Posted on: March 9, 2021
Dreadjaws
Spiele: 503 Rezensionen: 43
Overstays its welcome
Iconoclasts is a beautiful looking game, no question about it. And it's commendable that it was all made by one person. But many people thinks this somehow excuses all the problems the game has, and I beg to differ. Sure, it excuses the author from not having the time or resources (even though it took him 7 years) to iron the kinks, but the problems still exist, and it's necessary to acknowledge them. The game is a puzzle platformer with light metroidvania elements. You can go back to previous areas, but mostly it's used to gather collectibles, as the game progression is extremely linear (save for a few forced backtracking parts). At the start the focus is on puzzles in order to advance, while later parts of the game rely more on combat. On graphical and audio design the game shines. The visuals are crisp and colorful and music and sound effects are satisfying. On the gameplay department, things are a bit more mixed. You have three different guns to use, with two different effects each, and a wrench for melee attack and environmental use. All of these tools can also be used to solve puzzles and, for the most part, they're well balanced. The problems come out of the game refusing to explain things. I commend that it doesn't hold the player's hand, but it offsets this by being deliberately obtuse and confusing to the point that many parts have no choice but to be solved by trial and error. This succeeds in padding the gameplay time, at the expense of frustrating the player. This is compounded by the schizophrenic boss fights. I applaud that the game doesn't just recycle battles, but in its attempt tp make things different, it relies on going out of its way to make the player bonk their head until they run into a solution, and many times depend on controls that just aren't responsive enough. Make no mistake, it's a game worth experiencing, but don't feel bad if you feel the need to abandon it before finishing it. I finished it, but I don't see me returning to it.
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