Feist brings ferocious physics-based combat to Steam this July

Stylish Swiss action-adventure game Feist will arrive on 23rd July for PC, Mac and Linux via Steam.

At first glance Feist looks like a more colourful version of Limbo - what with its silhouetted foreground cast against a creepy wilderness background, and an emphasis on physics - but while Limbo focused on puzzles, Feist uses its physics-based gameplay to spice up its combat.

Each enemy in this spooky world has a complex AI that takes advantage of the ever shifting landscape. They'll intelligently avoid rolling rocks and breaking branches, except for when they don't, just as the player may fall victim to shifts in the environment.

"Enemies and traps, without scripted sequences, interact and produce surprising emergent consequences, creating a physics-driven environment with its own rules," developer Bits & Beasts explained. "NPCs are more than moving obstacles. Armed with a complex AI and a set of versatile abilities NPCs can act upon the environment to the same extent the player does."

Feist has been in development for quite some time, as developers Adrian Stutz and Florian Faller began the prototype for Feist way back in 2008. It has since made the rounds at numerous events and won quite a few awards, such as the Unity Award for best overall game, and it was an IGF finalist for excellence in visual art. Canabalt creator Adam Satlsman is now publishing the project over at his studio Finji (which is also distributing Night In The Woods and Panoramical).

Here's how Feist looks in action: