I grew up in the 90s, learning to type with Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing and other classroom computer games. Maybe this is what instantly drew me to the martial arts-style, typing, beat ‘em up game, Keys of Fury. It’s taking me back to getting away with playing computer games in class — Mavis Beacon, Putt Putt games, The Oregon Trail, Lemmings.

I don’t normally play PC games, mainly because my PC parts are the equivalent of an Xbox 360. Before the Nintendo Switch came around my PC was my indie game machine. Today, I can’t use it for many recent games. Even with the settings at their lowest capabilities, I still couldn’t play a few recently released games.

Death by Spelling

Keys of Fury is perfect for my PC because it’s a fun little martial arts story, with simple visuals. The game is full of little extra surprises. First off, in order to beat up enemies you must quickly and correctly type out words, and later phrases. It all starts off simple with fruits, veggies, and verbs. Things get a little more dicey when they throw in random adjectives, like “Incredibly Good-Looking Parsnip”  — I don’t think that one is in the game, but it would totally fit in with many of the others.

Another clever surprise within Keys of Fury is that you never actually select menu items or anything within the game with your mouse. Everything must be typed out. During dialogue scenes you type out your responses. Some make you choose from two or more, other times you get to freestyle and create your own. Even if you want to exit the game you cannot click on an exit button, you must type it out from the proper menu screen.

I love the pixel art style, the fighting animations are beautiful. It’s just impossible to watch sometimes when you are so focused on spelling out silly phrases. The phrases play tricks on you as the game goes on, because you are trying to type out words that shouldn’t be together — like “Emotionally Unavailable Pear.”

Some of the phrases even made me laugh out loud while playing the game. Not because they are dirty or particularly funny, they are just super silly combinations of words. “Classy Carrots” and “Pungent Corn” come to mind.

Anytime I find a game I enjoy on PC, I always hope they will make the jump to console — mainly Nintendo Switch. It wouldn’t make sense to bring Keys of Fury to consoles, because you actually need a keyboard for this game. I’m sure it would be a wild mobile game though. Imagine trying to type out something like “Useless Unbearable Kiwi Fruit” on a smartphone keyboard.

Today’s Schools

I’m not sure if they even teach typing in schools anymore. If so, are they teaching computer keyboard typing, or is it all done on iPhone and iPad today? Do they even cover your hands with those make-shift blue box covers to make sure you aren’t cheating? What is going on in schools today?

The thing about Keys of Fury is that it doesn’t teach typing. I’m sure if you played it long enough without knowing about the HOME ROW on the keyboard and how to properly type quickly, you’d still walk away with some new knowledge. The only reason I’m pretty good at this game is because I’m a fast and accurate typer — my WPM (words per minute) were off the charts back in the day.

Keys of Fury is a fun game for anyone who misses being tricked into playing games that actually teach you something in the classroom. Also, the martial arts and story make it more appealing.

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myVGC.com was given a review code for Keys of Fury by the publisher.