The pitch of a side-scrolling adventure where you’ll use elemental powers to combat evil is always a good start, but while The Forbidden Arts has some flourishes in places for the most part it unfortunately fizzles. With the action moving between a somewhat funky 3D overworld where you’ll typically explore a somewhat empty space and side-scrolling platforming with combat nothing quite feels polished. Dialogue is sparse and perfunctory, combat is repetitive and generally pretty clumsy, and the platforming is pretty generic as a whole. Your elemental attacks at least look interesting, and try to add some excitement, but on the whole this title struggles to make an impression and keep you coming back for more.