Iconoclasts
A wrench and a dream
Developer Joakim Sandberg • P ublisher bitfroSt entertainment • P rice $ 19.99 • Available At Steam, gog www.playiconoclasts.com
It took Joakim Sandberg, someone we can only assume is a mad genius living in a lab with a Tesla coil and Jacob’s ladder, seven years to make Iconoclasts, and amazingly, the time he took was definitely worth it. Iconoclasts is the rarest of modern retro games – a loving tribute to the look and mechanics of 16-bit platformers that still feels modern and fun. It’s also remarkably dark for such a brightly coloured game.
Players take the role of Robin, a young unlicensed mechanic with a social conscience, much like her late father from whom she inherited her wrench. In the world of Iconoclasts, a conservative religion controls everything, including power and maintenance. Anyone who disobeys the rule of the One Concern and its grip on all modern technology will have to face Penance, a confrontation that often proves final. The moon is a shattered ruin in the sky, destroyed by a mysterious cataclysm, there is a drought of the Ivory power needed to drive most technology and internal strife is threatening a schism within the One Concern.
There are elements of Metroidvania in Iconoclasts, with some areas being revisited or requiring backtracking, but rather than a game about expanding mechanics, it instead delivers nearly all the core mechanics with in the first 30 minutes and offers some nice but ultimately unnecessary upgrades throughout the play time.
Robin has two major tools at her command that are integral to progression in the game, the wrench and her stun gun. The stun gun is a rapid firing gun that does relatively low damage but can also be charged to break certain obstacles or deal significant damage. It also launches Robin a short distance back when charge fired, so can be handy for traversal and reaching difficult to access areas as well. Her other tool, the wrench is both a powerful melee weapon and a tool for fixing or manipulating objects. At its simplest this can be something as straightforward as cranking a door open, but the further you progress in the game the more intricate the manipulations required, including a truly outstanding boss battle that sees Robin teaming up with a pirate she meets on her travels to take down a broken boiler that is also a preColumbian shrine that requires each character to manipulate screws or switches to reveal weak points to the other character. The wrench can also be used to swing on certain nuts.
It may have taken seven years for Joakim Sandberg to create Iconoclasts, but that doesn’t make it feel at all old. Iconoclasts is a labour of love, and that loves shines through pretty much every aspect of the game, from the occasional and wonderfully charming unique, situation specific animations, through to the colourful characters, wonderful story and soundtrack. Everything you see or hear is the work of Sandberg, built pixel by pixel and note by note. He deserves your money.
her wrench is both a powerful melee weapon and a tool for fixing or manipulating objects