Do you ever wish that life was straightforward? That there were signs telling you where to go? That someone was there to direct you to your goals?
Maybe you should try ICEY.
Play as ICEY (a cyborg catgirl who is 75% blue LED) as she is guided by the narrator to her target: Judas, the game’s antagonist. What did he do to make ICEY determined to kill him? End the world for… reasons, I think. It’s not made super clear but the narrator says Judas is bad, so Judas is bad.
En route to Judas, you’ll fight his little (and not-so-little) robot henchmen. Because whilst the narrator can lead you to Judas, he never said he’d find a safe route.
But do you need to do as the narrator says?
Disobeying the narrator’s instructions annoys the hell out of him provides some interesting voice lines. Uncover secret money stashes, areas and more by going the wrong way. And this is where the real charm comes in. ICEY is more than a standard mindless 2D hack’n’slash – this game has spirit and interesting things to say regarding game development.
Yep, hope you like meta-commentary.
Overall, the gameplay is pretty good. It feels natural with a controller, though somewhat uncomfortable with a keyboard. Build combos to deal maximum damage, dash from enemy to enemy, jump up to strike them if you need to – there are a lot of combat options, more when you purchase and upgrade your moves at a terminal. Apart from blocking, you don’t need that apparently. But you don’t really miss out from not having the option. Sure you get hit and it’s annoying, but you can recharge by consuming the remains of fallen enemies.
Between the combat and the commentary, the game feels satisfying to play. Despite it’s short length (and it is short – a single run can take about 3 hours), the game has good pacing. It being short could be seen as a benefit, as it needs to be played through multiple times to feel finished thanks to the many routes littered through the game.
If you’re looking for something that’s a little different, I recommend ICEY. Its meta-commentary coupled with action makes for an interesting dynamic. But there’s only one way to find out if it’s for you: break those bots and that fourth wall.
Keeping it Cool
If you’d like to play ICEY, it’s available on a number of platforms! There are some links below to where you can get them – digital only, though.
PanaceaPlays 