Teslagrad

Teslagrad
77
Metacritic
84
Steam
83.314
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$0.99
Release date
13 December 2013
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
84 (1 627 votes)

A journey begins... A treacherous tower... Unravel its mysteries!Discover the secrets kept in the long abandoned Tesla Tower!Magnetism and other electromagnetic powers will help you explore a non-linear world of beautiful hand-drawn environments, in a steampunk-inspired vision of old Europe.

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Teslagrad system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: Windows XP (SP3)
  • Processor: Dual Core 2GHz
  • Memory: 2 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Hardware Accelerated Graphics with dedicated memory
  • Storage: 1 GB available space
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Meowish
Meowish

A puzzle solving platformer made in an open-world format.
Challenging puzzles, and fun gimmicks. An unlike most similar puzzle games that introduce new rules and solving method in later game that turned their game's puzzles easier and easier to a point it becomes boring, Teslagrad stayed at a steady balanced difficulty though out the whole game, a job well done!

Frankie Spankie
Frankie Spankie

Teslagrad is the kind of game I wish Steam had a neutral option for in addition to thumbs up & down. I'll give it a thumbs up because while some aspects made me hate the game, most of my time was still enjoyable.

This is a puzzle/platformer with the emphasis more on the platformer. There aren't many enemies in the game and you don't get a way to attack until late in the game so you'll have to simply avoid most of them. This is a puzzle/platformer that emphasizes on collecting scrolls, the game's collectibles. The puzzles aren't overly difficult but some of the platforming sections can be. At times it's just challenging platforming but the controls can feel a bit floaty at other times and as a result, makes the mechanics feel like the problem, not your skill. Fortunately, those instances aren't too common.

The world is beautiful and it's fun to explore. After you complete climbing the tower which will probably take you 2-3 hours, you'll open up a lower floor. You need 15 scrolls to open that floor up so you can get to exploring, see which areas you missed, and grab some more scrolls to open up the path. There is a "true" ending after finding all 36 scrolls but after playing, I don't really have much desire to find it.

For the issues, some of the checkpoints are so poorly placed. Sometimes it takes time to set up a slow and tedious puzzle to attempt your jump. If that jump is very difficult to perform, you're going to be sitting there setting it up over and over again, taking your time because of how slow the game mechanics can be. One instance that was very tedious was late in the game when you had to roll a ball with your magnetic cloak. Rolling it off the platform above you took about 5-10 seconds because of how slow the ball rolls. That doesn't seem long, right? Well that jump afterwards was very difficult. I probably spent 5 minutes attempting that jump with 3-4 minues of that time just watching that ball roll on every reset.

Some of the bosses were fun while others weren't. Particularly the boss that shoots the energy orbs at you. It just felt like total RNG to attack the boss because you had to pull the energy balls back at the boss with your magnetic cloak and they were very hard to aim. They also only lasted a few seconds each so sometimes they'd disappear right before hitting the boss. The last boss was also just frustrating and unfun with how quickly his attacks move with your dash cooldown sometimes getting you killed. One of the tedious parts of the boss fights was that you had to hit them 3 times each to defeat them. You'd have to avoid their attacks, sometimes up to a minute or two before you get an opportunity to attack, then you can hit them once. The problem is that for every boss, the first two attacks were always easy. The last attack was hard to hit without dying. So you'd find yourself repeating the same 2-3 minutes for the start of the boss fight and if you're having trouble on the third, die, and repeat, sitting there getting frustrated and bored.

Fortunately, there are 5 bosses and only 2 of them really felt tedious and unfun. The general exploration and puzzle solving was fun and I did enjoy most of my time in the game. It's just after completing it, while not seeing the "true" ending, I just have no desire to keep going to see it. Beating the game with the minimal scrolls collected only took about 15 minutes and the game wasn't bad in that time but not bad isn't good enough for me to want more.

The game is pretty interesting if you want to pick it up on a sale or see it in a bundle if you're interested in puzzle/platformers. If you're not into puzzle/platformers, just skip this one entirely.

Magpie, P.I.
Magpie, P.I.

Teslagrad is a sidescrolling platformer where you play a young renegade electromagnetism wizard on the run from a corrupted king and his soldiers. (Such was life in Teslagrad -- to be sung to Billy Joel's "Leningrad.")

Controls are few, with WASD for look/movement, space for jump, and arrow keys for abilities that you earn incrementally. Even in 2D, I'm not a strong navigator. (To this day, you can still catch me checking which hand's index finger and thumb make an L, because I get left and right confused sometimes.) Left and right arrow keys are magnetic polarity in this game, with one as blue and the other as red. On top of this, another arrow key toggles the magnet's mode (i.e., laser that player shoots or aura that surrounds player). So while the controls are few, I would say they're not necessarily simple: Controls coordination is part of solving the puzzles in this game.

The puzzles themselves are challenging and engaging. I'm not a strong electromagnetism thinker -- think I got less on an exit exam for my Physics II class than I did on an entry exam; it can be pretty counterintuitive stuff. But the game's friendly "per-room" auto-save/checkpoint system makes it easy to experiment with the world and your character's abilities in order to find a solution. A majority of the game takes place inside a massive dungeon with a long shaft that about 100-ish rooms branch in and out of. (There may be more rooms than I think, because I believe rooms show up on the map only after you've visited them.) Progress for the most part is linear, but you can refer to the map to remind yourself how to get back to a room if you need to. And I needed to, to pick up some achievements, which (unfortunately, I felt) do not appear on the map.

Achievements appear in the game as battery/scroll tokens that are "off the beaten path" of the game's typical linear progression. It's worth your while to collect them as you find them, though, because you need some to unlock the last part of the game. This playthrough I wanted to play to the game's end, but I would play it again to collect all its achievements.

Achievements also serve as one of the game's mechanisms for developing the story. Think I got this one about the same time as (and maybe even because of) Limbo and Inside, which also have wordless/visual story development. For each achievement you collect, you get a card that unveils a little bit more about the story. These cards can be viewed together (in a screen near the map) to make a mosaic outline of the story. Story dev also happens in-game in several "puppet play" rooms that you come across while navigating the dungeon. I've only collected about half the achievements, but from what I could tell, the story is that your character belongs to a group of magicians who helped a king come into power by helping him succeed in battle, but they are now being hunted down because they refused to help him in other battles.

Game mood alternates between somber and cartoonish. The drawing of the playable character reminds me a lot of "Calvin and Hobbes," some assets reminded me of Rayman, and the backgrounds look like they could have come from a classic Disney film. I thought I picked up a few cultural references too, to Ghostbusters, for example. Sound effects are well-chosen and I didn't mind hearing them repeatedly in rooms I had a hard time in. The soundtrack was good, not at all distracting, and sometimes very effective at getting you pumped up to tackle a puzzle/boss.

One thing that stood out to me in the credits is just how many alpha playtesters the game had. (Especially compared to the rest of the crew!) And it showed! I don't think I ran into any bugs in this game.

I expected this one to take 5-7 hours but it took me about twice that. (I have 13 hours total, but one or two of those was from a partial playthrough a while back.) I may have been able to bring it down a little by collecting achievements as I saw them, because you have to play room(s) over if you don't get the achievement the first time round.

livlo17
livlo17

An original puzzle-platformer with some very cool electromagnetics-based game mechanics.

It took a while for me to get the hang of it, and to be honest the lack of guidance can be a little frustrating at times when you're still trying to figure out the precise way everything needs to be done in order to get where you need to go (and/or not die - note that you have no HP in this game, so taking any damage sends you back to the start of the room). But on the other hand this means that the storytelling is entirely visual, and it really adds to the sense of exploration and discovery. Plus, the hand-drawn art style is very nice and definitely fits the vibe of the setting and storyline, both of which unfold gradually as you progress.

So even though it can be somewhat infuriating when you accidentally and repeatedly catapult yourself directly into an electrified barrier or laser, or fall out of a 20-story tree just as you reach the top, or miss your platform in the vortex cylinder and have to float all the way back up again... it's definitely still enjoyable, and all the different ways that the simple positive-negative basis is used to create puzzles, obstacles, and transportation are pretty neat.

I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys platforming games, though you'll probably have a lot more fun with it if you're okay with having to think strategically and don't mind figuring it all out as you go along.

(And I reckon if Tesla were around for video games, he'd have loved it. At the very least it's got functioning death rays, so.)

dj.grzechu1
dj.grzechu1

A beautiful metroidvania puzzle-platformer with creative mechanics centered around magnetic powers and array of well-designed puzzles that test the player’s ingenuity.

The protagonist is a young boy who escapes from enemy army invading his village into a tower built years ago by a group of scholars, now abandoned. Inside he discovers series of inventions, starting with a pair of gloves, that allows him to manipulate magnetic fields. As the tower is filled with various challenges centered around magnetism, he works his way up to discover the truth behind the invasion and find a way to stop it.

As you can guess based on the above description, the plot is a standard fare for video games: there’s a bad guy, stop the bad guy. However, the story exceeds in the way it’s told. There’s no dialogues throughout the game. Instead at specific sections of the tower you’ll enter various theaters where puppet shows are played, revealing bit by bit the backstory; you can either watch or ignore them. Furthermore, you can collect various scrolls hidden around the tower that provide additional info. The way storytelling is handled means the player not only can completely ignore the plot if they’re not interested, but can also adjust their own difficulty to an extend as the scrolls often require solving more challenging puzzles.

Speaking of the puzzles, they’re brilliantly designed and challenging. This isn’t one of those games where you can leisurely work on the solution. No, the protagonist dies in one hit, so between rare enemies and numerous hazards you need to always think and act fast. If that sounds like a recipe for a frustrating experience, it isn’t. Tight controls, quick pace and checkpoint at the start of each room means that in the case of death - and those will happen regularly - you never loose much progress.

You can’t attack regular enemies until you pick up you final upgrade, but thankfully they’re fairly scarce. However, you can and have to fight during boss battles. Yes, there are boss battles. I wish more indie games featured those.

The bosses work as a check-up on how well you mastered abilities at your disposal like boss fights in all well-designed metroidvania titles; whatever is the newest tool you acquired, that’s what you need to use against each baddy. And they’re tricky too, forcing you to learn their pattern before you can defeat them.

Hard but fair. Beautiful and creative. Easily one of the best games I’ve ever played.

10/10

rodja457
rodja457

Pretty nice game, beautiful art style, nice sound design, and even if I personally dislike physics-based puzzle games, this was a pretty neat one.

The boss battles werent fun tho, they were diverse but I didnt like them, specially the one for the 15-things ending, every new attack was just a free death, it could have been better if the kid immediately spawned inside the battle just like in Super Meat Boy, I wont be getting the other ending because I dont like the idea of exploring this game multiple times, even if is a metroidvania I didnt like the exploration.

Berahlen
Berahlen

A short but very fun puzzle/metroidvania. The magnet physics are a bit slippery in places, but good enough for what's demanded.

richardleech2015
richardleech2015

100 precenting the game is so werth it

Satan's Child
Satan's Child

Much fun... also wait you have to enable comments manually now?!?

Eldar
Eldar

Solid indie game, loved the art and music, I also loved how the game tells the story without using words.
The gameplay is solid too, good puzzles and platforming, the only thing I didn't like is the controls, they didn't feel as tight as I would like them to be.
Overall great experience.

adpostizeer84
adpostizeer84

The game is great, part of a basic idea of platform and magnetic theory.

The puzzles are well brought, sometimes somewhat convoluted but can be removed. There are several final bosses and you will have to make them based on trial-error because I assure you that you will not get any at the first xD there are 3 powers that you can take throughout the adventure thus forcing you to visit certain areas again.

There are 36 scrolls in the whole game but to finish it you only need 15, the rest is for the replayability and if you gather them all and return to the last boss, the ending is completely different. Of course, when you finish it you will not be able to move around the castle, the game will start again but this time you have all the powers from the beginning.

I liked it a lot, rarely do you have so much a game in which there isn't a single word. Nice to see and play, although sometimes you end up frustrated in some jump / puzzle.

PK
PK

Teslagrad is a puzzle/2D-platformer hybrid that is worth the fairly cheap price. The actual gameplay is well designed enough, though they were some moments that the magnetism mechanic was annoying. The boss fights are fantastic and quite challenging, although they are a few moments where I really wished that I just could take 1 more hit before death. The game always throws new things and new equipment at you with each of the major areas, so the puzzles never got dull. The simplicity of opposites attract and same colored objects repel is somehow so complex in Teslagrad. And I did enjoy how the game told a complex story without a single line of dialouge without having the plot being overly confusing. The story is simple, yet engaging in that way.
But, there was one major gripe I had with Teslagrad was the sound design. The soundtrack is either incredibly dull or non-existent in some areas. Sometimes the only noise you'll hear is the ambient electricity noises and that gets excruciatingly boring, especially because you may spend a lot of time in some areas. And the actual noises of the game don't seem to have that oomph to them. Like Celeste's death sound is that big "BTTT" and Teslagrad just has a minor "woosh" of a death sound. The major lack of noise really bothered me during my playthrough, but that's something that isn't too difficult to fix.

doowtnehpets
doowtnehpets

Excellent game. Quite unique and I love the art style. Had it in my library for quite a while and just ran through it. In some ways reminds me of the old Metroidvania games, but with it's own unique twist. Some of the bosses near the end are quite tough. Not the longest game, but worth every cent.

Nystreth
Nystreth

The idea of this game is pretty neat, and I do like it after playing it a bit more than when I initially started since I love all things related to Tesla, but the game does seem a bit unbalanced even right from the start. It doesn't take long before the puzzle navigation turns into a mess of repeated insta-deaths as you deal with finicky controls that seem a bit too sensitive, especially once you get the charging cloak. Then once you start making progress and feel more comfortable, you run into boss encounters that can also be maddening (though the third one where you fight a human for the first time was a good one). You just have to stick with it a while until you get used to how it behaves, and then it turns out to be a pretty good game. I think the music is really good too.

Anti_Life
Anti_Life

Full disclosure: as of this writing, I haven't finished this game. It has the all the makings of something decent (not great, decent), but it's also full of all kinds of little design screw-ups that collectively tried my patience to its breaking point. I was close to the end, so maybe I'll pick this back up and finish it after I've cooled down for a while, but Teslagrad has not been a fun experience for me.

There's no health bar; if you get hit at all, you're dead. This is supposed to be offset by the fact that your character respawns infinitely at either the beginning of the newest room you entered, or at various invisible checkpoints were the room is especially large and filled with frustrating puzzles. Which brings me to the next thing: this game is advertised as a Metroid-style experience. It isn't. At all. If someone took the barest hint of a Metroid template and made a puzzle game around the mechanics of electromagnetism over the top of it, that's what this game is.

After a short intro sequence where you run away from some soldiers, you enter the tower of the Teslamancers, at which point you work (and it *is* work) your way through a series of puzzle rooms that form a serpentine path that criss-crosses the tower's central shaft. As you make your way through these rooms, you will sometimes be challenged to find a way to reach scrolls which are typically placed in hard-to-reach places. You have to collect at least 15 of these to open the gate to the final area. Also, if you don't get *every single one of them*, you can't get the true ending. For some of them, if you miss a very narrow window of opportunity to collect them, you have to go through the entire area they're found in to get the same narrow window of opportunity again.

I've barely scratched the surface of all the little frustrations that are packed into this game. Do I recommend it? No way. This game is way too much work for no payoff.

Real Shabby
Real Shabby

YMMV. Yes if you get it super cheap. Okay platformer, nice artwork. There are some simple maneuvering puzzles which aren't too terrible. It is a typical unlock areas map but I didn't really see how to go backwards. I have a very tenuous relationship to these type of games as I don't really like boss battles (which this has) and I tend to grade down based on the number of times I have to repeat doing the same thing during a boss battle. After 90 minutes I hit a boss battle and keep dying. I'm not sure if I will keep playing or uninstall.

MacNeill
MacNeill

This one was a nice and very rewarding discovery for me, I really enjoyed it.

Is a puzzle-platforms game with very interesting mechanics (electromagnetic powers) and a minimalist and original storytelling. The only bad thing is the length, a little bit short, about 5-6 hours.

It's usually very cheap.

Recommended.

✪✯✪✯✪✯✪

7.2 / 10

✪✯✪✯✪✯✪
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1083694821
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1083695557
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1083694957
=^._.^= ∫

NArc
NArc

Excellent puzzle game. Its a good value at under $10. Medium to Hard difficulty. I do like that it saves at frequent points so you don't have to redo the entire puzzle.

Man0Steel117
Man0Steel117

This game is the kind of game that I didn't know I wanted. It's a fun, light platformer whose mechanisms are based entirely around electromagentism - i.e. repelling and attracting objects. The challenges are well designed and some are quite tricky to pull off (especially a particular boss fight, ahem. Still trying to do that one). Overall, one of the highlights of my collection!

flagg209
flagg209

If you have time for multi tier boss battles where you cannot make a single mistake (because you have no health, its one hit and dead) then this game is for you. There is a lot of awesomeness in this game, but at the end of the day, that didn't balance out the grind of this for me. Unlike a game like Hollow Knight, which I wanted to spend the time to "get good" - this game just didn't hold me strong enough to do that.

Falken
Falken

Really REALLY enjoyed this game. Atmosphere reminded me a bit of Hollow Knight. It's no Hollow Knight, but a very well put together and atmospheric 2D puzzle platformer. My main con of the game is that there are certain spots where falling can set you back several minutes of game play. Other than that, great title.

Suzana
Suzana

Didn't expect this game to be so much fun and challenging, pleasantly surprised. Recommended.

Spideyninja20
Spideyninja20

I love the game mechanics, its very simple and the story-telling is sublime

GRiNDZOMBi
GRiNDZOMBi

Puzzles make no sense. Mechanics are confusing. Controls are clunky. I had no idea what was going on or what I am supposed to do. Basically I was annoyed the whole time and frustrated at the lack of incentive to continue.

bear_storm
bear_storm

This is very good, but it's not for me.

Overall, it's a puzzle platformer about magnetics, weirdly not very optimized for controller, with really gorgeous art and decently moody music.

It *does* require you to be both a puzzle gamer and a good platformer, and it is very unforgiving if you screw up either (one hit = one kill), but its boss encounters are well designed and there's very little emphasis on optional pickups (they provide snapshots of lore, but that's about it.)

I think if you like Celeste (which is also a good game, and also not for me), you should give this a try.

However, if you're looking for a metroidvania (or anything with non-puzzle-based progression), this is probably not going to scratch your itch.

Bapabooiee
Bapabooiee

This game has lotsa polish, with great animation and story-telling, as well as some interesting gravity-based mechanics.

Couldn't get hooked though. Not quite sure why. Guess I found navigating the environment a bit repetitive, due to relying on flipping gravity and dashing through obstacles? And perhaps because I found the controls a bit iffy, whilst not really quite interesting-enough mechanics/challenges to make up for that iffyness?

I dunno. Maybe I'll play it another try when I'm through more of my backlog.

Wulfyr
Wulfyr

Best puzzle platform game there is!

Ragz
Ragz

A decent puzzle platformer with good atmosphere, but one that is unfortunately hampered by frustrating boss battles and sometimes clunky controls. Also, definitely NOT a metroidvania, no matter what the tags say.

5.5/10 -- Steep discount only.

(WTH) BuschBrunzer
(WTH) BuschBrunzer

I also wanted to test out one of those Jump 'n' Run games for which you have to motivate your own lazy and spoiled ass over and over again to keep trying and overcome the challenge. And Teslagrad gave me this little bootcamp experience.
Please dont understand me wrong, Teslagrad is not one of those games that just wants to make you hate the leveldesigner and yourself. Teslagrad wants to tell you the sad but epic story of a little boy.
I am not an experienced Jump 'n' Run gamer, but i was able to complete the game and i had fun playing it.

Teslagrad is a small and fun Jump 'n' Run game with:

    • spechless and musical story telling (also in little details)
    • jump 'n' run mixed with solving puzzles and a boss fight from time to time
    • boss fights take some tries, but you will be proud to overcome them
    • difficulty level slowly increases
    • interesting and fun game mechanics
    • non-repeating leveldesign
    • my playtime to finish: 7 hours (i guess you could be faster)

Stexe
Stexe

Decent physics based puzzle platformer. There are some issues though that knock it down to just barely a recommendation. Besides the wonky physics and float-y platforming, some of the puzzles are just a bit odd. Also, some of the "hidden scrolls" you look for aren't very fun at all (like things you'd miss due to camera or objects obscuring stuff, not being related to puzzle solving at all). The game is also pretty short, and a bit repetitive in the puzzles and solutions.

All that being said, one of the biggest annoyances is the fact you die in a single hit. To figure out the boss patterns you have to replay some of the same sequences over and over, learning just one more step in the pattern each time. It can be extremely frustrating.

If the game was maybe twice as long with twice as much variety I'd give it higher marks, but overall it falls flat in a lot of regards. Not bad, but not the best. 6.5/10

WALTER
WALTER

an experience that can not be dicribed
a peacfull game with a nice music

Anonymous
Anonymous

control is too annoying, fuque this game

napkinmath
napkinmath

Teslagrad is very minimal and focused. The game would be fun and enjoyable if it wasn't so much work.

tjoolder
tjoolder

Truly maddening bossfights. But the original gameplay, great artstyle, soundtrack and storytelling almost up for it.
(Almost, that is. In case of difficulty spike: play your own music instead. or look for an exploit.)

DocIrish
DocIrish

Very good puzzle platformer. Just enough challenge to make it interesting, coupled with a good story, great art, and a handful of novel puzzle mechanics.

ßĮgg Ḟlőƥƥaugһ Ĝᴂming
ßĮgg Ḟlőƥƥaugһ…

Shit, I wanted to beat this game and not let it beat me but i failed. terrible controls, wonky, unintuive mechanics and it forces you to backtrack through the worst areas of the game several times. a masterpiece in poor game design that lures you in with the excellent first two hours and proceeds to dangle that in front of you as it kicks you in the dick repeatedly. the devs are stupid fucking retards and i hope they all get raped by a pack of feral monkeys

Connor Lol
Connor Lol

Beautiful and entertaining game. I truly wish I could relive this experience.

Forevermuffins
Forevermuffins

I played the demo ages ago and finally got around to it in my library.

A younger me might have overlooked certain things (when this was newish)... but this game has an inconsistent physics/magnet system that's great in concept but really really really shouldn't be involved in boss fights to a large degree.

In the 2nd half, it gets frustrating, and not the good kind, both for bosses and puzzles, though I can somewhat forgive the puzzles. Its sad, the first half or so was really good and felt fair and balanced with a graceful curve.

I'll be honest I gave up at the eye boss, It's such a simple fight but it just feels bleh to me and I was done.

El Skoggarino Loggarino
El Skoggarino …

It is clear that Teslagrad is primarily a puzzle game but, when viewed through the lens of the metroidvania genre (which the steam tags do include), Teslagrad shines as an example of how a developer can supplant typical metroidvania systems with new ones. In the case of Teslagrad, combat was almost entirely replaced with a puzzle world that keeps the exploration, item based progression, and atmosphere of a metroidvania; this effectively keeps the genre fresh for players like me. Beyond what Teslagrad does for the metroidvania genre, the game stands on its own two feet without pinning it to a tag. The puzzles are clever and have alternative methods to obtain the many collectables. I have never played a game where every optional collectable the player acquires is its own Steam achievement: it makes the collectathon exponentially rewarding. I have plans to do the collectathon but this is where I have some minor issues with the game. Teslagrad is very very short: I beat the game with half of the collectables in four hours. I really could not believe it when I looked at my play time afterwards. Obviously my hours will increase as I do the collectathon but that is a ridiculously short game. However, if you noticed how I described the length, Teslagrad did not feel short. I found it slightly tedious at times because any wrong move into a hazard means instant death and starts the player at the beginning of the room. I want to reinstate that these were only minor issues and Teslagrad as a whole gets my recommendation to puzzle game and metroidvania players.
The bosses were suited towards the game wonderfully. Most of the games I have been playing and reviewing lately have had combat, but Teslagrad is a puzzle game. The bosses in Teslagrad are in a similar setting to Yoku’s Island Express but I believe Teslagrad achieved more rewarding and intense boss fights by far. The bosses may be puzzles but they are scary; it really is like picking apart the move set of a Dark Souls boss but rather than openings for hitting them… they are openings for the puzzle. The bosses are not overwhelmingly difficult but that is a great move on the design because the player dies in one hit. There was only one boss I would say is sub-par but that is it: the bosses were all unique, fun to fight, and admittedly scary. I think this game is a real sleeper for boss fighters out there and is worth a try as long as you remember Teslagrad is not a combat game; it is a puzzle game.

StickDude
StickDude

I had fun with this.
-
The setting and artstyle are great.
Responsive controlles, every fail was my own stupidity.
Checkpoints are nicely placed.
Puzzles are clear, and creative.
Bosses are bit a pain, but that's what bosses need to be.
-
Go play if you like metroidvania-like games. Its good.

Lupal Fillyus
Lupal Fillyus

Smooth puzzle platformer. Few mechanics that are polished as heck.
The main thing is magnetism. Most things are red/blue, opposites attract and same color repels. Some objects' polarity can be changed by you, some can't, some are stationary, some aren't, puzzle away. And tractor beams.
Although there's story, there are no npcs, there's no chat, there's not even writing. I think the language option is only for the menu. Every new mechanic is explained at most by some hieroglyphs, but you only have a few buttons, you can figure it out.
At first you can only get a charge by touching bugs, then you get gloves for punching objects red/blue, then you get a dash, a cloak to make yourself red/blue, and finally a ranged upgrade for the gloves.
There's five puzzle bosses, each using a new mechanic beatable by your latest upgrade, and 36 semi-optional batteries hidden throughout the world for a better ending. They're not too hidden, look up/down in every location and you'll see them, but getting them is sometimes trickier.
Overall a smooth puzzle experience with charming graphics, atmospheric music, and intuitive physics.

Argonaut
Argonaut

Teslagrad is a nice small game with interesting mechanics and beautiful art style but it becomes way more annoying than enjoyable as you progress and loses its fun quite fast. I really wanted to like and beat this game but i failed. I still suggest anyone to give it a try, but remember that it will turn into a platforming drudgery after 1-2 hours. It is not unbeatable per se, just not fun.

nimo
nimo

The best game, it has this portal feeling.
Amazing art style.
The only disadvantage is controls on keyboard, cause cape, blink, and glove.

Plackers
Plackers

Looks great. Good puzzles. Story is actually interesting. There is basically no combat though. Rather it's not a top 5 focus of the game.

nattodog
nattodog

I did not enjoy Teslagrad as a casual game, playing through the base story and pace of the game I actually really disliked it. That being said, I owe a lot to this game because of how it shaped my view of games and the value that they can bring when viewed from more perspectives than just the core intended gameplay. I was miserable playing it through the story but the controls were so good and movement and flow of the game is phenomenal when played quickly AKA speedrunning the game. Teslagrad is one of my favorite games ever as far as a speedgame goes and I have sunk many more hours than are shown on my steam account into this game. My review is for a very niche audience that may enjoy it for a very specific reason (platforming mainly)... but that does not change that I would definitely recommend it overall to anyone.

Vantier
Vantier

Disclaimer: My scores/reviews are almost always based on having bought the game at close to the "lowest historical price" on steam at time of purchase.

Quick score: 5/5

Meowcenary
Meowcenary

It's a cool idea, but I hated the boss fights and some of the puzzles were execution heavy to the point where I didn't understand if I was doing something wrong or approaching it incorrectly. It's relatively short, but not my cup of tea.

RockandRollGasStation
RockandRollGas…

Great game. Fairly short game though so best to buy on sale

RagnCharran
RagnCharran

TL;DR Summary: A fun puzzle game, but that requires far more precision platforming than one might expect, or be willing to work through.

Welcome to Teslagrad, a dark and dreary city heavily inspired by the imagery of early communism and the dystopia that followed. Of course, that means you won't exactly be enjoying the sights, as you flee for your young life from the soldiers that suddenly come breaking down your door. The long abandoned great tower that once was home to the electricity wielding Teslamancers may seem like a sanctuary, but it has its own secrets and dangers...but also rewards for those able to overcome its challenges.

Merging two-dimensional platforming with logical conundrums, Teslagrad presents itself as a "puzzlevania", and while nothing in it is particularly unique or revolutionary, it does present a mostly enjoyable experience in a well-done hand-drawn animated style. But the key word in that sentence is mostly.

On the positive, I genuinely enjoyed the puzzle side of Teslagrad. Built around the simple principles of magnetism, using polarity flips to attract or repel not only blocks, but also yourself, there are a surprising variety of challenges with an almost perfect learning curve, as though I did not need to use a guide to progress through the story or find all 36 achievement scrolls, I definitely had to hunt and think to earn them all. So this half - which I would consider the actual soul of the game - is well done.

I do have to say though, the store description is a bit misleading about the other half. I bought Teslagrad expecting a metroidvania, but it really isn't one. Yes, it has room to room progression, and earned ability upgrades that alter gameplay, but it is highly linear, and the very limited number of abilities are hard-locked into that line. The only time I ever left linear progression was to backtrack for achievement scrolls that were unattainable until some ability was added, but that isn't free roaming exploration, it's just a "ha ha, you're going to have to come back for this later". Furthermore, for most of the game you have no way to attack or fight enemies. Instead, the puzzles are accented, and often directly combined, with a medium-difficulty hardcore platformer, where all you can do is dodge hazards and/or enemies and failure to execute perfect mechanics leads to instant death, as your character cannot take even a single hit. This means that in addition to figuring out the steps to complete the puzzle, you then need to actually move through the room, often with little margin for error. You get infinite lives, and respawn at the start of the room you died in, so usually this isn't horribly punishing. But for boss fights - particularly the last two - this does become a recipe for frustration, as the only way to learn the attack patterns is to succumb to them, over and over and over until you actually learn what to expect. This isn't just about reflexes, in some instances you need to learn where to be at certain times to not be caught in a trap that is unavoidable by the time it can be seen. Personally, I found these last two bosses "cheap", and more frustrating than fun, and without much sense of accomplishment once I cleared them. Hitboxes often feel off, amplifying these issues, and in general, I don't think this kind of unforgiving precision fits in what is (and should be) at its core primarily a puzzle game.

So in short, not the greatest game I've ever played, but worth a run through at the asking price. Just know that if you're not both willing and able to execute the mechanics, you may end up having to ragequit.

Heroic
Heroic

It feels like an old-school SNES game in a good way

Renn
Renn

Great game. Fun and you get a full story while not being pummeled with it like some other games. The story of Teslagrad is muted, in the background, constantly following you but not a overbearing presence. You want to know, and the more you discover the more questions you have. It's great, I very much recommend it.

jessicabk
jessicabk

I was at 90% of the game and I decided to give up.
The control drove me crazy. Those magnet things look cool, but they are not when you are playing it.
Also, there is no teleport function, which means if you want to go back to a certain place, you have to face all the obstacles again. It's just simply wasting my time.

gameprog87
gameprog87

The game is fundamentally a platformer. The platforming in this game is not accurate and very random. It's nowhere near the precision of a super mario game or similars. It's physics-based, which means it's all over the place. You have repeat many jumps, over and over again, because very small variations in your movements can completely change the outcome. It's not challenging, it's just tedious, repetitive and boring.
Furthermore, it's definitely recommended to use a controller, but the developers didn't say it.

Vequis
Vequis

Amazing little game, recommended, even at full price tbh. Loved every second of it!

Floofy Lucar~
Floofy Lucar~

The art in this game is amazing, and the lore behind everything is so well done.

BoopBoop
BoopBoop

Super unique and well balanced

Gee
Gee

The game mechanics are horrible.

The Centipede
The Centipede

It's a beautiful game with some creative mechanics. The dilemma posed is this:

1) Do you want a precision platformer, or
2) Do you want a magnetism puzzler?

Teslagrad is option #1, in the end. The puzzles aren't hard to solve. Executing the solution, on the other hand, is a brutal effort of split-second timing, pixel placement, and lucky.

People like #1, and that's great! More power to 'em, but Teslagrad is way more a platformer than a puzzle game and requires both a fundamentally different mindset and a different attitude towards frustration and repetition. Just know what you're getting into: a repetitive, possibly frustrating, definitely rewarding-once-you-get-it process.

For me, personally, I've not the time nor the inclination to put up with the frustration to get the payoff... and that's fine. I got to the eye boss, died fifty times making marginally more progress each time, and decided that the cost/benefit just wasn't there.

The story's fine. Not great, not terrible, easily the best part of the whole thing but to get there you've got to actually beat the game and collect the seemingly optional scrolls (surprise, they're not) which, after discovering there's no fast-travel option and for a filthy casual like me who had to rely not a little on luck to get past some of the platforming sections the first time... yeah, nah, not for me, mate.

Hope you like it, though!

dondashall
dondashall

Boss Fights don't belong in games where the protagonist has 1 hit point. This isn't too bad for most of the game, but by GOD the last boss. There was one part I struggled to figure out and I got SO SICK of repeating the parts I knew. Seriously, don't make this a thing.

Other than that, this game has its moments. It has some good puzzles and some good platforming. It also has a few really infuriating puzzles where it tries to do precision platforming but the abilities are nowhere near predictable enough for it. That said, there are some good moments to the game.

nofear44
nofear44

Epic game! Very challenging and fun. Cool story, cool art, cool enemies en difficult puzzles. Very fun and recommended! If you liked the hardcore challenges in level design of hollow knight you will love this game.

Nab
Nab

its not bad, but is not good either. so unless you are starving for some puzlle platformer with annoying bossfights, fuzzy controls give it a miss.

played it a few years ago and just gave it a second chance, but its just not entertaining enough. most of the challenge comes from not getting frustrated

Mineswee
Mineswee

it was ok

I liked the music visuals and puzzles
but man the boss battles are pretty hard my average death count per boss was like 10-25 times however I was able to beat the game you just have to memorize their movesets so It is still a recommended just not a wholehearted go for it type of one

edit: a very minor bug I encountered was during the credits near the bottom of the screen a line of pixels were all off (my screen is fine it was the game not having them render)

zag (she/her)
zag (she/her)

really good metrovaina style game with a fairly good story, one that I've come back and played quiet a few times

Bou
Bou

Too much emphasis on puzzles. Not entertaining at all.

The_Enforcer_TD
The_Enforcer_TD

This is a platformer game. You will lose progress if you mess up. You will get really annoyed. The bosses are easily the most annoying part, with precise sequences many moves long. If you give up easily, don't get this game. But if you are willing to put in the effort necessary to beat the next obstacle, it is SO rewarding. And that is what the game is about. The story is intriguing and the despite it not using words, it is a compelling story. I recommend the game to those willing to fall and get back up, both figuratively and literately.

Alextfish
Alextfish

Seemed like it could be so good. Magnetism-based platform puzzles? Awesome. Steampunk hand-drawn aesthetic? Super. Metroidvania-style gradually unlocking new abilities, with optional backtracking to get collectables? Perfect, even if the collectables are minimal and very tricky. (Wordless story? Eww. Words are good. But fine, to each their own; they convey the story in their own way, and I suppose this approach saves on localisation costs.)

But wow, this game is so unforgiving. Everyone else has mentioned the boss battles, and yes, you will die 20, 40, 100 times on some of the bosses. The lack of any concept of hit points is certainly baffling.

But it's not just the bosses that are ridiculous. There's plenty of other platforming sections which are just super hard and require absurd precision. You need to make a jump, holding right all the time; set your polarity to blue at the start of it, less than halfway through switch your polarity to red, then use ability 2 less than a second into the jump. You need to do a magnetic version of log rolling, while doing magnetism-assisted power jumps then use an ability to skip through instant death electricity beams; and you need to do the whole thing fast.

I love platform puzzlers, and this is... enough of a platform puzzler for me to play to somewhere past the third boss... but it is more of a precision platformer than a platform puzzler, and that's what doomed it for me.

Recommended if you have a controller, superb platforming reflexes, a taste for puzzles, and the patience to put up with dying hundreds of times. Otherwise... it has some lovely ideas, and the puzzles are good, but it's more frustration than it's worth to get from "I know what to do" to "I finally managed to do it".

Giffsen
Giffsen

Fun puzzle platformer. A bit tough sometimes but nothing really unfair.
Lots of secrets to find and the plot itself is something else.

Yamato
Yamato

An interesting game, but nonetheless flawed and dubious in design and polish. There's quite a few good ideas floating about, from puzzle mechanics and various abilities, but the execution doesn't do them justice. From the beginning, there's a nondescript story and world with very little understanding created by the game, from whatever the technology is, to the enemies seemingly part of a group after the player, or the dog-like monsters. Those aren't a big deal in themselves, but when none are given any insight simultaneously, it makes for a boring and hollow-feeling experience.

As for the levels, as I said, they're interesting, if a bit crude. Various puzzle elements and level designs are thrown at you at high speed, and none are very bad, but none are especially satisfying, either. They come in quick form and are forgotten just as easily (yes, I know this is a metroidvania, I'm speaking in terms of their quality), with a few rather haphazard set-ups and solutions.

I played little, so I can't say definitively, but the fact that it didn't capture my interest and that it didn't seem to change much while I played it makes me think it's not worth the half-dozen or so hours it would take to complete to see if it might.

EVAN
EVAN

Nice Concept, Nice Controls, Nice aesthetic, Nicely challenging!
What a nice game!
GREAT JOB, WELL DONE!

Alextasha
Alextasha

I REALLY enjoyed playing the game. Of course the first thing that I noticed was amazing art. I have soft spot for hand-drew games. I liked the puzzles and was positively irritated by the bosses haha Narration was originally made. Highly recommended!

Kaaaaaarp
Kaaaaaarp

Teslagrad is a great example of a good game that is almost ruined by small problems.

Let's start by the good part:
- The plot is cool, and It is entirely told without a single line of dialog.
- The game mechanics are really interesting, and most puzzles are fun to solve.
- Art and animation are really well made.
- The collectables are numbered, so It is easy to check a guide if needed.

The bullshit part:
- My biggest complain about this game is the fact that you die with a single hit, ONE HIT AND YOU ARE DEAD. Even Ghosts N' Goblins gives you two hits. This is a problem specially in those long ass boss fights.
- The boss fights have a lot of trial and error, and every time you make a mistake you go back to the beginning of the fight.

Overall It is worth giving the game a try, but be ready for some frustrating stuff.

mato
mato

just got incredibly annoying towards the end
disgusting shit last boss

Maurog
Maurog

An absolute masterpiece and a wonderful romp from start to finish, Teslagrad's unique setting and a "show, not tell" approach to lore and storytelling will captivate and engage you. The game is of medium length, the puzzles are well crafted, you get just a few "powers" but each will feel very significant when you acquire it. The atmosphere is the best I've seen in a long time, and it all fits together perfectly.

I give it an immaculate four out of four scrolls. Buy it now!

Hypophonic
Hypophonic

Truly a wonderful game from beginning to end.

mondsemmel
mondsemmel

This is a puzzle platformer that leans *far* too much towards platformer challenges, given its mediocre platforming.

In particular, there are multiple boss fights that are almost entirely platformer challenges. These are unpleasant in multiple ways: the keyboard controls aren't up to the task (you have to use a button to switch between two modes, while no such mode-switching is necessary on the controller); the boss fights have multiple phases and the first time you reach a new phase you'll almost inevitably die to a stupid surprise; you have no hitpoints, so any hit you receive is lethal; the fights take too long; the fights are based on unreliable and occasionally glitchy puzzle physics; etc.

And while all these design issues are worse in the boss fights, they're frustrating in the remaining game, too.

Ultimately, I did not enjoy this game. To add to this damning verdict, I usually 100% games in this genre, but couldn't be bothered here.

LoneJanissary
LoneJanissary

The world and story is so amazing! The game was somewhat hard at certain parts but it was so satisfying to complete it. Overall a very fun game with unique design.

FeatheredFright
FeatheredFright

Solid puzzle platformer. Although platformers aren't really my type of game, this game managed to suck me in. Usually hard platformers frustrate me early and I won't finish them, but in this game I just wanted to keep trying. It does have some issues like dashing to the wrong side for no reason, and sometimes the hitboxes aren't clear. But that is not enough to keep me from reccomending it. Overall a really good time.

0x0000000000000000
0x0000000000000000

was able to beat the game after 6 hours but i was already getting frustrated.
had to watch youtube videos to beat 2 bosses.
maybe play more modern platformers with better accessibility.

Panzer | Krebs
Panzer | Krebs

Picked this up because of the metroidvania tag.

In reality its more of a puzzle action platformer. If that's your thing then cool, but it was not what I had wanted it to be.

Jumps and controls are very floaty/imprecise.

falsesouth
falsesouth

These visuals are right up my alley, and this game has a mostly awesome soundtrack (some of the choir vocals don't sound very natural, mainly those in the final fight, but I guess they kind of fit the small-world sort of art style). Controls are a little clunky and unreliable in certain situations. To discuss problems with the game, I must mention spoilers, so proceed with caution.

This is one of those games that isn't really that long (which is fine by me for a puzzle-oriented indie game), but has difficulty spikes every so often, which make a blind playthrough longer. I know a number of games of similar style that make you do some fetch quest at the end to force you to go back through the various areas and explore, but I find that this just breaks up the flow of games, especially in Teslagrad, since the map itself is fairly linear, and doesn't really offer that much in terms of exploration because of its puzzle-oriented gameplay. The 15 required scrolls feel pretty unnecessary, other than to show off how the beams and cloak are OP in some puzzles. Honestly, the game could be better off with just the optional 36 scrolls and the alternate ending (but I found that this extra ending wasn't a great payoff for going the extra several miles, especially since I didn't really understand the significance of it, but that could be because I didn't watch most of the stage puppet show things throughout the game). Boss fights feel fairly balanced, except the last two kind of seemed like massive difficulty spikes when doing a blind playthrough. Once I figured out stuff, these fights were almost completely muscle memory, but the difficulty was compounded by unnecessary issues that are mentioned below. So far I mentioned subjective matters, so I will switch gears to some more objective issues.

There are two major problems I have with this game: 1) when dashing across a hazardous (but 'dashable') barrier, while moving left or right and/or jumping, sometimes the game lets you live, but other times it just kills you. In either case, I can see that the character clears the barrier, and yet is still burned to crisp for no reason (this is especially common in the last two battles). This makes the maneuver risky, since the outcome is inconsistent. This is why I avoid jumping or pressing left or right when dashing (it guarantees survival across barriers if you time things correctly). But this strategy has its own problems, because it limits the time you have to move off of the ground in the final boss fight with the king, a battle in which it is critical to move swiftly to avoid crown beams and the spinning swords, which occupy most of the arena. 2) Speaking of the king fight, today I encountered a glitch in which the crown got stuck on the left side of the arena with its beam active (and the game got soft-locked), so I spent some time dodging the swords and looking at the king's frozen angry expression before offing myself on the beam to restart the fight.

Make no mistake, I like this game because it is a really creative idea that sells itself well throughout the first half of the game. I have been meaning to finish it in the past several years because I felt that it deserved some attention. I found similar technical issues in other indie games such as Super Daryl Deluxe, which had some glitches that diminished my overall perception of the game (coincidentally, one of them was also a soft-lock in the final fight). These are inspiring and creative indie games that could use another patch or two. I am not aware of any newer releases from your team, but I imagine I will take a look at more of your work in the coming days, since this game managed to grab my attention. I hope this somehow helps, even though it has been a number of years since the initial release. Keep up the solid work!

Titus Sandronicus
Titus Sandronicus

very nice aesthetics, but otherwise so so tedious,

Milkshakes
Milkshakes

At first I was unsure about this game. There didn't seem to be much going on. Then, once the mechanics were introduced, I was a bit confused. After a few minutes, it became clear and it became easy to understand how the mechanics would be worked into the game. They are fun. First boss fight, while easy, made me wonder if the game was going to get way harder. This was primarily due to the one hit kill mechanic in the game. The next few were easy. Final was a bit of a challenge, but overall, not a difficult game. Took me about 6 hours to 100% with looking up a few scrolls.

I like the idea of this kid becoming a badass with science gadgets. A very non-traditional hero. The story was interesting and I like the way the scrolls provided a bit of additional information.

The music in this game is good. At one point, it became very reminiscent of the demon door song in the first Fable. The hand drawn graphics, while not the best, are quite nice.

Some minor gripes. Button tutorials were not clear when getting new items. And my cloak buttons were not bound by default and I had to turn them on. My controller works seamlessly with 99% of games without having to do anything, so I was kind of surprised. Only joystick or directional pads can be enabled, so I had to manually override the joystick.

Overall, this is a great game and worth picking up if you like platformers with very light puzzle solving and light metroidvania-style gearing up. The asking price is fair for the quality of the game and the length. But if it's on sale, it's definitely worth picking up.

Bem Negão
Bem Negão

Muito divertido e mais dificil que parece

bas_meder
bas_meder

Not as great as Hollow Knight, but pretty great!
If you wish to play a Hollow Knight game without the combat and with magnet based puzzles, then this is the game for you

The Wrench!
The Wrench!

Incredible game, very interesting puzzles that make you feel smart for completing them with magnetism/electricity mechanics that I haven't seen anywhere else. Cannot recommend it enough to anyone who likes puzzle games or platformers.

Hozzit
Hozzit

I would rather have this game than a tesla.

parogen
parogen

After just playing VVVVVV, this isn't so bad.

Odaxelagnia
Odaxelagnia

6/10

A game I hate to play alone but love to play with people, hence the few hours.

indeo
indeo

The mecanics of this game is horrible

kurrgo
kurrgo

ALMOST a good game. The puzzles and exploration aspect are awesome. Love art style, enjoyed the story and how it was told. The boss fights, however, are what keep me from being able to recommend it. Your character has no hit points, so taking any damage whatsoever is an instant kill, and I just can't play that way. I finally beat him...after approximately 7000 attempts. It doesn't bother me that he's hard; what bothers me is that he is SO MUCH HARDER than anything else in the game; there's nothing in all of Teslagrad that even comes close to preparing for him (and really, out of his 5 separate attack patterns, there's only one that's even a little bit difficult, but that one attack requires absolute perfection). Ultimately, the things I liked just didn't outweigh the things I hated.

Fafio
Fafio

One of the games that I most enjoyed for sure

WitchHut
WitchHut

The game is charming, the platforming is decent as well. Whoever designed the levels and puzzles did well. Whoever designed the teaching mechanisms did...passably I guess, what mechanics I wasn't taught I eventually figured out, even if by accident. Whoever designed the bosses is the reason this pushed over the edge to not recommend. Given that there's instant death, when I know beat every step and have the skill to do it, that's when a boss should end. Instead you get bosses where they do the same 4-5 step phase 5 times in a row, all exactly the same (or sometimes slightly faster) and if you're slightly out of line once you go back to the beginning. I figured out the puzzle, I even solved it 4 times, but I'm still repeatedly sent back. There's no challenge at this point, it's just mindless repetition of something I already know how to do. and I DID eventually beat the bosses, I'm not saying they're too hard to beat, I'm saying they aren't FUN to beat. Given the actual gameplay was a 6, having unfun bosses drags it to like a 4. I'm not recommending a game who's gameplay is a 4.

Dio
Dio

utter and complete trash, controls are wonky af, physics are wonky af, would not recommend
art style is wonderful tho

sam.is.living.ctright
sam.is.living…

Good short interesting simplified metroidvania game. You do die with just a single hit, and then you're respawned at the entrance to the room you just died in.

Boboso
Boboso

Personally, this game didn't resonate with me enough to finish it, but I definitely think there is an audience that will enjoy it. It is a beautiful puzzle based 2D platformer with Metroidvania elements (but no combat), which wasn't what I was personally looking for (I like at least some combat).

First the positive:
+ Beautiful art style
+ Wonderful music and sounds effects
+ Cool puzzles

Now the negative:
- Instant death, which results in having to replay areas
- Controls/actions are not well explained