Iconoclasts Reviews
Joakim ‘konjak’ Sandberg’s Iconoclasts is a one person show that’s a decade in the making. And it pays off so incredibly well in ways you wouldn’t expect. It has its frustrations with certain boss battles, but those can be easily looked over when looking at the larger picture. The game released at a time where in our current climate in the games industry and as a people where Robin is what we all want, and need to be. Iconoclasts is a game that defies expectations and norms, and has been worth that wait.
Slick platforming, well-designed puzzles, and a huge, connected world, with occasional moments of frustration.
There's a lot to like about Iconoclasts, but it unfortunately never makes the jump from good to great. Not only does it fall into some of the pitfalls that other platformers have exposed throughout the years, it also lacks any innovation that truly wows. That's ultimately fine, as players are treated to a very polished puzzle-platformer with a surprisingly interesting story. Those who pick up the game will surely enjoy their time with it, but don't be surprised if you've felt like you've played certain segments a dozen times before.
Iconoclasts succeeds on delivering a deep and impressive story that is full of surprises. Despite a boring and shallow combat system and the misleading level structure, it is still worth your time and money
Review in Persian | Read full review
Nobody would comment on the game without mentioning the outstanding pixel art and top shelf soundtrack...
Iconoclasts was conceived for more than seven years and that shows the affection and details that we will see throughout this narrative adventure with touches of metroidvania.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Iconoclasts has a genuinely interesting story, told in a way which is too obtuse to come across well. It also leaves quite a lot on the table without properly explaining things. Its characters are charming, lovable, believable, detestable, and sympathetic all at once, and watching them go through the events of the story can be captivating. Unfortunately, it takes Iconoclasts about halfway through before it begins to even feel like a game, and while the gameplay progresses a bit more from there, it still never reaches the heights I think it could have. At just 11 hours for the main campaign, it's something I would definitely recommend to anybody looking for something to dig into without much time commitment. Also recommended, start the game on hard mode; normal leaves things much too plain. I definitely believe that if the game's creator, Joakim Sandberg, ever places himself in the directorial and lead writer positions of a small development team, all of the depth that the gameplay and exploration elements were sorely lacking could reach their full potential and then some, creating something absolutely great.
An uneven mix of the overfamiliar and the surprisingly inspired, but the gorgeous graphics alone make this a Metroidvania to remember.
Perhaps Iconoclasts just tries to do a bit too much of everything, which is stunning considering it has come from a single person's creative drive, which is so compellingly impressive. A decent edit of the script, fewer bosses and puzzle repetitions, and the rest could have been refined even more. Seven years ago Iconoclasts would have blindingly stood out on its artstyle alone – as it indeed did when announced, but now it has to compete with a plethora of other captivating 2D pixelart games. Luckily for Iconoclasts that, despite its flaws it still stands tall amongst its peers, both recent and its contemporary forebears.
An old school game that may be too old on things like variety, but beyond that you'll love this indie proposal if you are into metroidvania games.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
There is an abundance of pixel-art platformers on the market today, many of them indistinguishable from one another, but Sandberg's game stands out.
Pretty good game! The gameplay mechanics are slick, the enemy and boss variety is excellent, and the story is just crazy. However, the difficulty, tweak variety, and controls could use a little work.
Iconoclasts took me about fourteen to fifteen hours to complete. Around ten hours was fun. However, it’s the other five hours I’ll remember like the frustration of trying to figure out what obscure mechanic I needed to use to progress or the time spent wandering around aimlessly with no direction. Iconoclasts tries its hand at action, puzzles, and Metroidvania and doesn’t commit to any of them. The end result is mediocre.
If you've already burned through your pile of Metroid-likes, Iconoclasts is solid fuel for the fire. Try it.
In the end Iconoclasts wasn't quite what I expected, but I greatly enjoyed my time with it, and would recommend it to any platformer fan.
For me, the more of it I played, the more I found it got in its own way. Its clumsy prose is a struggle to read, its difficulty spikes are aggravating, and the sense of being directionless is too all-pervading. I feel certain this will find its audience, and what a joy for them. But sadly, not so much for me.
A book could be written about the numerous meandering, intermittently functional conversations that at first seem to exist solely to create needless drama, but quickly pivot to take on a confessional tone. It’s ironic for a game that pushes oppressive-religion themes so vigorously to eventually devolve into what appears to be a self-pitying writer vicariously self-flagellating using their stand-ins, denying anyone real closure or redemption because everyone is written to be deserving of punishment. At the end of the day, though, it just makes me tired. This game is draining in all the wrong ways.