EGX 2015 - Iconoclasts

One of the many indie titles that took my eye on the EGX floor was Iconoclasts. Iconoclasts is a Metroid Fusion inspired 2D platformer developed by Joakim Sandberg, an indie developer known for similarly styled titles such as the freeware games Legend of Princess and Noitu Love 2.

Iconoclasts has an emphasis on combat, puzzles and world exploration. You play as Robin, a mechanic wielding her trusty wrench helping out with jobs around her village. The world of Iconoclasts, is a heavily authoritarian one however. As she is only a mechanic by hobby, in a world where hobbies are illegal, the powers that be are attempting to track her down.

The first thing that stood out to me about Iconoclasts was the art style. There is some beautiful sprite work and gorgeous animations accompanying every action and movement on screen. The sometimes over the top explosions and sound effects just make the game feel far more energetic than your average sidescrolling shooter. The sprites in particular are incredibly charming, giving of some distinctly Metal Slug vibes in certain areas.

With combat being a large focus, its important for a game like Iconoclasts to bring something exciting to the table to stand out from the waves of similarly retro inspired platformers. Thankfully, the combat is diverse and immensely satisfying. Each enemy requires a different approach, some require you to stomp on their head before shooting, some need to be stunned by running into walls before attacking etc. Whilst nothing special. I saw a fair variety of enemies and ways of approaching them in just the short 10 minutes I played.

The puzzles I found generally fell into the camp of find the lever and use your wrench on it to open x. Not that there is anything wrong with this approach however. It serves it purpose at making you explore the environment and is completely serviceable for a Metroid inspired game like this. Again, only having played a short amount of the game, I can't say whether the puzzles I saw were reflective of those in the rest of the game.

It could be very easy for a game like this to fall into the trap of being just another drop in the sea of similar pixel art titles that are churned out of the indie scene. However, Iconoclasts attention to detail, stellar art style and nicely diverse gameplay left me thoroughly impressed despite only having a short hands on with the game. 

The Public Alpha is available for free to download from the developers site as well as the original concept for the game, Ivory Springs.

The game is on Steam Greenlight and is being released for the PS4 and Vita with the help of Bifrost Entertainment.