Iconoclasts

Iconoclasts
87
Metacritic
86
Steam
89.249
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$5.99
Release date
23 January 2018
Developers
Steam reviews score
Total
86 (3 567 votes)
Recent
84 (26 votes)

Join renegade mechanic Robin and uncover the secrets of a dying planet. Explore a big world filled with intricate puzzles, interesting characters and menacing bosses in a beautiful platform adventure that tells a personal story about faith, purpose and the challenge of helping people.

Show detailed description

Iconoclasts system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: Windows XP SP3 or later
  • Processor: Dual Core CPU, 2 GHz
  • Memory: 1 GB RAM
  • Graphics: 512 MB Video Memory
  • DirectX: Version 9.0c
  • Storage: 500 MB available space

Recommended:

Recommended requirements are not yet specified.
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Sr. Valentim
Sr. Valentim

Writing this because i really forgot to do it. The game is 100% Completed and i really want my time back lol

First, why a game with tons of references to Brazilian culture, don't have Brazilian Portuguese as a language option?????????? It also does not help that the dialogue is very confusing and the progression design is terrible.

Just give some food or some dollars and we translate the game for you dude, easy peazy. Myself would translate the game just messing with the game files, but i have other stuff to do. What a punch in the balls.

The game features tons of nice effects and particles but oh my, do they love to obstruct your line of sight, specially in boss fights. This game is easy, like a lot. The only challenge is the "challenge mode", where you have 1 hp.

And even then, you will only receive damage cause the game is a mess of effects and particles that stand on the way, making you don't see what is happening most of the time, with results in unfair damage, and headaches.

The music is okay, alot of forgettable lows here and there, i only remember 3 themes. Or four.

It is also marketed as "MetroidVania", but is not one, the game plays like a linear adventure game with collectables all over the place, wich not improve your character and don't make places inaccessible become accessible, you don't need to explore the world to beat the game, you will only explore if you want 100% the collectibles, wich all them suck. So why even bother? Does the story at least works? Kinda.

Is a good game? Yes. It is beautiful? Absolutely. Worth your money? If you wait for a sale, aand you are okay with the fact that is not a metroidvania, have fun dude.

Twisted
Twisted

I went into this game under the false pretenses that it was a Metroidvania; it is not. However that doesn't mean it's not a good game!

I ended up loving this game so much I bought a copy on Steam after having sunk a good 40 hours into my copy on my Switch.

Likes: Music! The tunes slap, especially during bosses.
The bossfights are a f!?king blast, especially some near the end of the game
The characters are quirky and funny
The platforming is fun
Graphics are colorful at fun to look at while playing
The story is a wild ride that closes with a twist of irony

Cons: You collect items but they aren't really all that useful
Levels can be linear
Weapon selection is very limited
There's a couple areas near the end of the game that are very easy to get lost in and you end up just looping around until you find where you need to be

I give the game an 8/10 and definitely recommend.

HEREWARD1066
HEREWARD1066

The game itself is good but not outstanding. The genre is becoming saturated or to put it another way the competition has got a lot tougher since this game released in 2018. At full price no way is it worth it. Even at half that it's a push. It needs to be way cheaper. I paid £6:99 and was about right in 2020. It has been cheaper than that and needs to be again. Wait for the sale.

HaltingState
HaltingState

This game is a masterpiece. The music, the visuals, animation, character design, the characters. It is a good experience. I would highly recommend.

Iconoclasts is a classic and is at the level of
- Cave Storm
- Super Metroid

The game took me 20 hours to beat. For a metroivania, maybe it dragged on too long and 12 to 15 hours would have had better pacing. And the developer could have added more endings or ability to do multiple play through. And ability to change plot with new game plus, or addition of more plot lines or replay value.

And the bonuses or power ups could have become more powerful and game breaking towards the end. Or new progression mechanics introduced later in game. However, the main focus on the game is on boss fight and puzzles. And there should be areas that can only be accessed using special tweaks, that required exploring the story line more. And more threads could have been introduced after the [spoiler] level.

The only thing I did not like, was that it was completely linear and there was only one solution per puzzle and little reason to go back to areas, after they were cleared. Progression or new weapons, in late game should have allowed unlocking another 50% of areas or new puzzles or areas.

The colors, music, visuals, puzzle design, animations, boss fights are very good.

Tofuraven
Tofuraven

A tyrannical religion? Superhuman people? Then stop screwing around and go pick up your combat wrench!

Well. Honestly, this is another title where I'd prefer a "meh" review category.
I really liked the game's story, once the plot threads became unraveled passing the mid-section of the game, and most of the riddles were fun to solve as well. Personally, I was fine with the differences in pace between puzzle and action segments (though, looking at other reviews, this also seems to throw quite a few people off).
Buuut... at its heart Iconoclasts is still a Metroidvania - and the combat system is way too non-fluent for that. Several of the battles were very fast-paced at least conceptually with quick-witted enemies, but the unresponsive controls and movement-blocking attack animations made them a drag to sit through.

So, do I recommend the game or no? As my rating says, I do - but only if you're mostly here for the story and/or ready to occasionally bite down in frustration due to unnecessarily lengthy boss battles (focusing on evasion rather than risking standing still a bit to attack), or another foreseeable death due to movement constrictions. At least most pre-battle cutscenes are skippable.

Tommyg2727
Tommyg2727

I liked this game, i found the game hard but you can tell it was crafted with a lot of care, the dev should be proud and i liked the story, some areas could be little frustrating like the elevator level if i remember rightly but all in all a good game well done. 8/10

PunkieTheAlien.TTV
PunkieTheAlien.TTV

I WANTED to recommend this game.
I really did.
After clearing the game on hard (not challange/one hit mode), I was emotionally spent.
The game sells on the idea of "the challenge of helping people."
Spoilers - you don't/can't take you pick.
You will get beating up emotionally and then wonder why you played this game.

TLDR;
A platform game that will be more of feels trip, clunky puzzle bosses, and nothing you do matters.

falsesouth
falsesouth

Interesting narrative metroidvania-esque game, with a decent amount of (occasionally confusing) substance. Jokes were hit and miss for me, but I really liked how the silent protagonist was done here, especially the intro sequence and endgame yeah let's just punch the final boss to get its attention lol . Soundtrack is typically good and catchy, though they occasionally feel randomly reinserted or out of place (maybe just me). While metroidvania games definitely inspired the work to an extent (let's face it, the eyes are basically X parasites , I see weirdly see similarities between this game and Metroid Dread (2021) Iconoclasts has the Ivory beast, Dread has the X abomination , though Samus Returns (2017) came out beforehand, so I wonder if there was any two way inspiration) between these games, as they play quite similarly. You have these semi-linear metroidvania games with similar types of combat, and it was refreshing to see a similar but diverting approach out there. I saw a review of Inmost that basically said to play Iconoclasts instead for multiple playable character action, so I decided to try it. This is definitely better. Others might compare it to Owl Boy, and I think Iconoclasts and Owl Boy rank comparatively well against one another as platformers with multiple playable protagonists.

I compared this to Metroid games already, but I think I should use one more to describe Iconoclasts: Fusion. It's metroidvania gameplay that forces the player to complete certain tasks at certain times, much like Metroid Fusion. Although many despised how much Fusion differed from Super Metroid, there seems to be more opportunities for interesting planned segments in the linear metroidvania gameplay of Fusion and Iconoclasts. Every once and a while, it will feel like you are playing the stage of an arcade platformer, which is kind of neat. Combat is interesting, but not quite as tight as in Metroid Dread. Bosses are generally fun, but a few are especially annoying or silly Blocker is annoying fast paced repetitive button sequences, while the boss you fight as injured Elro is kind of boring and seems highly unrealistic lol . I think the game does a good job of telling the story it intends to tell, though sometimes it gets very lore heavy (which I find way too easy to tune out), and other times they say nothing or leave it entirely to lore notes (which is not unusual in these types of games, but also can be confusing in this case). The game is quite interpersonal relation focused, and you do get a sense of the thought process of different characters, as silly as it may sound in the context of a sci-fi game. In both obvious and obscured ways, it shares the importance of understanding others [spoiler] The obscure way being answering questions posed throughout the game a certain way to appease shadows that attack you in the dream sequence before the final boss [spoiler]. I did not find the tweak system too interesting, I just used it for three damage-free hits and didn't buy any other ones. I am sure there is some strategy for optimal tweak setups for speedruns or something. Swapping between different characters throughout this game was pretty fun, though some segments were confusing at first glance particularly the Ash fight, which was preceded with too much vague text explanations of what you were expected to do; not to mention, "stealth" had no role later in the game.. kind of glad about that, but why say it in the first place? .

Besides some of these hiccups, the game also has bugs/weird issues:
1) in windowed mode, if you are in full resolution, every player death/gameover screen transition will resize the window to a certain smaller size every time.
2) in the tower, I found that it was possible to hold onto the ladder while riding an elevator up past the auditorium. This was under the circumstance of doing what is required for a cut scene to activate in the auditorium, so I was essentially stuck in a room transition next to it with the lights dimmed. Upon resetting the game, I made sure not to press up on the elevator ride, and proceeded to see the cut scene normally once I got to the correct spot for it.

Overall, it feels like a neat passion project that people should experience. It has its highs and lows, but it was pretty epic and enjoyable for the most part.

Sareth
Sareth

On sale, this game can get a thumps up.
It has pretty art & good animations and is generally fun to play.
(Even if I weirldy struggled with the keybinds at times for some reason).

Just don't look at the art and expect a Yoshi's Island-esque happy fun time for your children, though.
If you're one of those weird americans that hates rude words in their media, stay far and wide away from this.

This game can and will pull some hard tonal whiplash, dark-ish themes and harsh language right out of nowhere. The writing & characterization is, weirdly enough, the high-point of this game. The side-characters are almost all assholes, but well written ones.

The bosses do phone it in well before the game ends, and the game has it's fair share of tedium at times.
Ending is decidedly 'egh'.

Hence, recommended if on sale.

ENecross
ENecross

The controls are smooth and graphics clean. The boss fights often times easy except for figuring out what they are expecting you to do.

why is the character limit so sm
why is the cha…

Please play this game. This game was stunning. I do not often set down my controller to think about the emotions the game is driving at me. I did for this game. The powerful narrative combined with the best platforming ive played in years combines to make a game that is easily in my top ten games of all time. Please play this game.

Your Boi, Shadow
Your Boi, Shadow

The story, gameplay, and music are amazing. It's a crime that this game isn't more popular! It's easily one of my favorite games of all time.

Skylair
Skylair

One of my favorite Metroidvania. While the game lack a bit in term of freedom of exploration compared to other MV, it's for a simple reason: the game has to be a bit more linear because it has a really good story.

Gorgeous pixel art, a lot of really unique boss fights, lovable characters, great story jumping from some comedy moments to some of the most depressing stuff i saw in video games.

WheresLuc
WheresLuc

While I enjoyed some elements in this game I constantly found myself asking 'what am I supposed to do here?' both in the exploration phase and the boss fights. I generally try to avoid looking at game wikis, preferring to figure it out on my own, but couldn't with this one. The only in-game help while exploring is one line over the map saying something unhelpful like 'you're looking for a way to help your friends'. Similarly, the boss fights usually require a specific move, or hitting pieces of the screen in a particular order, which once known is very easy to complete.
I wish the game actually wanted you to become skilled with the gameplay, instead of it being hard because you're constantly confused and don't know what you're supposed to be doing.

ChaosChaotic
ChaosChaotic

A lot of fun mechanics, interesting lore if you pay attention and definitely entertaining for characters. Highly recommend!!

Dead
Dead

It has everything.

Tight control. Clever but fair puzzles. A story that is told in glimpses and actually adds richness to the experience. Only thing I would criticize is the somewhat hack "virtually silent protagonist" trope. It's extremely polished; would have been a blockbuster in the SNES era. One tip: Play on Harder.

tatterdemalian
tatterdemalian

For a game where the designated villains literally announce from the start that they hate the protagonist because she "helps people," Iconoclasts quickly turns into a surprisingly deep cosmic horror story about how inhuman humans can be to each other when they have nothing but superstition to rely on to understand the world they live in.

Cartaphilus
Cartaphilus

OK game, but after a while I got pretty bored of it. Lots of backtracking through levels, most combat pretty dull. though the boss combat was pretty cool in its intricacy. Characters and story are interesting, but ultimately having a mute as the protagonist leaves you feeling pretty uninvolved with any of their quirky but shallow fates.

LokiDoki
LokiDoki

Truly and underrated Masterpiece, everyone needs to play this game

dr.raedalahmadi
dr.raedalahmadi

Really good Game , if you like metroidvanias with good game play , fluid pixel art , and challenging puzzles and bosses ( even for the experienced gamer ) , this game is for you .
a hidden gem indeed ,
EXTRA : made by one really hardworking developer , impressive .

Franky M.
Franky M.

A solid adventure/action platformer. The story builds up nicely (with a much darker tone than the colorful visuals might suggest) and the boss fights are inventive, usually requiring to figure out some "trick" rather than just mash your strongest attacks. Really impressive to think it was all made by a single developer.

Exxion
Exxion

I don't remember how I found out about this game, but I remember it was years before it released, and I couldn't wait for it to come out. I played the second demo countless times before the release date was even announced. I was very excited. My expectations were probably unreasonably high.

And it absolutely blew them away. Just play this game.

I'm not sure why I didn't review it before now. Guess I just forgot.

jonheather96
jonheather96

I LOVE Iconoclasts! I have played the game 3 games through. Incredible pixel art, cute characters, lots of boss battles, cool music, and lots of fun. There is also puzzle solving. A lot of love went into this game. It is hard to imagine that just one person invented this remarkable game. It is one of my favorite games.

DanielDerpDerp
DanielDerpDerp

Understood everything the second time through, and the second to last boss being the one that sticks to me the most to this day.

Deja Vu
Deja Vu

I absolutely loved the game.
Finished it within 2-3 days of starting!

The story is confusing and odd at first, but then it starts to become less congested later on.

The characters are LOVABLE

The game is a beautiful tragedy

Buy it, play it, you're welcome.

monorail khat
monorail khat

pros :
1)charming graphics/art
2)decent controls
3)cool boss fights

cons :
1)confusing story, too heavy handed.
2)exploring seem like a chore, which is a big problem for a metroidvania. there are no EXPs, no drops, so no point in killing enemies!. so when you get stuck, backtracking is highly unrewarding.
3)some annoying game designs such as obligatory hits, inability to equip twerks when you craft them...

it started out fun, but became a chore for me, after 7 or so hrs.

Solo シ
Solo シ

I thought this game would never end. Has pacing issues towards the end. Not a bad game at all but there are several points where you start to question where you're supposed to go and it takes running around everywhere to find that one cutscene.

Topo91
Topo91

It was good until the stealth boss. THen it was boring as hell and had to uninstall it

Zedon
Zedon

Ignore the tags - this is more a narrative focused action puzzle than an MV or action game. Yes, it takes place in an interconnected map, yes, you occasionally get upgrades as you advance the story that grant you access to more areas, but it never really feels like a metroidvania because you never really have the freedom to explore until you're literally to the final boss. It's as dialog heavy as a JRPG, but fortunately the story is a well-written one, despite going with the common silent-protagonist trope. The story really fits the title, in that it revolves around characters breaking tradition, religious and familial, and dealing with the repercussions of that. All in all, the story is the biggest strength of the game, by far.

As for the gameplay, well the areas themselves you take them in the order the story presents them to you, and explore through said areas in a more or less linear fashion. As you explore the open world, combat very much takes a back seat to the puzzles - using your wrench, electricity, and blocks to work your way to the next room. The enemies are just there as little breaks between puzzles - they don't come in many varieties, each has it's own weakness that you need only figure out once, and you can straight up ignore them half the time - heck, sometimes you *need* to just avoid them.

The boss fights are the only time you're going to really be challenged from a combat perspective. Expect to die a couple times as you figure out what the fight's mechanics are - they're like puzzles too - just particularly painful ones when you mess up. But there's always a checkpoint right before a boss, so restarting isn't much of a hassle.

All in all, worth playing if you want to experience a casualish 2D indie game with a nice story about the hardships of breaking traditions in order to help people, despite all those people telling you to give up, that it's not your responsibility, that family and/or faith come first. But if you're specifically jonesing for an metroidvania style experience, maybe play something else and come back once you need a palette cleanser.

darkwolf4000
darkwolf4000

A fun metroidvania style game with a cool dark story. definitely worth playing a gal version of Ratchet before Rachet and Clank gotten Rivet added to there universe.

Deadly Habit
Deadly Habit

It's good, but I'd call it more of a puzzle platformer than a Metroidvania.

c.maldonadoclassicalpianist
c.maldonadocla…

Within the first 30 minutes of the game I encountered a bar scene where he decided to make a homeless harasser character a Black man, and did poorly written slang that was just offensive. Also he insisted that he say ",girl" at the end of all of his dialogue so that we wouldn't miss that he's Black. So harmful and exhaustingly racist. He is the first POC in the game (and I don't care to see if there are more) and he is just a drunk that is harassing a woman, and crashing on someones' couch without asking? Sandberg needs to check his racism. This is just offensive and if he had created this game without assuming he was all knowing and perfect, but had run it by experts in racial justice and sensitivity, this could have been avoided. Now I don't want to play this and I'm getting a refund. Shame on you Sandberg.

Xbalanque84
Xbalanque84

It's games like this that make me wish Steam had the option of giving a mixed review, as I can't really say I can recommend one way or the other.

Pros: solid gameplay, good sprite work, excellent boss battles
Cons: overt socio-political messaging, schizophrenic writing quality

I initially bought Iconoclasts because I saw some boss fight footage. And true to what I'd seen, this game delivered. The storyline, however, leaves a lot to be desired.
*It keeps falling back on tiresome "girl power" tropes and implies misogyny repeatedly when it isn't warranted. More on that below.
*The amount of LGBTWHATEVER "representation" is downright gratuitous. One of the player characters is a lesbian in a relationship with a woman who I initially thought was her sister. A little surprising, but no big deal; such things are generally beneath my notice, and I could care even less. But then a flashback reveals that one of the recurring villains maybe had a crush on/relationship with a person of unidentifiable gender, complete with half their head shaved and hair dyed purple. That made me sit up and take notice that something was off here. Two LGBT couples in one game? Given the setting of the story, the odds of such people finding compatible partners seems statistically improbable at the very least. It doesn't feel organic, which begs the question of what message the writers are trying to convey. This detail was also what made me really start to notice the other political messaging in this game.
*True to the title, this game takes a very strong stance against religion, with the main villains of the game being leaders of a cult (with obvious Christian influence) ruling over a dystopian society with an iron fist. Obnoxiously, one of the recurring villains will periodically stop what he's doing to read scripture from their cult's holy book. And one of the so-called protagonists is a high-ranking, superpowered member of the cult who was so sheltered by said cult that everything he does makes the situation worse for everyone. The main group of dissidents are scientist hippies who worship the earth/trees. And, predictably, the foundations this religion are built on ultimately prove to be false (though, credit where it's due, the reveal and design of the final boss are actually kinda clever). As someone who has studied world religions, the false dichotomies of science vs religion/Christianity vs every other religion got tiresome a long time ago, and it annoys me that this studio decided to fall back on such a tired strawman.
*This game seems to take a very, VERY dim view of men. The only three male characters to receive significant screentime are all presented in a negative light. The first of them is the scripture-quoting villain. The second is the aforementioned sheltered cult member who fucks everything up. In retrospect, the fact you have to abandon him to a fate worse than death to reach the end of the game takes on a more sinister tone. The third is the main protagonist's older brother, who is picked out as the unwitting instigator of all the bad things that happen in this story. Ordinarily, this would not be an issue. But the writers for this game seem to go out of their way to paint him as painfully stupid (assassinating a major character in a fit of rage in a flashback, then ironically escaping without actually going into hiding), imply he's misogynistic (painting concern for his sister's well-being/safety as him being a paternalistic control freak), and heap all the responsibility for what happens on him. What's more, they run him through the meat grinder: by the end of the game, he's lost an arm, an eye, his house has been demolished, and his wife and daughter are dead. This brother doesn't feel like a real character, he feels like a political strawman who exists specifically to be punished by the universe itself. Even if I didn't disagree with the inherent politics of this story, that's bad writing.

Suffice to say, the omnipresent socio-political messaging left a sour taste in my mouth. There were parts of the story I liked (especially their use of one villain's headaches), and my aforementioned criticisms wouldn't be nearly as pronounced if the writing team were able to integrate them into the story with a modicum of subtlety. As it stands, though, these issues stand out like a sore thumb and indicate that this game is trying to push some sort of social agenda. Even if I agreed with said agenda, that kind of politicization in media makes me extremely uncomfortable. Consequently, I only played through Iconoclasts once.

Basically, the game is fun if you can manage to ignore most of the storyline (or, I assume, if you agree with the devs' politics). I, sadly, cannot manage this.

Deadward
Deadward

Has an incredible story that is worth the price of admission alone. Finds the perfect balance of hard hitting mandatory story beats and optional written worldbuilding that you can piece together yourself.

The games puzzles are difficult enough to engage some problem solving but not so difficult you will bang your head against them for minutes.

While the mandatory story upgrades are all great, the optional upgrades are usually disappointing (slightly more health, slightly more movement speed, ect.) This leaves a lot of the hardest puzzles/secrets without any sort of extrinsic reward.

Its a good game.

TechnoPhoenix
TechnoPhoenix

Honestly, there is not one thing about Iconoclasts that I could say is objectively bad. The art and level of polish is astonishing, the combat is enjoyable at its worst and thrilling at its best (seriously, the boss battles are so good), and the story and characters are complex enough to have genuine depth while also being easy to follow and understand.
There are three things you should know before you get this game, though:
One, it definitely feels a lot more like a linear puzzle platformer than it does a metroidvania - and while this alone isn't a bad thing, it can be disappointing to those that expected a different kind of game.
Two, if you're not a fan of religious themes or you find social and political narratives preachy and annoying, you probably won't like the story and overall tone of this game. (I'd say that this game handles that subject matter pretty well, but even so.)
And finally, it's not a very long game. At the time of writing this, Steam says I've spent 18 hours playing, but about eight of those were just leaving the game open on accident while I went to go do something else, so it took me around ten hours total to do and find everything Iconoclasts had to offer.
If you're still interested in the game after reading all of that, get it! I definitely don't regret it, and I'm sure you won't either.

Jordano Bruno
Jordano Bruno

Its' hard to belive that Iconoclasts game was made by one person.
It's wonderful game! I highly recomend it for guys which love metroidvania games, 2D puzzles and deep stories!
Thanks for that amazing experience!

RavenousRaven
RavenousRaven

I felt like I just finished reading a book but instead I played it. Now I feel bad that it's over. But I also feel good that it's over.

Simping4Jesus
Simping4Jesus

I've played a few Metroidvanias and this is definitely my favorite.

electrumpig233476
electrumpig233476

Puzzles are too big for small brain, luckily you can brute-force monkey-brain them sometimes. A couple well-written characters, others are one-dimensional and bland. Most of the boss fights are easy enough, one is a PAIN in the ass and one has an absolutely godly soundtrack, you know if you know.

Gem
Gem

This game is incredible. To think that one man made this is astonishing.

The biggest selling point for this game would be its narrative. Iconoclasts is not the game you would think it is at first glance (which unfortunately works against this game). Both Steam and the game's introduction give you the feeling that it's a colourful, happy-go-lucky platformer that almost seems generic, but in fact this game is very rich in its story and eventually becomes brutal in its violence.

Religion and faith is the central focus of the plot as characters conflict on the notion of God and how society revolves around worship. So many characters suffer and experience some form of tragedy in their life as the game progresses and at one moment near the end of the game one character's despair moved me to tears. There are a lot of little details in the story that you can piece together as not everything is told outright to you through the narrative and its very clever in how its shown to you but not outright told directly. Doing a second playthrough of the game after knowing the entire picture will change your understanding of the game's events, revealing new light on the narrative through your newfound context. Simply put, it's all so very beautiful.

While the upgrade system is somewhat questionable with most perks being afterthought upgrades, the core gameplay is simple, fun and tightly-knit. I never found myself feeling bored as there was always something to do or interact with. The puzzles aren't too hard and the boss fights are on the easier side with only some standouts giving me particular trouble like the optional ones.

The music is phenomenal, the pixel artstyle is wonderful to look at, and everything, and I mean everything is incredibly animated. The game oozes with gorgeous sprite animation that shines its brightest during boss fights and cutscenes.

I loved every second of this game as its themes and characters continously caught me off guard. I wanted more, I needed to see where it would all lead and I was not disappointed.

Bravo Joakim Sandberg, you created a work of art.

ChezBorgar
ChezBorgar

its fun but pretty short, and not much replayability other than boss rushes or speedruns. lovely pixel art and banger ost though im a bit mixed with the story, like the dev didnt have enough time to "finish" it.

the dog without curiosity
the dog withou…

This game is awesome! Animation is great, art style is unique and very lovable, background music matches the vibes of each sections, and the story is dark but intriguing. Combats are pretty fun, too. Not too easy and not too hard. Puzzles on the other hand are too easy, but that doesn't change the fact that this game is awesome. Can't imagine how much effort the creator had put in this game . Mad respect.

Tower level is kinda annoying tho which almost made me quit the game. Good thing I stayed for what the game has to offer in the late game.

Λlcoys
Λlcoys

amazing game developed made by ONE GUY IN HER HOUSE.
i really enjoy it... in my opinion its a bit underrated game.

Vomantis
Vomantis

This a great metroidvania, the art truly is wonderful and the gameplay is mostly very fun, but the best part is the world bulding and story, story that is surprisingly awesome and even dark. At the start you will actually feel that the game is lacking, because most of the mechanics do not click yet, this is not good, but once the game develops, it becomes an actual great puzzle/combat game.

DreamyMeatMan
DreamyMeatMan

I bought this game on a whim because it was inexpensive and looked cute, ended up being one of the best games I've played in years.

Huge shout out to the developer, you did some really great work here, thank you so much for making this.

easydor
easydor

Good game. Never had the feeling that this was exceptional like for example Hollow Knight but a unique and fun experience.

DefinitelyHertz
DefinitelyHertz

truly incredible. the wonderful cast is lovable, pixel art and animation work is remarkably impressive, and the gameplay all flows together into a neat little indie game package. could not recommend enough.

one of the main characters immediately class changes from a thief when she finds a shotgun and she's a fluffin VIBE

OverSoul.1437
OverSoul.1437

Played the game on harder difficulty, got me around 11 hours of playtime, including the puzzles and the boss fight deaths. Deaths outside of boss battles can be annoying since there's almost no autosaves outside of boss battles and you get sent back to the last save point. There are perks that help you avoid this though, and sort of undermines the difficulty of the game that you play at.

I'm playing this game right after CrossCode, my favorite. It's possible my review is biased.
Collecting loot isn't really necessary in this game after a while, and I found myself playing just for the story. There are some secret bosses you can fight, as well as hidden lore here and there. There's also some funny moments scattered throughout the game that honestly made laugh. The pixel art is good too. I do wish they made enemy weaknesses clearer though.

Overall 7/10 would recommend.

IDKbutKirb
IDKbutKirb

Pretty good fun! Combat feels great, puzzles are pretty interesting, and there are a few twists and turns. Along with that, it's sorta open-world (You go to areas in order, but can do like 90% of the stuff on the first visit to the areas)! My only dislike about this game is the story. At the start it makes a pretty fair amount of sense, but near the end that's thrown out the window and the characters are just making decisions on the spot ( The group choosing to ride the rocket is literally a last second decision ). Overall, pretty good, though it's kinda short, like most smaller-scale Steam games. I'd say consider picking it up generally, but I'd also say to nearly definitely pick it up if there's a good sale on it.

greg
greg

60% of game is trying to get to the next kinda lame/kinda cool puzzle. Underwhelming music, Good boss fights, Kinda smelly story.

Rafão da Massa
Rafão da Massa

A game with a good gameplay and history, i enjoyed so much playing this game. If you like metroidvania games i really recommend that.

theMetalBird
theMetalBird

A solid platformer/puzzle-solver with a unique, if confusing story. Can feel clunky at times, but overall it's an enjoyable experience.

Liquidus19
Liquidus19

Fun little metroidvania to hold you over if you need this kind of game.

TacticlDildoGun
TacticlDildoGun

One of my favorite indie games I've ever played. The bosses are memorable, the platforming is crisp, the environments are distinctive, the story and characters are gripping, the gameplay never wastes your time, and the dialogue made me stop and think about life on multiple occasions. I've been recommending this to everyone I know IRL.

Treat yourself.

LuciusVonStart
LuciusVonStart

Oh! What a cute little game!

*proceeds to detroy an entire religion with a wrench in less than a week*

Picolé de Macaco
Picolé de Macaco

In a game about iconoclasm, every boss is a different puzzle in need of deconstruction.

Good gameplay, good story, good music; you know, the list goes on. It´s really worth the time!

Septimus Vyper
Septimus Vyper

I didn't expect much from this game, having temporarily deposited it into the back archives of my steam library while other, newer games took precedent. I almost ended up trashing it due to a steam launch error, but I'm glad I took the initiative to play it as I did not regret it.

The game features a unique, albeit 'classic' aesthetic reminiscent of old school platformer games of decades past. It seems to be arranged in a light metroidvania fashion, with minimal backtracking. Puzzle elements are engaging, though not overtly difficult and do not hold you hostage, interrupting your progress. Boss fights are much the same; mechanics may seem complicated at first, but are very forgiving once solved. Having a selectable difficulty at the start of every load is a nice modern touch and allows for more emphasis on progression and story if desired. The standard mode is well balanced in my experience and allows for a challenge without bogging down the plot progression.

What surprised me most about this game was the depth of the story. While this isn't the first time I've been surprised by an outwardly simplistic appearing game, it's always refreshing to be surprised yet again. In a world of cheap and hollow grind fests with bare bones scripts, having a well written and executed story is a nice reprieve. I was reminded of classics such as Chrono Trigger several times throughout the dialogue sequences; just spot on writing. The characters are quite memorable and charming. I found myself cheering for some and feeling sorry for others. The conclusion of the game seems to be intentionally polarizing as well. I appreciated the twist at the end that makes you think, which is a nice cherry on top.

I would recommend this one to anyone that enjoys a well thought out story with some classic platforming/puzzle solving action for variety.

Brapula
Brapula

Up there with Hollow Knight, top tier metroidvania

Zatchel
Zatchel

This game has some great pixel art and gameplay, but has some big flaws to it too.

For one, the story is a bit hammy and does not do that good of a job explaining the player the world around us or why things work the way they do, you have to buy at face value all the insane things the game throws at you. Not a fan of the story.

Second, for a Metroidvania it felt a bit unfair regarding secrets, some of the secret areas give you a clue of their existence and reward exploration but many others are insanely hard to find without a guide and the secret bosses are just not going to be found without one. Also, the perk that help you find secret areas is also one of the hardest secrets to find in the first place! I prefer when the game has a fair sense for finding secrets instead of having the player inspect every inch with each possible action to try and find them.

Yoimcool
Yoimcool

The game's base is really fun but at times you get stuck at parts and it all goes downhill , you lose intrest in trying to figure it out and let the game sit out in your library.

benn
benn

It was very fun aside from some puzzle I wasn't smart enough to solve without google

Knightsundere
Knightsundere

Score: 6/10
Has some ups, has some downs. First off - weird. Iconoclasts is weird and a little jarring, and it swings both ways in whether it fits or it doesn't. The nature of the story is significantly more sinister and serious than the art and music, and this isn't really ever addressed, so you have a strange sense of not-belonging that makes earlier sections of the storyline seem just... bizarre. However. As the game progresses into the second half, and the hidden secrets start to spill, the scope widens and there's a very pleasant mysteriousness about where everything's heading that really sucks the player in when it counts. IF the player ever gets there - the primary side character Mina is so infuriatingly antagonistic and douchey that the early-middle portions of the game are a complete drag and I cried tears of joy at her becoming much more secondary as things moved on. The developer hits you with a message, and then hits you with another message, and then some others, and somewhere in the mix is what the game wants you to take away as the point, but contradictions in who the good guys are and what the bad things are presented as (which you won't fully realize until the ending sections, hence why this game has a "political" reputation) make what seems to start out as something more concise fumble around and ramble. Thankfully, you don't have to care much about that in the face of some excellent boss fights and decent, if occasionally unfair puzzling. The game has metroidvania elements, but I'd shy away from referring to it as such - the upgrades and progression are relatively useless, considering every boss can be soundly defeated with what you're given by default. On a final note, there's a character loss near to the end that's pretty unsatisfying, but honestly, I respect the developer for taking a memorable route, even if it's not executed super well. Overall, Iconoclasts is a little rough on the dialogue, but once the conversation gets going, you'll have plenty to talk about.

Note: if you care about achievements don't skip the credits, I beat the damn game I swear :(

The.MMR
The.MMR

The story is very interesting, creative, and imaginative. The ideas behind the gameplay are imagine and well thought of, and the puzzles are interesting and well thought out. The gameplay just doesn't click, especially when controlling any character besides Robin. This is especially evidence once the Stealth boss fight happens, and drove me to uninstall the game after just two attempts for how awful it was.

Zen D. Benevalta
Zen D. Benevalta

This game gives me such mixed feelings. It's like watching an Olympic Athlete who has trained his or her whole life for this one competition succeed at everything only to trip and get last place at the finish line. Everything was going great, but the ending is so rushed it soured the entire experience for me.

amrbean
amrbean

One of my favorite metroidvania games. Unique boss fights. Tons of content and I didn't get bored with it.

Chet_Awesomelad
Chet_Awesomelad

Really fun 2d platformer / metroidvania. Cute characters, creative combat, challenging puzzles, interesting story.

Mylexsi
Mylexsi

Solid metroidvania with good mechanics that are well-implemented, excellent visual and audio quality across the board. The run up to the ending feels a little bit rushed, but not so much as to spoil the experience. Absolutely worth it.

Sorceress Nicole
Sorceress Nicole

This game is fucking incredible and I haven't stopped thinking about Agent Black since I first beat this game.

UnTubular
UnTubular

This game has a ton going for it.
Fantastic soundtrack
Great story.
Smooth gameplay
Beautiful pixel art

I cannot recommend this one enough. One of the best Metroidvanias I have played!

Empress Angeline
Empress Angeline

I just killed both The Virgin Mary and Jesus

11/10 Jewish propoganda

Daansama
Daansama

Not a bad game by any means but I can't recommend it, I can't put my finger on it but I just didn't have the drive to finish it, I felt like I had seen everything I needed and experienced all the game was showing me. Maybe I was expecting too much?

Bale
Bale

surprisingly the story is the main attraction, it's deep and has the ideology worldview moreover the gameplay has charm it self, puzzle platformer, interesting and memorable boss fight

Aiwi
Aiwi

Amazing Design, Amazing Controls, Amazing Art, Amazing Narrative, Amazing Music, Iconoclasts is a masterpiece like no other. Worth the purchase!

Chaonyx
Chaonyx

This game is a very solid story-based platformer. I was surprised by how good the narrative and characters were, making it a memorable experience. This game is also on the simpler side in terms of difficulty and complexity, so I would consider it a great pick for many people. The bosses in this game a highlight, with many engaging fights that utilize unique mechanics. The pixel art and music are pretty good too. My one gripe with the game is that there isn't much side content aside from a few late game challenges as well as collectables, but this isn't a problem for those looking for a laid back, linear experience.

Orangetreeeeee
Orangetreeeeee

Great Fusion-like Metroidvania with a gorgeous artstyle, charming characters, pleasant soundtrack, and a surprisingly powerful story. Akin to Fusion there are points in the game where the way forward is quite obscure and takes some time to find, but the progression and puzzles are great nonetheless.

Limonada
Limonada

This is probably one of my favourite games ever, everything from the story to the gameplay is just right, I cannot believe a single person made this and you should 100% give it a try, a playthrough where you go around collecting everything takes about 12 hours if you're on the slower side like me.

LucarioXD
LucarioXD

This is a very great Metroidvania. But the 2 things that make it stand out from the rest of its genre :
1. It has amazing bosses. Some are cinematically creative. And some are mechanically challenging. But fun!
2. The story is reeeaaallllllyy good. I'm not giving any spoilers. But it left me thinking about life for a week.
Super awesome puzzle action Metroidvania XD

Straight Pride
Straight Pride

Boring and not a real metroidvania. If that's what you looking for skip this one and don't look back.

Coleslaw
Coleslaw

An incredibly good 2D platformer in the grand tradition of Cave Story and Iji. The soundtrack slaps, the pixel art is incredible. Expect a 15-20 hour ride from start to finish with some incredibly memorable moments. Moonlight...

off2cdawizard
off2cdawizard

This is a game where going in blind really helps with the story and immersion. Try your best not to read anything involving the plot. The core mechanics involving the wrench and gunplay are handled very well, involving some tricky puzzles that do a good job of giving you that "Aha!" moment when you see the solution. The pixel art is gorgeous, with everything having a colorful vibe to it that surprisingly doesn't feel busy on the eyes. Definitely recommended for anyone that loves metroidvanias.

November
November

Allow me to preface that while I don't think Iconoclasts is one of the best games of all time or anything, this game has a lot of love and charm put into it that allows me to enjoy it in spite of its shortcomings.

Alright, so, Iconoclasts is a rather odd game. Its gameplay is as simple as it comes. You can shoot, jump, and after very early in the game, swing a wrench that can be used as a melee attack, a parry, and a tool to activate specific bolts that work like buttons. As the game progresses you unlock a few extra moves like a grenade launcher or the ability to charge yourself electrically. This is used to solve the game's MANY puzzles, and to fight the game's plentiful bosses, a decent chunk of which are glorified puzzles with a little more tension. I hope you like that, because that's essentially the gameplay loop. Mechanically speaking this game isn't very difficult and one can beat a casual playthrough rather easily even in the highest default difficulty, even if you end up getting stuck in a boss or two.

However, while the gameplay is not going to win any awards, the rest of the game is fantastic. The setting is outstanding, particularly in the way it slowly and subtly unfolds itself to the player. The spritework and animation is exquisite, and gives so much characterization to especially the protagonist, Robin. The writing is genuinely pretty solid as well. It's nothing special, but it's well delivered and there's plenty of enjoyment to be had from characters like Mina or Agent Black, and notably, from Robin herself, being probably the first mute protagonist I've actually liked in a videogame. The music also sets the tone of the game pretty well and is generally just great. There's also a large amount of side content that you can find by returning to different places and exploring, however...

I will come out and say it: the metroidvania parts of the game (returning to previous levels with new upgrades) don't feel fun. There's very little incentive to return to previous areas due to how slow it is to do so, and the fast travel somewhat helps, but you will typically still have to do plenty of walking anyway. It wastes a lot of time when you consider that you're revisiting rooms that you have already figured out, yet in some cases you still have to redo the puzzles again. Also, the second half of the game is completely linear: you go in a straight line with no way at any point to leave and return to the rest of the game. You do get a moment before tackling the final boss where you can do all you have to do, so fortunately, there is no "Point of No Return", thank fuck. Even then, after that, you'll probably want to just fight the final boss anyway, so it feels like there's no point at all to "go back and do what you couldn't before", at least in a casual or first playthrough.

These were all minor criticisms, but what I actually want to adress is the tweak system. It blows. The reason for that is simply how unbalanced it is: Tweaks are temporary upgrades that are lost on hit. Typically, they're misc stuff, like being electrically charged for longer or being able to swim for longer, which saves up time in some puzzles but doesn't really give you too much of a bonus. The problem is that these tiny QoL buffs are heavily outclassed by the tweak Iron Heart, which just allows you to take a free hit. Since tweaks break when you take damage and slowly get repaired by doing damage or destroying certain background elements, there is no point in running something that'll give you a small boost and get lost whenever you make any mistake over just not taking a single instance of damage. There's also plenty of optional tweaks that could easily have been small permanent upgrades over how tweaks actually work, since character progression is fairly limited, as it is just "you get new tool for puzzles" instead of more tangible growths. If the system used to replace these wasn't so poorly balanced, I would have no complaints, but, alas, it's how it is.

tl;dr: this game is worth playing alone for its artistic value (read: writing, aesthetic, worldbuilding, and all that) but expect gameplay to be underwhelming, at least outside of boss fights

MoonshineO
MoonshineO

A beautiful 16 bit-style Metroidvania with a gameplay similar to Metroid, Mega Man and Metal Slug. Made by one person!

The strengths of this game is definitely the design. There are many unique looking characters and enemies you will encounter, especially the bosses. Boss fights are the highlight of this game and are mostly fun; some boss mechanics are really creative such as that drilling worm and the skeleton with a shield . but some felt dull and underwhelming such as Ash and that warping girl .

World building and lore are unique and intriguing, however, it has somewhat poor the storytelling. The game's info dump often left me confused and overwhelmed and the characters were not that well-written as how they behaved were sometimes kinda got on my nerves and didn't make sense. Some characters just came outta nowhere and didn't really add anything to the story.

The gameplay mechanics are fun but there's nothing special. It's a bit frustrating how there are sometimes little to no hints on how to progress the level. I had to shoot everything and jump around like crazy to find out that i had to progress by going through a hidden passage. The weapon upgrades didn't seem that necessary and some are well hidden. The dev is really good at hidden content as when i finished the game, the progress only displayed "50%".

I had a lot to complain about, but overall, Iconoclasts is a very fun game with lots of love and passion poured into it. I think the game could be more refined if there were more people working on it. Final Score : 8/10

saul "jimmy mcgill" goodman
saul "jim…

idk why i bought the game lmfao why is this in my library

TamagoKakeZero
TamagoKakeZero

This game is so slept on it's ridiculous. I followed its development for ages and was no disappointed. And the soundtrack is so good that I still listen to it regularly years later. Whether full price or on sale, you should buy it.

Luemi
Luemi

Overall I really enjoyed this game! The visuals are great and the characters are memorable. The story in general is interesting and has some very emotional moments, it's definitely the best part of the game. The gameplay itself is fine but not great. The environments and enemy designs are interesting and there's some good puzzle solving but the action parts of the game are a little shaky. It's too easy on standard difficulty yet often annoying on hard mode and some of the boss fights are not very well designed in my opinion. I also am not super fond of how the tweak system is implemented, I feel like they're rarely helpful during boss fights since you lose them after only getting hit three times. Despite these gripes though I think the positives well outweigh the negatives as long as you care about the story.

Suzera
Suzera

Fun metroidvania with a lot of fun bosses that largely are their own puzzles to figure out how to beat but with really good mechanic reuse. Only a few dud boss fights. Got lost a few times and had to look up where Gustavo was (he's not actually in a place called settlement despite that being where the game tells you to go), but the game overall is definitely worth getting through these very few rough spots. Definitely worth sale price, and definitely worth it at full price if you like metroidvania or actiony puzzle-platformer games.

China
China

How do I even describe this?

A chaotic uncontrollable """metroidvania""" with the most dissonant storytelling I've ever seen.

See the screenshots for this game? Yeah, this game's plot is serious as fuck for the most part and the main subject it tackles is religion. Would you believe that?

It legit is written like a PS1 era Square Enix RPG, and a good one at that... it caused SUCH A RADICAL whiplash when I was playing. It legit felt like a fever dream.

As for the game itself, I... really didn't like it, it felt too chaotic and unconrollable. Enemy attacks felt pooly telgraphed, the screen was constantly shaking and being flooded with visual effects, it was - to me - and overall pretty frustrating experience, not helped by the level design itself being just "ok" at best (and often times very linear).

Not recommended, but if you want to take it a go, you have an ocean of good reviews highlighting the good points in this game that I couldn't see.

Seffindo
Seffindo

Great combat, music, story, art, and amazing bosses. Good exploration but it is fairly linear for a Metroidvania. A lot of the progression is gated by puzzles which is fine if you like puzzle platformers, but for me, certain sections were frustrating. It's only really an issue for one section about halfway through the story though. Even if you're not too fond of puzzle platformers, like myself, still give this game a try. It is incredibly polished, well made, and most importantly: very fun.

Dampfsalzig
Dampfsalzig

The fun never comes.
Metroidvania? No this is forced-route the game, you can never explore because everything is blocked off and can only be opened in the one right order. They always use the same enemy-types, they don't combine them or put them in interesting locations to make the gameplay interesting. I've played for over two hours and still don't have any real upgrade for my character. You need to do a lot of annoying backtracking without finding something new on your second walk through the same environment. The combat is ass or just so simple it bores me out. The story started out interesting with different people having different views and those clashing together but Robin has the bad case of the silent protagonist which just makes all fall flat, she shows no emotion after losing someone dear to her and the cutscenes got too "quirky" for me so i started skipping and since the gameplay loop is no fun either, there's nothing left to enjoy apart from vivid and good looking Pixel art style, but that's the only positive thing that comes to my mind.

isanctz
isanctz

I wouldn't say this is a metroidvania, but still an amazing game! I love the story and the plot twists, it made me cry at a certain scene :)

pannarrans
pannarrans

I found the gameplay to be mostly a fight against the clunky controls. I consulted a guide twice in half an hour to find out where to go (because I simply wasn't having enough fun to keep going backwards and forwards trying to figure it out) and on both occasions was just irritated by how unintuitive the answer was. I then encountered a bugged key that dropped itself and couldn't be picked up again and gave up.

Your double jump relies on holding down a button to charge a weapon, then jumping, aiming down and firing. Some sections require this awkward motion, followed by using your 'wrench' to grab in mid-air, and then jump again, and then catch a platform edge.

This sounds like it could be interesting, but none of these action reliably work. I don't know if this game has an issue with my controller (no other games do) but if so, that's an issue too. I enjoy difficult platformers but this felt like easy platforming where the challenge was to overcome poor controls instead of the game.

The combat is a bizarre mixture of too easy (you just rapid fire and it auto targets enemies) and frustrating (you expected it to auto target and it just didn't).

TL;DR Frustrating, inconsistent, and buggy.

猫猫猫猫
猫猫猫猫

So I was enjoying the game, but there are a couple things that made me quit. Basically once the game world opened up more I started to get lost and needing to look up where to go constantly. Also, the tower level was really annoying since it was basically a multi layered puzzle which sounds cooler than it was due to lots of time being lost trying to progress. The character plays smoothly and the abilities are interesting and useful. So good on the devs for that. The plot...is confusing at least where I am. I assume it becomes more clear as the story goes on. I am big into trying to follow a game story, but once it becomes really convoluted I lose attention and want to go to something different. This is a no from me, but its still a decent game.

CoolMittens
CoolMittens

Gorgeous pixel art and wonderful music.

The actual game itself feels incomplete, and just isn't very good. It's not a metroidvania, it's a linear puzzle platformer with boring, timed puzzles. The action/combat/fights are okay but not great. The side puzzles make me feel stupid... not because they're hard but because this is nothing of value to find, it's always a waste of time and I kept doing them.

The setting is good, and the story seemed serviceable but the tone is absolute garbage. The game can't even take itself seriously so how can I? It's trying to be quirky and dark/serious at the same time and it doesn't work at all. In the end it doesn't matter anyway though because the story falls apart. Also, all of the characters are terribly unlikable.

Pass on this one.

Edit: Okay, I just found out this game is literally by one person, which explains a lot. I'm not editing the above, because it is genuinely how I feel about the game but it is worth noting. That said it is incredibly impressive one person made this game, but it was over-ambitious and it's scope was too large. I think the creator could make some great games working with a good team, or alternatively heavily pare down the chaff and make smaller, better game with a tighter focus.