Fist of Awesome is a game about punching bears that Scottish designer Nicoll Hunt designed in his spare room in lieu of a proper Valentine’s present for his girlfriend. Two and a half years later, it’s sped through Valve accelerated Steam Greenlight program in exactly a week and now has its own Steam store page and everything.
Trailers are typically filled with light and noise and quite confusing for it. If only they all ended with useful three-line summaries like Fist of Awesome’s does:
Fist of Awesome casts players as a wayward lumberjack fighting his way through hordes of bears who’ve learned to walk on their hind legs (all the better for punching with). It plays more or less like Streets of Rage: enemies seem to trundle onto the screen slowly enough that you can take them out one-by-one and feel like Jackie Chan in checks.
“THANK YOU for voting Fist of Awesome through Greenlight in an ridiculously speedy 7 days!,” wrote Hunt on Steam. “That was so far beyond my wildest hopes that I’m still not entirely convinced I’m not dreaming. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You’re all lovely.”
In his dark non-indie past, Hunt worked on the Colin McCrae series and APB’s character customisation system – by all accounts the best thing about it. I’d encourage you to play his Hard Lines on mobile phones, as it’s the best contemporary remake of Snake around.
Find Fist of Awesome on Steam for less than a fiver. It features “okay-ish” pixel graphics and “an impawsible number of bear-themed puns”. You’re all pun fans, right? You must be: you’re still here.