Iconoclasts

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.

Played this for 3 hours. You won't believe how fed up I am with wrench and bomb puzzles by now. You have to do these even during the boss fights. This is not a metroidvania, you'll be doing obnoxious switch flipping and box moving puzzles in every single room, sometimes up to 10 times in the same room. Who the hell thought this was good gameplay? The story is also completely nonsensical, perhaps in part due to the poor translation. I've literally no idea what the story is about. 2 stars just for the pixel art.

absolutely beautiful and charming game, very polished and well paced.

I just came to Iconoclasts looking for a fun simple game and I found an engaging and emotional story with political commentary besides the fun metroidvania gameplay. It surprised me and I love it for it.

It reminded me very much of Metroid, Chrono Trigger and other legendary tittles.