Hidden Gems of Game Design Volume 32

Unearthing Way of the Passive Fist and Keep the Balance

Hidden Gems of Game Design Volume 32
Source: SUPERJUMP.

Plenty of amazing games go unnoticed and are not played widely for various reasons. Maybe it’s a diamond in the rough, or the marketing wasn’t there, or it could be a game ahead of its time. For this monthly series, I’ve asked my fellow writers on SUPERJUMP to pick a game they think is deserving of a chance in the spotlight. Let us know your favorite hidden gems in the comments.

Josh Bycer

Way of the Passive Fist (2018)

source: Steam

The indie space led to many different genre resurgences and reveals throughout the 2010s. While many will credit it for keeping platformers, adventure games, and horror kicking, it also gave us some original takes on the beat-em-up genre, including this month’s pick, Way of the Passive Fist.

Taking place in a world where the sun is so hot no one can survive outside without protection for long, you play as a martial artist who learns that someone is trying to take over the planet.

Having to fight out in the extreme heat, you're an expert in the way of the passive fist which uses the enemy's own exhaustion against them. The focus here is on parrying enemy attacks, with perfect parries used to build up your special meter and tire them out for a quick kill. 

The game features multiple difficulty settings which can tune the game to make it easier or way harder – such as only perfect parries building your special meter and reducing the timing window for those parries. The music leans towards the 80’s Saturday morning cartoon and fits the vibe perfectly.

source: Steam

After release, the game received an update adding a mini-campaign that takes place after the main story. What hurts Fist to this day is that it’s not really a beat-em-up, in the sense of what the player is doing. Looking at other examples of the genre like Fight N’ Rage or Streets of Rage 4, the player is the most active character on the screen. With Fist, since all damage, or the means of doing damage, is predicated on parrying, the player is always on the defensive and not able to initiate unless they are using their special meter.

If you believe that defense is the best offense, or are looking for a beat-em-up that turns the genre on its head, you will want to check out Way of the Passive Fist.

Antony Terence

Keep the Balance (2000)

source: Steam

Poker-inspired puzzle phenomenon Balatro was the first game I played this year and its deceptively simple premise reminded me of a game over two decades old. Back in 2000, Item Multimedia developed Keep the Balance, a puzzle game built on a simple idea: balance objects on a pair of scales. Just like Balatro, the game hides its unpredictable nature behind understanding how objects interact with each other. 

Circus animals eat each other, fans blow objects away, and vacuum cleaners can suck items right in. It isn’t immediately made clear how these incredibly detailed and animated objects interact. Just as you begin to figure it out, a disruptive Joker throws in the occasional object to make your task harder. While I wasn’t good enough at the game to clear it, the manual hints at aliens split by caste, chess pieces, and even poker card combinations with more interactions to find.

My sole complaint? The game took too long to add object interactions. With 10 levels per zone, this pacing stumble held it back from currying favor with critics. Despite its shortcomings, Keep the Balance’s core mechanics remain compelling in 2025. If done right, an inspired successor could put some pressure on the deckbuilding Balatro-likes flooding app stores.


Thanks for reading! Come back next month for another entry and more great hidden gems to check out. You can find all previous Hidden Gems stories here.