I really, really wanted to like this game. I really did. The art style's is adorable, the little spark you play as is just so cute, and I love that you move between the foreground and background layers in game. It was even made as a means of bringing awareness to Earth Hour, when everyone is supposed to turn off electronics for an hour to conserve energy or whatever. Everything about this game I should like is there. But there's a big reason I personally didn't enjoy this and I'll get into that after I explain what the game is about and like.
TurnOn is a side-scrolling puzzle platformer where you play as an alien entity made solely of electricity that can only move through electrical currents. You must use your innate electrical charge to turn on items to solve puzzles, collect energy, and try to otherwise help Electro City deal with a sudden blackout. Some levels are chase or fast paced platforming segments instead, and if you've ever played any of the minecart stages in Rare's Donkey Kong Country games, they feel a lot like that in a way mixed with a rhythm-based system. It's a nice idea, but maybe a bit much for this sort of game. Feels slightly tacked on but I get what they were going for - electricity moving to new places through high voltage wires, clever and fun.
The graphics are simple, but cute - I love how the little spark has its eyes move and squish as it moves along the wires, and I love the papery aesthetic done in 2.5D. It's really very cute and friendly. The music is also quite nice, if a bit generic in some spots and a bit unfitting in others. It's pretty clear that the creators just picked songs they thought fit, but it's a shame so many of them sound like Youtube Creator Studio stock music when it has a nice mix of styles otherwise. I feel that it should have stuck to either a gentle orchestral, jazz. or electroswing type feel, but instead it runs through many disparate styles and they just don't all work together even if they're all pleasant to listen to.
Now for what I didn't like. First off, the controls. WASD/Arrows is perfect for this particular game because you only move in four directions anyway (up is also jump which makes sense here), but I often felt especially on faster paced or timed sections that jumping was much, much more difficult than it needed to be. It somehow was both too loose and too precise IMHO. For example, when trying to jump up I felt like I should have a bit more height as the spark's hitbox doesn't quite reach enough to cling to the next wire on some jumps. I'm not a physicist or electrician, but come on, you're sentient electricity - I know IRL that electricity can only easily jump smallish gaps, but electricity has a charge, and charges attract opposite charges, so shouldn't it be a lot easier to cling to charged items like wires? I know this is a game, but guys... really? It's frustrating to have a wire just out of reach, especially when the spark can make some jumps that would reasonably be several feet away, yet can't seem to jump up and grab a wire that is not even a foot above its ball-lightning body.
Second, the foreground and background do not always make clear what can and cannot be jumped to. I often found myself falling off wires because I thought I could make a jump to another FG or BG object, but turns out no, you can't do that. This seems to happen without any real rhyme or reason, making some puzzles more difficult than they needed to be. Under this point I'll mention an issue I had with the platforming in general: some parts are so pixel perfect you have to be at the absolute tippy top or you won't make it, and some moving platform puzzles are even harder than they should be because trying to control the jump midair feels loose. Especially when falling down, I found controlling the arc of the jump difficult and a little too floaty, which made some types of platforming difficult. Furthermore, when landing, the spark tends to slide forward, making it difficult to dodge things coming at you or not fall off the platform. It was clearly supposed to feel good to go fast, but I can't go fast when I'm worried about how the next jump is going to land and IF it's gonna land in some cases. Also, this is a bit nitpicky, but I have never met a single gamer that truly enjoyed a moving-wall segment. Call me nuts here, but I'm pretty sure that nobody actually likes these. I get that the final level was a throwback to older Nintendo platformers with the tower, but come on. Make the platforming tighter so we can move quicker, or at least give us a break. There's no reason for the checkpoint to give you mere seconds to start moving when the wall of death is an instant kill, and there's never, NEVER any reason for an instant kill wall to move in a cutscene, that's just cruel for the sake of cruel. I picked up this game to relax, not yell at my screen because I can't make it to the next platform in time because the insta kill wall is right on my butt.
Third, the glitches. So many, so often. None really game breaking, but still. Several times I ended up floating midair for no reason, but still able to move. Sometimes the music breaks on some of the rhythm-minecart type segments, and sometimes it will reset your electricity counter or start you back at the wrong checkpoint during them. Button inputs occasionally did not work when I clearly pressed them. Sometimes, collectibles will not be collected, even if you are sitting right on top of them. A few times, I was completely stuck on the scenery bouncing or unable to move, but it got better. Once, at the start of a level, I randomly couldn't move at all and had to restart the level over. I'd think this must be to do with the spark's hitbox possibly being too small, same as with some platforming issues, but still. Glitches, they are there. I know this was more of a game jam type game, but you'd think there would be some more polish before you put it on Steam, that's all...
All things considered, I'm not so sure that I can recommend paying full price for this. TurnOn has plenty to like, but I did not have that great a time with it personally. Maybe it's that it's too short for $15 - it took me all of five hours to beat it, most of which was spent being frustrated at having to do the same exact rhythm-based minecart style levels twenty times just to get an inch further along the wires. Maybe it's because the platforming was too artificially hard, or the puzzles too easy, IDK. I wanna like it so bad, I wanna recommend it, but I can't. I'd recommend if you want a better platformer with tighter controls, pick up Hollow Knight or Sundered; if you want a better puzzle platformer, pick up Incredipede or Mutant Blobs Attack. If you really do want this game, wait until it's on sale for about $10 or less.
