Iconoclasts

My absolute favorite game in the "Where the feck do I goooooo?!" genre of platformers. This one is a gem.

I don't often review every game I have mixed feelings on, but I want to do it here because there are some major things I really want to talk about. [h2] Warning, there will be spoilers [/h2] I just want to start off to say I don't think this is a bad game. To play, it's a pretty enjoyable experience minus a few... strange decisions. For example, there are two secret bosses in this game. Normally, when you play this game, you can select "Retry" and it will respawn you right before a boss fight. However, with these two bosses, is doesn't? And one of them is a long, slow trek away from the save point where you have to intentionally swim slow. Why is there no quick retry? Some of the level design is a little questionable. Like, for example, there's a level that is essentially a tower. There are shafts with elevators to go between floors. However, you can sometimes go to other floors without the elevator. If you need to cross one of the shafts, though, and the elevator isn't there, most of the time you can't. It's a little frustrating. Combat can be pretty fun, though some bosses are more annoying than others. There's a good chunk of "It doesn't really feel like I could avoid that" going on. This is true for normal enemies as well. I'd like to preface this by saying none of these really ruin the game enough for it to not be fun. The thing that actually frustrates me the most is the story. Here come those spoilers. The general gist of the plot is neat. You live in a dystopian world where rights to repair is just not there. In fact, it's heavily scrutinized to the point of getting killed if you're caught doing it. On top of that, you seem to be on a dying planet that is running out of it's primary source of energy: Ivory. You, the mute protag Robin, find yourself forced into a situation where you must run as your secret of a freelance mechanic has been found out. As the plot progresses though, things start to get muddy. You are captured, get away. Then you get thrown in a situation that should have killed you, but then another thing saved you. However later, you somehow get captured AGAIN. And then for a 4th time, you cheat death later. It's... a little forced? Additionally, the plot gets confusing. So, you find out there are Agents which are pumped full of ivory and they can heal anything that happens to them. Makes it unfortunate that they're after you then. There's also prodigy people, who ascended further than even the agents. They are touted to be extremely powerful. You even end up fighting the primary one built up for a lot of the game... Mother. I hate how Mother was handled. She was essentially the mastermind behind many things and laws. Yet you don't meet her for a long time. She's this looming figure. So imagine my surprise when we get to her finally and it's only a little bit of dialogue before a fight with her that kills her. I learned nothing about this woman at all. Why was she made so important? That brings up another thing. The way characters are written is.. questionable. There are some I like. Mina and Royal are actually really nice. Mina is someone stuck in her impulsive ways and doesn't really know how to handle things socially. Royal is the eventual replacement to Mother. He's very pompous, yet at the same time, not an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥? It's hard to explain, but he flaunts his status. He doesn't do this to put others beneath him, more so to remind them of who he is. He's also very naïve which results in him bonding with Robin pretty quickly. He actually tries helping Robin a lot, but keeps getting them into trouble without meaning to. Its hard to not want to see him improve. Either way, you reach this point where you find something called the "Omega Core". Royal thinks its a fake imitation of important things back home and tries destroying it. In reality, the thing is responsible for the spines of the world, but is also corrupted with some weird... blue stuff. You destroy it, and it makes an entity, known as the Starworm, on the Moon very angry for some reason. It's not really explained why, but you and Royal try to go to the moon to reason with the thing. Royal's doing this to try and make up for everything he's done wrong, especially since he caused the anger by destroying the Omega Core. However, the worm doesn't listen and threatens to kill both Robin and Royal. Royal just... gives up at that point. He's unable to move much and you have to carry him to escape, but you can't bring him the whole way. You're forced to abandon him because the plot demands it and... I don't know. There's so many more issues with this plot. Much feels contrived or not properly explained and it's disappointing. I still recommend this game, but don't come for the story. You'll probably end up feeling rather empty like I did by the end.