Forced is a challenging 1-4-player co-op arcade action RPG with puzzle and tactical elements. Cast as slaves in the toughest fantasy gladiator school of them all, you will face deadly trials and huge creatures, but Balfus, your Spirit Mentor, will guide you in your quest to break the chains of oppression.
User reviews: Mostly Positive (1,995 reviews) - 75% of the 1,995 user reviews for this game are positive.
Release Date: 24 Oct, 2013

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Buy FORCED: Slightly Better Edition

13,99€

Buy FORCED: Slightly Better Deluxe Edition

Includes the original hit game, the official soundtrack, the 140-page digital art book, 43-page digital strategy guide, and access to the black Champion armor, allowing you to customize your gladiators look. Click here to see the Deluxe Edition Page.

19,99€

Buy FORCED: Slightly Better Edition Four Pack

Includes four copies of the base game - Send the extra copies to your friends.

41,99€
 

Recent updates View all (39)

25 March

FORCED SHOWDOWN Pre-release event!



Our next project FORCED SHOWDOWN is running a pre-release event from this moment and until the release March 29th!

As part of the event - It is possible to unlock more content for the game, reduce the launch price, win early access, and compete for sponsored prizes by watching streamers play.

All you have to do is get on Twitch and watch FORCED SHOWDOWN being played. For every minute watched - the launch discount will increase! So don’t waste precious time, come join the fun now!

Follow the event at HERE

For quick ones - here are some event keys (which will expire on release)
BJKHG-060EB-Q30RM
HXZFW-063AL-K7I83
9G68I-T6XAM-F4GCZ
VHIPE-AZYBX-I6RGB
CGJXA-K94RL-NWNVF

Enjoy!
-BetaDwarf

1 comments Read more

12 October, 2015

FORCED v1.3 - Slightly Better Edition



Hi everyone!

It’s been a long time since we updated FORCED because we’ve been exceedingly busy getting the game out on consoles.
Today, however, we’ve got a real treat for you; the Slightly Better Edition.
This update upgrades the Survival modes with 2 new maps and a crystal system, allowing you to gain new powers through playing Survival.

It also contains a lot of optimization and some bug-fixing, which should help everyone run it a little smoother :)

We’re deploying this version as a patch so it’ll be freely available to everyone, and all our new gladiators will get to join in the fun right away :)

I hope you’ll pick up the game again and give it a spin, and perhaps welcome our newest members of the community who are searching for games :)

Changelog
  • Gem system for survival modes: You can now earn up to 3 gems in each of the co-op survival modes, based on how long you stay alive. These gems also unlock skills in the campaign.
  • The Laser Pit survival mode added: A new Survival map that will let you try your skills against the deadly rotating laser that you encountered in Trial 11: Run for Cover. This time, however, the enemies won’t give you a break!
  • The Dungeon survival mode added: Another new survival map that uses all the mechanics from the fourth chamber of the campaign. This map will never get repetitive when you die hundreds of times, as the enemy spawning has been randomized!
  • 4 new achievements to earn by playing the survival modes
  • Large optimization improvements. This will also help network play to be less laggy as the host computer no longer struggles to keep up :)
    • Chamber 4 environment darkness optimized
    • Blood machine blood optimized
    • Final boss FX optimized: Giant portals spell, Meteor Shower.
  • Improved the design of the Final boss. Fixed a few exploit issues and balanced a few skills. Also fixed the fact that you could resurrect outside the arena.
  • Inserted a startup logo screen to tell new players they should expect a hard game and should try to play it co-op :)
  • Improved a lot of localization, implementing translations for a lot of the things that were missing.

Remember we always like to hear your opinions, so go give us some feedback on the forums!
Also a big thank you to the community members that helped us test this new patch for issues;
Rankaquion, Paurmon, Jedo, rialda_dreal and all the guys who volunteered but didn’t get to try it :)

Enjoy!
-BetaDwarf

33 comments Read more

Reviews

“Forced is one of the best co-op games around”
See – http://www.gamefront.com/indie-gems-forced-collaborates-in-the-arena

“Teamwork unlike almost any game I've played before”
See – http://www.onrpg.com/articles/editorial/pax-prime-2013-day-1-recap-pt-1-elder-scrolls-online-forced-strife-and-cosplay/3/

“It is these strategy elements, whether mental or physical, and the degree of communication and coordination required to achieve them where FORCED truly shines as a co-op game.”
5/5 – http://www.co-optimus.com/review/1302/page/2/forced-co-op-review.html

About This Game

Forced is a challenging one- to four-player co-op arcade action RPG with puzzle and tactical elements. You are cast as slaves in the toughest fantasy gladiator school of them all, condemned to fight to the death, all the while attempting to win your freedom. You will face deadly trials and huge creatures, but Balfus, your Spirit Mentor will guide you in your quest to break the chains of oppression.

Features

  • 1-4 player campaign, carefully balanced for the number of players
  • Local and online co-op, it's easy to plugin controllers and play on one computer
  • A challenging Gladiator campaign with monstrous foes and tricky puzzles
  • Four Unique Character Classes, with very distinctive playstyles
  • Skill focused: all enemy attacks can be evaded, it's your job to figure out how!
  • The Spirit Mentor, an extra party member which players must control together to gain an upper hand over the enemy
  • Survival Arena Mode (more modes coming)
  • Mark Combat System. Apply marks to enemies with your basic attacks, to set them up for devastating special attacks from you or your allies.

History

BetaDwarf - the team behind FORCED spent 3 years developing it while living together. It all started by illegally moving into a classroom at a university - see: The Story (it has awesome pictures)

News

http://twitter.com/betadwarf // http://twitter.com/baboonlord // http://facebook.com/forcedthegame

Secrets

http://www.eternalarenas.com/

System Requirements

Windows
Mac OS X
SteamOS + Linux
    Minimum:
    • OS: Windows 7, Windows 8
    • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo, AMD Athlon X2, or equal at 1.6GHz or better
    • Memory: 2 GB RAM
    • Graphics: DirectX 9.0c-compatible, SM 3.0-compatible
    • DirectX: Version 9.0c
    • Storage: 5 GB available space
    • Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c-compatible, 16-bit
    Recommended:
    • OS: Windows 7, Windows 8
    • Processor: QuadCore 2.0 GHz +
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS or better, 512MB+ VRAM
    • Storage: 5 GB available space
    • Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c-compatible, 16-bit
    Minimum:
    • OS: 10.7.5 (Lion)
    • Processor: 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
    • Memory: 2 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Integrated
    • Storage: 5 GB available space
    Recommended:
    • OS: 10.8.2 (Mountain Lion)
    • Processor: 2.4 GHz Intel Quad Core
    • Memory: 4 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Nvidia Geforce GT 120 / ATI Radeon HD
    • Storage: 5 GB available space
    Minimum:
    • OS: Ubuntu 12.04
    • Processor: 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
    • Memory: 2 GB RAM
    • Graphics: DirectX 9.0c-compatible, SM 3.0-compatible
    • Storage: 5 GB available space
    Recommended:
    • OS: Ubuntu 12.04
    • Processor: QuadCore 2.0 GHz +
    • Memory: 4 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Nvidia Geforce GT 120 / ATI Radeon HD
    • Storage: 5 GB available space
Helpful customer reviews
15 of 16 people (94%) found this review helpful
1 person found this review funny
24.5 hrs on record
Posted: 19 October, 2015
Lots of fun. Great game for the casuals AND the hardcore gamers. It's a challenge even if you don't look to complete all the achievement ( I did...I got hooked...It's awesome ^^ ). You never stop improving and if you're up to the challenge, you're going to have loads of fun.

The adventure is great, with a steady learning curve. You get to learn how to play each of these four badasses if you feel like it or you can just go and solo one of them if you have a favourite, it's not impossible to finish the game if you do.

Bosses are sometimes a bit easy because the strats are quite simple to understand BUT most of them are still challenging because in this game, knowing what to do is the easy part, being able to do it is a whole other story.

If you have a trustworthy group of friends though, buy the fourpack, and solve these levels together. The more the merrier. Really. Especially since some of these levels take you by surprise : there's nothing funnier than seeing your friends panic and getting slaughtered in every side of the map because of some new content to the game ^^ (Beware of the fog !).

Finally, the new mode they added, survival mode, is a gem. The first levels are a bit easy to beat imo, compared to the rest of the game, but the last one is....evil. I can't imagine playing with 4 players in this last level, but I'm guessing it must be the funniest experience this game has to offer. You'll understand once you get there ^^
Also, there is a 'last man standing' level in these survival maps which seems pretty interesting and very promising in a way that I'll surely spend nights with my friends playing this level only and having fun helping/betraying your friends to survive the longest time possible =D.

Overall an incredible game for those who like puzzles, badass characters with skill trees and passive trees, and last but not least, a little bit of challenge, for a price that is, in my opinion way underappreciated.
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16 of 24 people (67%) found this review helpful
2 people found this review funny
2.5 hrs on record
Posted: 13 October, 2015
Excellent local co-op game, very creative. Well worth the price even when not on sale.
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny
5 of 6 people (83%) found this review helpful
1 person found this review funny
16.7 hrs on record
Posted: 14 October, 2015
Forced is a damn good game. If you like to think and play a good coop game, there is no way around.

Sadly Forced 2 goes into another direction instead of just more expanded greatness.
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny
6 of 8 people (75%) found this review helpful
14.2 hrs on record
Posted: 18 October, 2015
Awesome game for co-op! Pretty difficult, but very fun and rewarding
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21 of 37 people (57%) found this review helpful
7 people found this review funny
36.6 hrs on record
Posted: 30 October, 2015
The bugs in this game are impressive. Between the repeating "Space Space Space" and controller support dropping out until a restart, it's kinda hard to tell which one is my favorite. That's a lie. My favorite bug make progression difficult for some people.... So I started playing this with 2 friends and after a few hours, we went to bed having enjoyed the mechanics that make this game challenging. We were eager to get back into it the next night but I had errands to run. So my friends used the game's built in profile system to create a new profile so they could play fresh without me and switch back when I jumped in. Well, that worked fine until they switched back and their crystal count dropped to zero. Thanks to some complaints on the forum, we solved the problem easy and kept playing till we reached the final(?) boss and lost repeatedly.

In case someone else has the same problem, here's a rough explanation of the easy workaround: First, go the data folders on the affected machines for the game and set them to readonly. Then on the master machine(the guy who didn't swap profiles), use HFS webserver to host the master data folder. Then, simply run the following c# code on the effected machines(might need to changes some variables) before you start the game every time. This way, the master machine keeps progressing in the game and the other machines get a copy of that progression before the game starts. Easy as pie!

C# code(I ran it in Linqpad):
string userFolderName = Directory.GetDirectories(@"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\").FirstOrDefault();
string mainDir = userFolderName + @"\249990\";
string profilePath = mainDir + @"\remote\PROFILE_";
string cachedPath = mainDir + @"remotecache.vdf";
bool readOnly = (new FileInfo(profilePath)).IsReadOnly;
("ReadOnly:"+readOnly).Dump();
(new FileInfo(profilePath)).IsReadOnly = false;
(new FileInfo(cachedPath)).IsReadOnly = false;
var profileSplit = File.ReadAllLines(profilePath)[0].Split('*');
string steamId = profileSplit[1];
string steamName = profileSplit[2];
(steamId + ":" + steamName).Dump();
//profileSplit.Dump();
var client = new WebClient();
client.DownloadFile("http://192.168.0.108/249990/remotecache.vdf",cachedPath+"1");
client.DownloadFile("http://192.168.0.108/249990/remote/PROFILE_",profilePath+"1");
File.Delete(cachedPath);
File.Delete(profilePath);
File.Move(cachedPath+"1",cachedPath);
File.Move(profilePath+"1",profilePath);
var crypt = new System.Security.Cryptography.SHA1CryptoServiceProvider();
var allOldBytes = File.ReadAllBytes(profilePath);
int oldBytesLength = allOldBytes.Length;
var oldSha = String.Join("",crypt.ComputeHash(allOldBytes).Select (x => x.ToString("x2")));
(oldBytesLength + ":" + oldSha).Dump();
var newProfileSplit = File.ReadAllLines(profilePath)[0].Split('*');
string wrongSteamId = newProfileSplit[1];
string wrongSteamName = newProfileSplit[2];
(wrongSteamId + ":" + wrongSteamName).Dump();
string allText = File.ReadAllText(profilePath);
string fixedText = allText.Replace(wrongSteamId, steamId).Replace(wrongSteamName, steamName);
File.WriteAllText(profilePath, fixedText);
var allNewBytes = File.ReadAllBytes(profilePath);
int newBytesLength = allNewBytes.Length;
var newSha = String.Join("",crypt.ComputeHash(allNewBytes).Select (x => x.ToString("x2")));
(newBytesLength + ":" + newSha).Dump();
string allCachedText = File.ReadAllText(cachedPath);
string fixedCachedText = allCachedText.Replace("\""+oldBytesLength, "\""+newBytesLength).Replace(oldSha, newSha);
File.WriteAllText(cachedPath, fixedCachedText);
(new FileInfo(profilePath)).IsReadOnly = readOnly;
(new FileInfo(cachedPath)).IsReadOnly = readOnly;

Jokes aside, it's a fun game but if you hit a rough bug, you might end up rage quitting for good.
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