Forestrike Interview with Game Director Thomas Olsson
Some valuable foresight!
Ali Hashmi
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Published: Nov 13, 2025 10:36 am
As someone who loved Olija (2021), hearing that Thomas Olsson was making another action game instantly caught my attention. The thick textures, crunchy sound effects, and stellar art were easily recognizable. It’s not often you find a roguelike or roguelite that really tries something new and succeeds at it.
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Forestrike is just that, giving players virtually infinite opportunities to perfect a combat encounter before taking it on for real. To discuss the game, its influences, and its development, I had the chance to interview Thomas Olsson himself.
Forestrike Interview with Thomas Olsson
Note: Questions for this interview were sentbefore the release of Forestrike.
Forestrike is coming out in a few days. How is the team feeling, especially after the demo’s incredibly positive reception?
Thomas Olsson: As of right now, most of us are deep into bugs – but we’re definitely happy with our game, and happy that some people seem to really like it.
How proud are you of coming up with the term “Tactical Kung Fu”?
It was no more than a Tactical Idea.
Balancing an ability like Foresight must have been a challenge. How did you come up with the idea of letting players practice as much as they want before the real deal?
Basically, a lot of games make you repeat the same choreography already. Hotline Miami and its successors, or Celeste, for example. The small twist Forestrike brings is that it requires players to reproduce it consistently.
This idea is rooted into the fantasy of experiencing two opposed aspects of fighting: experiencing the thrill of action games AND the tactical depth of turn-based games.
Image via Devolver Digital
At first, there was a limit to the amount of Foresights you could do, but a friend advised us to make it completely free, and they were right. It was so much better to let players explore the fights freely!
Each School in Forestrike feels genuinely unique. Having played the game yourself quite a bit, do you have a favorite?
I used to prefer the Cold Eye for its very radical and simple approach to combat. But now, I like the Monkey more. His techniques always cause unpredictable results, which make Forestrike’s emergent aspects come out nicely.
What are some techniques you really want players to experiment with?
I want players to break the game with OP combinations, or with style, by using techniques like Levitation to quietly fly above the battlefield or Kong Lao, which lets you use your hat as a weapon.
I also love it when people use basic techniques, like throwing weapons up in the air, in unexpected ways, and the more cosmetic Stances, just to express themselves.
From what I’ve played, Forestrike could potentially work as a level-based linear title as well. Was it always meant to be a rogue-lite, or was that something you decided to explore during development?
It was always meant to be a roguelike. We felt that deck building and encounter generation were key to making an emergent fighting system. Looking back, I think that it was a little naive to think that the genre would solve all our problems. But in the end, it was a good direction.
Image via Devolver Digital
What are the essential Kung Fu movies everyone should watch before developing a Kung Fu game?
To me, Jackie Chan’s movies are the most creative. People often mention the ways he weaponizes his surroundings, but few people talk about how he transforms his stance to interact with it in unique ways or change the rules of the fight. He’d fight while lying down, or on all fours, or with his feet glued to a sticky conveyor belt!? (The Myth.) If that’s not video game material, I don’t know what is.
How important is pulling off cool moves in an action game? And thank you for the “Copy Fight Code” feature.
Cool moves aren’t needed to make a good action game, but having them is extremely rewarding, whether it is for pacing, immersion, or self-expression.
Image via Devolver Digital
You’re welcome. Come and share your codes onDiscord!
As a fan of BackSlash and Olija, Forestrike feels like a spiritual successor to both. Would you say it’s an evolution of some of the design ideas from those titles?
Maybe a little Backslash in the fighting styles, and some Olija in its mood. They take place in the same universe, too. But the thematics are radically different. Olija is emotional and sensory, whereas Forestrike is demanding and technical. And most importantly, Forestrike carries the identity of several people, who have also injected their own vision of the game into it. This is what makes it so special in my opinion.
Any chance we’ll ever get a sequel to Olija? I’d love an excuse to revisit Terraphage in some form.
Can’t say we ever will! I’d love to see Olija again, too.
I’ve always admired the sound design in your games, especially the crunchy effects. What’s the secret behind making each hit feel so memorable?
Thanks! I don’t record most sounds. I mostly pick them up from banks and sometimes rework them until they fit. For Forestrike, the secret was to blend modern and vintage sounds sampled from old movies.
Are there any games you’ve been playing recently that you wish more people would check out?
“Feed My Mech” by TheManiacMartian.
What has it been like working with Devolver Digital again?
Overall, working with Devolver is great. People are really nice there, and we trust them.
Forestrike’s demo currently has 90% positive reviews on Steam. What’s the most common piece of feedback you’ve received, positive or constructive?
Steam feedback helped with small things, like quality of life improvements, or sometimes technical issues. To me, it’s interesting to see how people perceive our game, with discussions about the Foresight mechanic, especially, which people can interpret in different ways. I like that people sometimes disagree about it.
Image via Devolver Digital
But the most precious feedback came from our beta testers. Some of them pulled the game apart and pointed out unfair or shaky aspects of the design, like techniques that are too OP, boring, or odd enemy behavior. They did a huge amount of work.
Their feedback sparked concrete debates among designers, which in turn helped us solidify some concepts by committing to some decisions or by nuancing more rough edges of the game.
Thank you for your time, and good luck with the release! As a final note, I wanted to share that I sent you a fan email back in 2021 after finishing Olija. It was easily one of my favorite releases of the year, and it’s an honor to interview you now for your latest work.
Thank you! I hope that I replied to that email back then – I don’t receive a lot of these, and they always mean a lot to me. Write anytime!
Forestrike launches on PC and Nintendo Switch on November 17, 2025.
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Ali has been writing about video games for the past six years and is always on the lookout for the next indie game to obsess over and recommend to everyone in sight. When he isn't spending an unhealthy amount of time in Slay the Spire, he's probably trying out yet another retro-shooter or playing Dark Souls for the 50th time.
