showdown. When asked about his thoughts on Xbox One X’s 6TFLOPS GPU, Kabbelgaard stated that according to one of his programmers, the specifications are “nice” but the exact extent of its performance is yet to be determined.

“As one of the programmers told me, the 6 TFLOPs “are of course nice, but the exact performance has yet to be seen as with every GPU before its release”,” he said. “For our sakes, it’s allowing us to use physically based rendering comfortably, something we’ve been using before our engine supported it, so that’s perfect.”

So, does this mean that they will be targeting native 4K and 60 frames per second on the Xbox One X, given that they seem to be comfortable with the hardware?

“Given the strength of the GPU we definitely have those options, but as always with indie development things change quickly, so I can’t make any promises on what benchmarks we can reach,” he said.

Minion Masters: Forced To Duel will be an Xbox One X enhanced title. Stay tuned for our full interview with Steffen  in the coming days.

BetaDwarf’s PC indie hit Forced will be coming to Xbox One courtesy of Microsoft’s ID@Xbox development program.

BetaDwarf CEO Steffen Kabbelgaard stated that, “We’re super excited to be working with the newest console technology, and we are really happy to be able to let a whole new group of potential gladiators experience our game.”

The game funded through Kickstarter and a mix of personal loans – it went on to sell more than 150,000 copies on PC, Linux and Mac.

As for the Xbox One version, it “has been built from the ground up to support twin-stick controls, as well as online and local multiplayer, so the transition to console is completely natural. And with Xbox One, we won’t have to worry about shortage of computing power.”

Forced has no release date currently, despite the first wave of ID@Xbox titles arriving within the next few weeks. Kabbelgaard has stated that development will be faster for the Xbox One version though so stay tuned for a release date.

Forced, a co-op action role playing game by BetaDwarf Entertainment, an independent game developer comprised of six university students, has had its first content update and patches announced today.

The fixes to bugs include general housekeeping, such as addressing some of the connectivity issues that apparently were present in the game; in addition to those, however, the content update adds a new mode to the game, Last Man Standing, which is a new survival based mode as the name implies.

Forced saw a lot of early success, with over sixty thousand downloads; its features include smart and dynamic AI that actually tries to work against you by using its party members in clearly defined roles, four unique character classes, a unique combat system called the ‘Mark Combat System,’ and the ‘Spirit Mentor,’ an extra party member that all players must control in unison in order to try and get the upper hand on the enemy.

Opening up with a short motion comic-like sequence that details the story of the game, Forced makes a strong attempt to immerse you within its plot. Playing as a captured tribe member and raised from an early age to prove your worth as a gladiator, you play as a nameless slave chosen to compete in a series of trials. While this sounds strong and has the potential to be something amazing, it’s all to familiar and has been done to death. The games’ story may not win any awards but that’s not where its intentions lie.

"Where most games that involve puzzles often come with frustration and minor headaches due to repetition, Forced does not."

The story isn’t strong by any means and is not likely to be remembered. This may seem like a bad thing but fear not, the game itself doesn’t need it. It’s only purpose here is to give reasoning for playing, and I would have been just as pleased if it didn’t have one in the first place. Summing up the plot within its basic terms, it’s here to give you an arena based combat game so you can smash the guts of demons. The story isn’t meant to be taken seriously nor did I try too. The game’s high point lies in its gameplay, and this is obvious throughout the endless hours you may dedicate yourself to in experiencing it.

Not long after the game’s brief introduction you’re thrown into the life of your character, and are guided through a training-like tutorial that familiarizes you with the mechanics of the game. This is done by a character in the game named Balfus that takes the form of a spirit mentor. The humorous and likable nature of this character stops the game from feeling like a tutorial and more like an actual guide, or a partner. Although the game gives an option to skip the tutorial stage it would be wise to see it through as it introduces you to the concepts of the game.

Balfus also serves as a secondary item in the game that you control  to solve puzzles. It wouldn’t be fair to call these segments of the game puzzles, more like tactical objectives that require light thinking and a tight form of accuracy and control. Where most games that involve puzzles often come with frustration and minor headaches due to repetition, Forced does not. It integrates the puzzles so well into its level design and gameplay, and allows the whole idea of a gladiator based combat system to feel aggressive while remaining strategic.

"Taking the form of arena-based combat the purpose of each level in the game is simple, but regardless of its simpleness it doesn't fall flat at any point nor does it feel repetitive."

Its worth pointing out that this game has some stellar voice acting, and this carries on through all of the characters that speak out in the game. Particularly Balfus who has a human-like quality to him that’s easy to engage with. Balfus also acts as a hint system to aid you in trying to solve the arena puzzles for when you find your self stuck.

Taking the form of arena-based combat the purpose of each level in the game is simple, but regardless of its simpleness it doesn’t fall flat at any point nor does it feel repetitive. In each match you are given a set of objectives to complete which revolve around solving puzzles while being lumbered in combat. During all this madness different enemy types will enter the arena in a gladiator-like fashion, and will try their hardest to tear you in two. It’s both immersive and fun, and does well to keep you in the heat of action.

Level design is presented the form of halls each providing a choice of trials. Anyone of these trials can be entered so long as your character meets the required skill level. Skill level rises as you spend more time in the arenas and become more adapt to your weapon and class. While you play through the games arenas you are being timed and given certain challenges to aid in leveling up your character. Taking part in these trials allows you to earn crystals which are key in to getting your character to reach its full potential.

"Regardless of how much I favored a particular weapon, when you're under pressure by a horde of enemies and you are trying to complete a puzzle sometimes it's best to change class."

The more objectives completed within the level the more crystals are rewarded as a result. Although it’s not necessary to obtain every crystal it would smart in doing so if you wish to make your character become more powerful. As the game incorporates puzzle elements in its objectives, you must be wise with what class you choose beforehand. Different enemy types will have advantages as well as disadvantages to your chosen class, and this can become a pain when trying to complete the objective.

I found this out the hard way. Regardless of how much I favored a particular weapon, when you’re under pressure by a horde of enemies and you are trying to complete a puzzle sometimes it’s best to change class. But this is also the reason why the game emphasizes co-operative gameplay. Forced manages to blend challenge with gameplay in a way that other games would be wise to take note off. The effort placed into its gameplay is very noticeable and it’s here where the game wins its awards.

Forced deploys a very in-depth class customization that uses a perk system that can be set up for each match. Known as the preparation room you’re also able to adjust your character traits and change classes. During the match you can play with these perks also known as Marks and each one requires a cool down meter before being activated again. Despite the detailed customization options the game remains largely player-friendly and is more than easy enough to wrap your head around. Because of its easy going nature it’s accessible to just about anybody and those already familiar with these type of games will feel right at home.

"An obvious factor in the game is the visual theme and resemblance that it bares to League Of Legends. But this is nothing to be turned off by as Forced manages to house its own personality and its own style of play in doing so."

It’s a no-brainer that this game is best played with a team mate and the overwhelming number of enemies, that can appear on screen at once will prove this. Packed with variety of enemies all holding a resistance and a weakness to different character classes. Experimentation and getting to know all four classes is a must. Being strategic with your attacks and trying not to boxed of into a corner is something you would do well to learn as this is more likely to happen more times than you would expect.

Alongside the single-player and co-operative mode there’s a survival mode. This plays essentially as a series of enemy waves in combination with a time limit. While survival mode is a nice addition to keep things fresh, and serves as an alternative to the main story mode. It doesn’t do much to differentiate itself from the scenarios that take place within the story mode. Perhaps if this was elaborated more and gave options to those not available in the story mode, it would be more worthwhile.

There’s also the implementation of a scoring system that is visually represented through the thick of all the brawling. Numbers float from skulls of dead enemies indicating your points.  This goes hand in hand with its ranking system and co-operative centric style of play that the game influences you to take part in. Forced also gives you the option to stream to Twitch TV directly from its main menu. This contributes to its co-operative nature and will do well in building a fan base for itself. But as the game holds similarities to games such as League of Legends and Diablo 3, this may pose a challenge for it.

An obvious factor in the game is the visual theme and resemblance that it bares to League Of Legends. But this is nothing to be turned off by as Forced manages to house its own personality and its own style of play in doing so. Playable on a variety of PC configurations the requirements are scale-able across four different options. Appropriately labeled Ugly to Beautiful, these settings do not lie as the game looks fantastic and runs butter smooth at a solid and stable frame-rate.

"All in all, tactical combat for the fingers and a colourful treat for the eyes, Forced is out in full force."

Playing host to some very rich and detailed environments, Forced would fool you into thinking that it wasn’t a Kickstarter funded game. The level of polish is incredible thanks to its lovable art style that borders across cartoon fantasy and exaggerated realism. Being pushed to your limits in desert wastelands, lava flowing dungeons, and trap-ridden mazes, the game provides the player with a reasonable selection of environments to do battle in.

Key elements within the game such as ornaments keep the theme of the game on similar grounds across all of its arenas. Popping bold colours and a number of visual effects to compliment its gameplay, Forced is a force to be reckoned with. It may not be be breaking any new grounds on a technical level but nevertheless it’s gorgeous.

Supporting both a controller or a mouse and keyboard, its easy to say that a game like Forced is best played in a traditional fashion. Testing with both methods I found the controller to be more slow paced and awkward with certain weapons. Using a mouse and keyboard on the other hand serves up a satisfying method of control, as attacking enemies in the right direction is essentially crucial to survival. You click to attack in the direction you’re facing and are forced to be quick on your feet and keep moving.

All in all, tactical combat for the fingers and a colourful treat for the eyes, Forced is out in full force. Invest your hard earned money into it, but only if you are a fan of the genre.

This game was reviewed on the PC.

Denmark-based developers BetaDwarf have released a beta for their Kickstarter funded top-down game called Forced. It’s being compared to Diablo and Left 4 Dead by the devs themselves, and are calling on the fans of both series to try out their game.

The devs plan on raising $40,000, with $7,562 raised already and 37 days still to go.

The game is a traditional top-down co-op centric game, and the devs describe it as having ‘fast-paced combat, skill experimentation and game systems that promote teamwork.’

It’s among the top 3 per cent Steam Greenlight games right now, and BetaDwarf are confident that it will be greenlit soon enough.

Have you tried it yet? Tell us in the comments section below!