We got the chance to meet up with Raw Fury to preview their upcoming game Friends vs Friends.
Before going to our meeting I had actually not heard of Friends vs Friends but had heard of Raw Fury due to their other projects. As a fan of first-person shooters, their concept of a deck builder first-person shooter was intriguing. Due to running behind, we sat back and watched others enjoy the game before trying it out ourselves.
Friends vs Friends is a card battle or deck-building 1st person shooter that has players competing against one another. Each round, players draw a set amount of cards and can use them at any point during the round. Any remaining cards will be retained and additional cards will be drawn in future rounds. Each match is played using a best of five system with the player reaching three round wins, claiming victory.
Friends vs Friends Hands-on
During our time with Friends vs Friends, we went the distance with the final match deciding who would win. Before you can find out who won, let us talk about the actual mechanics of the game. Each round players draw a set number of cards that can be activated at any point.
These cards can give the player a weapon, create an automated turret, increase the player’s health, increase the player’s size, shrink their head, or even nuke the map. When going into combat you are never certain what your opponent’s deck might have; this makes it so that you have to be able to adjust to each combat scenario while playing your best style.
During our 1st round, we shrunk our head while pulling out a katana to fight against the enemy. Are opponent countered by using an assault rifle and becoming large; this increase in size gave him additional health, but luckily we were able to cut him down to size.
In the 2nd round of the fight, we drew the submachine gun card and equipped it with vampiric bullets; these bullets allowed us to heal whenever we hit our opponent. The 2nd round was a bit of a slaughter since the opposing player did not draw any of the cards they desired.
In the 3rd round, we did not draw a weapon; instead, we drew an invisibility and substitution perk as well as poison ammo but without a main weapon, we chose to not use this card.
So with just a pistol equipped, we attempted to shoot our enemy but he decided to pull out a turret and chased us down with a rocket launcher firing at us until we were dead.
In the fourth round, our opponent utilized the katana that they had equipped effectively. Despite having an assault rifle, he was able to block our attacks effectively and came close to killing us. On the verge of death, we panicked activating the tactical nuke card.
With a new setting, we came close to taking down our opponent but he had a few final tricks up his sleeve. Right as we were about to kill him with a headshot, he activated the shrunken head card and the substitution card, disappearing. During that time, he managed to sneak behind us and cut us down.
In the final round, it was a tough battle where both of our health bars were depleted to almost no health. Our opponent decided to nuke the map. In addition to a new setting, he had an ace up his sleeve.
The last set of cards left him with the vampiric bullets and poison bullets cards, and he still had an SMG card left. Despite having these power-ups, we still came close to killing him. Sadly, he was able to sweep the victory away from us.
Friends vs Friends is set to have both a 1 versus 1 combat arena but it will also have a 2 versus 2 combat arena upon release. The concept of a card battler mixed with a team strategy game and 1st person shooter is an interesting concept that could both be chaotic and fun.
While we were playing, we were never quite sure what our opponent had in his hand without screen looking. In a way, using our cards was a gamble, but one that gave a rush. The Card system will take a while to get used to for some, but we think that it could provide some comical combinations.
What do you think of Friends vs Friends? Will you consider picking it up or at least trying a demo of it? Friends vs Friends is in development for Windows PC (via Steam) and unspecified consoles.
