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Iconoclasts Game Review

Introduction

The game I will be reviewing is Iconoclasts. Created by Joakim Sandberg in 2018, Iconoclasts is a 2D Metroid-Vania that, when you're just beginning, seems to have a very simple story to follow. The premise being that there is a religion that worships a god more so in a way a cult would worship a god, and that's avoiding specifics. 

Gameplay

You start out with a simple stun gun and a wrench, although you don't get many types of weapons to use, you never feel too weak or too strong. In addition, each weapon has a stronger shot when holding the fire button and then letting go. Moving on to the weapons, first we have the stun gun, a very versatile weapon, weak fast firing shots that have slight auto aim. Holding and then letting go of the fire button just fires a very powerful shot. Next weapon, the rolling bomb shot, a very simple explosive that deals moderate damage but forces you to wait after firing. Holding and letting go of the fire button with the bomb gun launches a missile that takes a bit to arm, if not armed and hits an enemy deals no damage, however if it is armed it deals massive damage. Last and definitely not least, the usurper shot, deals high damage and pierces through enemies, similarly to the bomb shot, if fired too much in one period, will disable you from firing for a bit. Holding and letting go of the fire button with the usurper shot fires a beam that swaps your position with what you hit, being possibly enemies or blocks.  Combat wise, the game is skill based, mostly because of the bosses in the game. In addition, the game is very puzzle heavy, although most of them aren't too difficult if you know what you're doing. I can't forget about tweaks. Tweaks are small boosts to the player's stats, for example, increasing movement speed. The downside of these tweaks though are that if you get hit, it breaks one of the tweaks, and removes the buffs that tweak gives until it's fixed, and the tweaks can be fixed by killing or knocking out enemies to name one.

Graphics and Visuals

The game uses very charming pixel art. In addition, the way each character is animated makes them feel more life-like. The game changes the animations of the player character depending on if you’re currently fighting a boss, and the game is very attentive when it comes to details. The player character’s animation changes permanently sometime before the final boss, so during what would be considered the endgame.

Sound and Music

The game’s music is very well made, and it always fits the tone of the environment the player finds themselves in. In addition, the music is sometimes used in a certain situation the player character is experiencing. My favorite music in this game is definitely boss music. Although some bosses reuse music, the music is really well made and most of the songs are a bit intense, but a few are more sad. The music for bosses always is matching what boss you’re up against.

Story and Narrative

The story is way more than the game lets on at first. In terms of story, it’s mainly composed of the stories of the various characters in the game. Some of the themes of the stories are interesting, and some of the themes of the other stories are just sad. The story is mainly told through various cutscenes, with some of the story being told through dialogue and a small portion being told through discovery.

Replay Value

Although there isn’t much replayability, it is present in the form of a difficulty and game mode unlocked by beating the game. The difficulty unlocked by beating the game is called challenge mode, which makes you die in one shot, and the gamemode unlocked by beating the game is called boss rush. Boss rush consists of 4 difficulties and is basically a challenge to beat an array of bosses in the game while doing it as fast as possible

Conclusion and Final Rating

Overall, the game is pretty well made. There are many points of the game where a player would be surprised at the game’s story and will be satisfied when they solve a difficult puzzle.I give this game a rating of 10/10. Despite this game lacking in variety, it still is very fun as a game. In addition, the story is very interesting to learn about.

Review Reflection

When originally making this review, i was going to separate the conclusion and final rating, but they both were too small, so i decided to combine them. I am most proud of the gameplay section of my review, this is because it is the most thorough part of my review. If i had more time, I would have hopefully been able to improve the conclusion and final rating, i feel like i could've done better on it. I learned that evaluating games isn't as easy as people make it seem, you have to be very precise about what you do and don't like about a game. A challenge i faced when analyzing the game was actually taking notes on the game, i was able to point out key points in the game but i never typed it anywhere except in the draft and the preparation.

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