Iconoclasts is a pretty surprising 2D platformer, from Swedish developer Joakim Sandberg.
But let's start with the obvious, this game looks beautiful.
Every single screenshot you could take of this game is colourful and has just the right
amount of pixels to make it feel nostalgic and yet still have detail to it.
Movement and jumping is smooth and at just the right speed.
And with an automatic aim-assist, you'll be running through this world like a breeze,
taking out whatever creatures inhabit it.
But it's not the graphics or the controls that draw you in here.
In fact it's the story.
It's the fun characters and the deep ideologies that they all have, that really makes this
one stand out.
From pirates, to a religious cult that sucks the very life out of the ground and creates
powerful agents.
And at the centre of it all is a young mechanic, called Robin.
It's the kind of plot that you'd probably expect more in a sixty hour JRPG, rather than
in a ten hour platformer game.
But hey, it's not only the narrative here that's good, but also the way that it's told.
There's a lot of clever ideas going on here- like, when you have to battle the demons in
your head, and rather than just being a cutscene, you actually have to battle them.
And this sort of thing happens a lot.
The story and the action merge together, so while you're finding out what's going to happen
next, you're still fighting.
You're still playing the game rather than putting your controller down.
It has the perfect mix of highs and lows, with fun moments but sad ones too.
Plus it has nice little touches, like perhaps when you walk past a recently destroyed house,
your character just stops for a moment to take it all in.
It reminds you of how much emotion can be portrayed by just a few pixels on a screen.
So as well as a gun, you also have your trusty wrench, which is upgraded to gain new abilities
to let you see different parts of the world.
It's also the key to solving a lot of the puzzles that the game has and to be honest
working out how to use all of your different mechanics to proceed through an area makes
up the bulk of the game.
From opening doors, to spinning gears around to using electricity to power up generators.
All of these things are slowly introduced and eventually combine together in interesting
and clever ways.
The hardest puzzles are there to block off the treasure chests , which contain different
materials that you can use to create upgrades, or, as they're called, tweaks.
These do things like do more damage, or hold your breath for longer underwater.
But to be honest, they don't really have too much effect on the game.
You may find that you just do the puzzles for the sake of them, rather than for the
reward that they provide.
It is a nice idea that each time you get hurt, you temporarily lose your tweaks in order,
from right to left.
So in theory, you have to think about the order that you slot them in at, and think
about which ones you'd rather to sacrifice first.
Although again, it really doesn't make that much difference.
But- onto the highlight of the game.
And of course, it's the bosses and there are a lot of them.
But they all feel unique and all have different weaknesses and different ways of being defeated.
The best ones you fight have you using different characters, tagging each other in and out
of the action to find out what needs to be done.
They all move very differently and take more than just blasting away at them with your
gun- even though, perhaps they may not be that difficult.
There are different options for the difficulty level at the start, with a new 'one hit kill'
challenge mode unlocked when completing the game.
But my biggest disappointment is actually with the trophy list.
Now for starters it doesn't have a platinum, which it is well worthy of having.
But secondly, it just doesn't have that many trophies.
Basically you go from hours two in to completing it, without getting any at all, which is a...
shame.
But overall, I've got to say that I loved this game.
I went into it expecting just another Metroidvania game but with the story and the constant clever
little game mechanics, it really stands out.
It's always throwing you something new to see or do and so never gets stale.
It's well worth checking out.
So until next time, thanks for watching.