Ikenfell

Marktplatz

Ikenfell

Plattform: PC Veröffentlicht: 08.10.2020

-70%19.99€5,99€

Zum Shop

Preis Update 18.05.24

A turn based-tactical RPG about a group of troublesome magic students. Use timing mechanics to power your spells and block attacks, explore the twisted halls of a vast magic school, fight challenging monsters and bosses, find tons of hidden treasure, and uncover dark secrets never meant to be found.

A heartwarming and twist-filled story about friendship, trust, love and loss
3 students in battle, from a total of 6, each with unique powers and strengths
48 unique spells: blast your enemies, knock them back, poison them, or heal and buff your allies. There is no "MP"... spells are about skill and strategy! Each with its own timing to master
80+ enemies to battle: spirits, myths, monsters... even students and teachers! Learn their tricks and traps, and master the timing of their attacks to overcome them
20 challenging bosses who will push your strategy and timing to the limit
100+ items to discover: wands, hats, cloaks, rings, and magical artifacts. Secret treasure is hidden everywhere, and every item you find helps you fight against the powers threatening you.
Explore a vast school of magic: the dorms, alchemy labs, astronomy tower, twilight yard, and a dozen more mysterious and magical locations
Beautiful soundtrack from the composers behind Steven Universe
Cats. Everywhere.

Deutsch (3)
Englisch (75)

116 Produkte im Account

33 Reviews

Empfohlen

1133 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 27.11.21 22:05

Ikenfell ist ein rundenbasiertes Rollenspiel, dass in einer magischen Welt voller Hexen und Magier spielt.

Die Geschichte des Spieles ist wunderbar geschrieben und wird auch fabelhaft von den einzelnen Charakteren rüber gebracht. Alle Charaktere sind glaubwürdig auch wenn sie in gewisse Klischee Rollen fallen. Es wird alles angesprochen, egal ob Liebe,Verrat,Angst,Misstrauen oder Freundschaft.

Die Grafik des Spieles ist einfach gehalten. Der Bitlook mag nicht jedermanns Sache sein, doch verströmt er hier seinen ganz eigenen Charm. Was auch mit unter an dem Design der Welt und der NPC's liegt.

Die Steuerung ist simple und schnell erlernt. Alles wird wunderbar einfach erklärt und man findet sich stets zurecht. Die Kämpfe sind dabei etwas anderes. Hier muss man etwas Geschick zeigen, um so den größt möglichen Schaden machen zu können. Sollte man dies nicht wollen, so kann man dies auch auf automatisch schalten und das Spiel übernimmt es für einen.
Der einzige negativ Punkt hier ist, dass die Kämpfe oftmals etwas lange dauern. Ganz besonders gegen Ende nimmt dies sehr stark zu.

Die Musik im Spiel hat mich am meisten überrascht. Hier haben wir wirklich einen richtigen Soundtrack und nicht nur 8Bit Titel. Von Gesang bis hin zu Pianostücken ist alles dabei.

Kuratorseite: Gaming für jedermann!

1570 Produkte im Account

6 Reviews

Empfohlen

2871 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 08.08.21 17:25

The savepoints are cats you have to pet :3

269 Produkte im Account

2 Reviews

Empfohlen

1201 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 19.06.21 22:02

Ein schöner Zeitvertreib - mir hat es sehr gut gefallen :-)

98 Produkte im Account

13 Reviews

Empfohlen

2033 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 27.04.22 06:17

The number of story-based RPGs I've played more than once is now two. As certified Undertale Trash TM, I can confirm that Ikenfell is absolutely magical. The story is absolutely worth whatever this game costs. How much does this game cost? I forget. Doesn't matter, it's worth.

If you're hardcore republican you might not like how inclusive and LGBT-positive this game is. If you're a reasonable human being, you'll find it charming.

8 Produkte im Account

1 Reviews

Empfohlen

14332 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 19.04.22 04:54

I've played for 238 hours and it's amazing. PLAY IT NOW!!!

279 Produkte im Account

3 Reviews

Empfohlen

1149 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 17.04.22 12:39

The characters, music, graphics, and story are all amazing. I would highly recommend playing this game.

177 Produkte im Account

9 Reviews

Empfohlen

2878 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 06.02.22 03:17

How to describe Ikenfell? Like Steven Universe hit Undertale at a dead run in the middle of a Pride march. Add a sprinkling of Avatar (benders, not blue people) and a soundtrack worthy of standing beside any of its inspirations, and you've got quite the sparkly gem. It's also a lot bigger than I expected it to be, around thirty hours to finish the main storyline and I'm still not done with the sidequests and achievements. If you're just here for the story, you can skip all the battles - yeah, all of them! - but if you're looking for some Actual Gameplay (TM), Ikenfell is about two things: correct positioning and correct timing. Details follow.

The fight-monsters, gain-experience, level-up loop is classic RPG fare, but battles play out a little more like a turn-based strategy game (think Final Fantasy Tactics, Fell Seal, Fire Emblem, that kind of thing). The battlefield is about twelve squares long and three squares deep, and each of your characters' spells - and the enemy's moves, come to that - target squares a very specific distance and direction away from the caster. In order to cast your spells properly, you'll need to hit the button at exactly the right time (though if you'd rather stick to strategy you can also turn the timing to automatic). Defending works the same way: reduce damage by hitting the button at the right moment. You'll see a few move patterns repeat later in the game, but rather than feeling stale it feels like you're being rewarded for what you learned before.

Summary: Ikenfell isn't just a good story wrapped in a game, it's a good game as well. Worth your money and your time.

563 Produkte im Account

31 Reviews

Empfohlen

1037 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 14.01.22 23:34

Nice mix of turn-based tactics and hit timing. The fact the battles take place on a grid and all actions have a limited range (especially items) makes stuff like reviving allies much more involved than, say, Epic Battle Fantasy. While that can be a double-edged sword (say you've got a party member down while a boss has put traps everywhere), I largely like the system.

The story, while not perfect (I wish I got to see more of the characters, if that makes sense, and sometimes the tone of scenes changes a little faster than I'd expect), was enjoyable.

The only really irritating part to me was some of the puzzles. Twice I had to look online only to realize I'd missed something that was hiding in plain sight, so to speak. I'm not sure if this means I need to pay more attention or if the clues should be signposted better, but I'm leaning towards the former.

If you're into turn-based stuff, I'd recommend this.

14 Produkte im Account

1 Reviews

Empfohlen

959 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 07.01.22 19:36

I love this game! I love the graphics and the story line. I am also loving the variety of characters and their special abilities. I would highly recommend this game!

82 Produkte im Account

22 Reviews

Empfohlen

3352 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 07.12.21 08:55

Fun, fairly simple puzzle tactics rpg. The animations are super cute, the characters are lovable and queer and diverse, the story is fairly engaging and has some really nice themes to it. It's a good length (my hours shown are greatly inflated because I left this running throughout the day as I did other things and then came back to it) to do it 100% with all achievements is probably around 20-25 hours. There were some really nice elements in the game, like save points that heal you placed in convenient spots and a teleportation feature to help you zip around campus as needed.

PLEASE BE AWARE YOU CAN TURN ON AUTOMATIC TIMING FOR ATTACKS/DEFENSE IN THE OPTIONS!!! I almost returned it before reading that online somewhere and so glad that was available. There's actually a ton of options for customizable gameplay and accessibility, it's awesome!

A few complaints (which should in no way dissuade you from purchasing!): some of the puzzles were just exhausting and needlessly tedious (most were fine to fun though). Relatedly, you might find yourself needing to go back through to find gems and some stages because of the puzzle mechanics are an absolute nightmare to try to walk back through to get missed items. There's no reason after completing a section they can't just deactivate all the puzzles and let you just walk through freely. Lastly, I really don't like in games where there's so many items that they essentially become meaningless. The second you get new armor/weapons/accessories, you almost immediately get more and they're all just minimally different. I'd rather have fewer items that make a bigger difference and are either all pretty basic and straightforward upgrades, or are more unique to truly customize each character via equipment. This game tried to do both with just a TON of items and I personally find that frustrating. I would spend all my money to upgrade my gear, only for there to be new, slightly better gear almost immediately. To be fair, there's a lot of items in the game that you can sell for good money, which helps mitigate this, but still, it's not fun to go through this over and over. On top of the items you can buy, you also discover TONS of equipment while fighting and puzzle-solving, so it's just a LOT.

These were points of frustration but, in the grand scheme of the game, minor complaints. Overall, this game is extremely well made, enjoyable, and the perfect length for the price point and genre. I would LOVE to see more from this developer and am so happy that I bought this game. Highly recommend!

197 Produkte im Account

7 Reviews

Empfohlen

1400 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 28.11.21 20:05

I wish it was longer. It reminds me a bit of Wakfu from when I used to play. This game is a charming RPG with some nice small twists I have yet to see else where in the story. As well as a fun battle system that I wish I had more progress to have fun with. The battles takes place on a 3x12 grid and are turn bass. All attacks are spell with no mana to keep track of. How well you cast your spell is tied into timing your button presses, like in any Mario RPG. Same with taking damage. The Grid add in far more dept then taking away mana takes a way. I rarely asked my self what spell was most powerful, but instead of what spell is best for this situation.

I highly recommend if stander turn bass combat has bored you as it have done for me.

395 Produkte im Account

13 Reviews

Empfohlen

1984 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 28.11.21 04:21

I think this is genuinely the best game I have played this year. There have been some really good contenders as well. This game is the definition of gay panic haha

The game follows Maritte (the main protagonist) in the search for her witch sister, Safina. She must travel through the magical school of Ikenfell and discovers the disastrous mysteries as they unfold.

The game is literally a 10/10 for me. The story is engaging, unsuspecting, and emotional. The sound design is absolutely amazing with a soundtrack that will follow you outside the game. The character depth and stories are so fulfilling and complex. And the representation of individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community will steal your heart.

249 Produkte im Account

36 Reviews

Nicht Empfohlen

249 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 14.11.21 15:00

The graphics and sound design are endearing, but I just don't enjoy the gameplay. Both the riff-raff and boss fights drag on for too long. I don't mind long fights if the strategy is interesting, but it's just standard fare here.

I absolutely do not enjoy the implementation of the timing system. Rather than a smallish bonus for getting timing right, the difference is frequently 1x/2x/3x, which makes getting the timing correct crucial. However, the cues for many attacks are not obvious, and the timing is frequently a narrow window before or after you'd normally expect from other games with similar mechanics. There are options to turn the system off, but the slow and awkward animations are just that much more grating when you aren't engaged in trying to press the button.

The storyline and charm of the game just isn't enough to justify continuing when I'm not having fun from moment to moment and I've got so many other games to play/books to read. That said, if you're not opposed to a slower pace in battles and aren't prone to getting annoyed by some weird/janky timings, and you think the game looks charming, I'd say it's still worth giving a shot.

143 Produkte im Account

10 Reviews

Empfohlen

574 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 01.11.21 04:19

Gay Witch Game

208 Produkte im Account

1 Reviews

Empfohlen

1468 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 11.10.21 18:10

Game's uber gay and i love it

685 Produkte im Account

4 Reviews

Empfohlen

5877 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 30.09.21 19:50

Wonderful game and quite heart warming. Simple and not too hard to get into with a story that piqued my interest from the beginning. Worth whatever price

3642 Produkte im Account

328 Reviews

Empfohlen

1605 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 12.09.21 03:23

Ikenfell is a grid based, turned based RPG that turned out to be really good. I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would.

-The graphics were cute and fitting. Even though the game is pixel-art, it is absolutely beautiful

-The combat was interesting. (BUT FIRST I turned off the timer - basically there's a paper mario like timing based combat part of the game. It quite simply got way too tedious, so I turned it off and made everything auto-great.) Each of the 6 playable characters has their own playstyle with their own move-sets. I ended up using Rook (utility damage + steal), Ima (dummy maker + heal), and Gilda (dps) for most of the run. The enemies also all had their own unique moves that sometimes you needed to play around.

-The story kept me interested. This was the part that I was most surprised about. I can't believe I was this lured into by the story. Although simple, the writing was good and it really fit the game well.

-The boss fights were fun. Now one of the things that was really great about Ikenfell is that if you simply fight every enemy you come across, naturally you will be able to fight bosses without being too weak or too strong. Many of the boss fights I felt that I was just strong enough with healing and tactical dummies to beat them. The bosses also have very unique styles each, and some of them were pretty tough if you were unprepared with heals.

Overall, I loved this game, and I highly recommend it!

Rating: 9.0/10
Recommend Price: Full Price - it's worth it!

403 Produkte im Account

33 Reviews

Empfohlen

1188 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 11.09.21 19:38

A quick summary

Ikenfell is a tile based tactics game set in a school of magic. Overall the combat keeps itself interesting for most of the playtime with timing based minigames baked into it. Outside of combat, there is typically a puzzle or two in each area. On a final note, the writing is quite competent as well, and the main reason I finished the game. It’s pretty good, but the game definitely drags on longer than it should.

Gameplay Breakdown

Not sure how common this is for schools, but apparently just about everything living or otherwise is hostile in Ikenfell, and as such, you spend most of the game in combat. Combat takes place in a rectangular grid of tiles and has a speed based system to sort out turns, with faster characters going first and occasionally more often. On any given character’s turn, they may move and cast a spell. While every character has some single target damage spell, they learn a variety of unique spells to add on to that. Some abilities will have more range, apply status defects, hit multiple targets, or have other unique effects. Stronger spells will go on cooldown for a couple turns when used. Overall, there’s a great variety in abilities, and there’s something for just about every situation you’ll encounter. Position yourself well and use all your tools, and you’ll probably win your fights.

The main thing that makes the combat unique, however, are the little minigames built into every attack. Each move has one or more moments where you hit a button to power it up, with perfect timing maximizing the effect. Hits get bigger, and buffs are more effective. Further, the same applies to enemy attacks, with good inputs reducing damage taken substantially. Overall, the timing minigames help keep the combat fresh while adding a little more player control to fights.

Lastly is the part where you’re not fighting. Exploration mostly involves running around the school grounds and is typically just a way to get from fight to fight and event to event. That said, every area has a puzzle or two, which range from obvious to obtuse. Of course, there are plenty of puzzles that require just the right amount of thought, but truth be told, this game isn’t a puzzle game.

Gameplay Troubles

Numbers Numbers Numbers

At the start of the game, one attack damage is the difference between doing one and four damage. By the end of the game, one attack damage doesn’t mean much, but one level will be the difference of hitting for five versus ten. Seemingly regardless of what you do, you’ll always be short on all stats. Worse, odds have it you’ll be underleveled at one time or another.To this end, perfect execution isn’t so much a reward for good play so much as a requirement to win. You can do a bit better with smart item usage and good tactics, but even those can only even the odds so much. Your strongest may feel weak. Your fastest is par among the enemies. Your most durable is actually pretty hard to kill, but that’s all they’ve got going for them. All this is to say that no matter how you slice it, the numbers never feel good, and you can’t really remedy that.

Long boss fights

Bosses are quite threatening, especially when you’re lacking the raw damage to kill them quickly. Even if you have enough damage to threaten them properly, they summon infinite waves of reinforcements to keep you in a state where you can barely handle all the units at once without being completely killed. Very rarely can you burst the boss down fast enough to ignore the minions, and despite that, killing the minions only gives you enough breathing room to heal up before the boss summons more (an action that does not use a turn). And so you chip the boss down with a few hits every now and again, and the fight eventually ends. Sometimes there’s an extra phase to the fight. Sometimes there isn’t. Regardless, the otherwise great boss fights just turn into these long slogs, and start to blur in with the rest of the combat with all the mobs you kill.

Writing

The story stars a girl named Marrite. She’s an “ordinary”, meaning she lacks magic, but her sister Saphina’s a witch. This year Saphina didn’t come home from Ikenfell, the school of magic, prompting Marrite to come searching for her. And that’s all I’d like to say directly so not to spoil anything since the writing is really good, if not exceptional.

If I’m being honest, the story is really good. The world feels lived in. It has a past which helps to define the present, the both of which factoring into the future. Just like the events, the characters don’t live in a vacuum either, with most of them knowing of each other before the events of the story. The characters were very well done, with most living up to some reputation with complex identities and relationships. Put together, Ikenfell’s story has a lot of depth, and gradually gives more information to the player as they progress. While Marrite is your primary lens into the story, most events are presented from multiple angles, which works because of how well the characters are defined. If you’re paying attention, you might be able to notice missing details and infer some motivations before they are brought to attention. It’s almost a mystery like that, always chasing after the next piece of the puzzle.

There’s just something to stories set in a school of magic too. It’s a familiar place, but just better in so many ways. It’s new, and full of familiar faces. Above all though, it teaches something practical. You may have your own stance on that sort of thing, but I’d much rather learn to make locks (warding) over whatever’s being taught in english. Then there’s stuff like alchemy which is the fun part of chemistry, or runes and summoning circles which can be likened to math or language, but tangible results. Ikenfell has its own share of interesting magic, but there’s this sense of development and discovery in there too. Some parts of magic are volatile, and it’s a process of trial and error to figure it out. Other spells are crafted like a lock and key. All in all, the way that magic is applied and combated in a variety of unique ways really sells the atmosphere. And still it feels so familiar. Truth be told I’d be the last to admit that magic is real, but man would I be excited if it was.

As an extra note, the story includes a lot of lgbtq+ characters. More power to you if you enjoy that kind of thing. I bring it up mainly since I think the topic of identity tends to draw attention away from more relevant aspects of the story, and can often sabotage characters by defining them with shallow identifiers as an afterthought. With that in mind, I’d say that Ikenfell has some pretty exceptional handling of these traits as the story does not bend to bring them up, and if anything is strengthened by their inclusion.

Conclusion:

Ikenfell is well written and the combat’s not so long as to spoil it. Even though the second half of the game was just chasing after sparse cutscenes, I’d say it was worth it. Thumbs up from me.

415 Produkte im Account

327 Reviews

Nicht Empfohlen

714 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 28.08.21 18:52

A monotonously unimaginative narrative, strung along by an upsettingly tedious and shallow combat system.

The novelty of the colourful pixel world and tile-based combat system are fine at first, but only get worse as the game rolls out more content to reveal there's no more depth to the experience than that.

The combat system is not very tactical at all. Every single combat encounter the map is the exact same three by twelve grid with no obstacles or hazards or anything. Every single map is just that. All the player does is move the characters in range of the enemies on this confined, barren grid and then chunk out the same damage skills over and over again. To artificially make the experience more engaging players need to perform a quick time event every single time they use an ability or are attacked. These quick time events drastically impact the outcome of each turn and encounter as a whole. Missing the quick time will generally result in an enemy attack dealing triple damage compared to pressing at the very last moment for the most reduction. Same goes for when the player controlled characters attack, it will be anything from a fraction to full damage based on the quick time event. Players have to do this quick time event for every single action in every single combat encounter throughout what is probably a fifteen or more hour campaign. And every single new enemy attack and new character ability has a completely different timing, sometimes it's about when the hit lands other times it's a fraction of a second after the hit lands other times it's not the hit at all it's based on some random other part of the animation.

At first it's not so bad but after over ten hours of combat which is only engaging because quick time events force the player to pay attention, it's exhausting and unfun. The map layout is the same every fight, there's barely even any room to move around in, there's no dynamic strategies or synergies between items and abilities, players have minimal access to buffs or control affects that allow for actually strategy, there's little players can do to tactically respond or counter or account for enemy actions at all in any way, and players have to take up a whole turn if they want to use an item so items are a waste of time outside of higher difficulty fights. If players don't waste time fighting against anything other than the boss, then players end up being underpowered for the boss fight and have to waste ridiculous amounts of time chipping the boss down; which negates all the time the player saved from skipping the previous fights. There doesn't seem to be much variety in gearing for statistics either since players can't really focus anything enough to make a huge difference, although without speed enemies will start taking multiple turns before the player gets to.

Admittedly the game does actually give players a toggle in the settings menu to allow for instantly winning combat and, I think, bypassing the quick time events as well. But if entire core mechanics of the game need to be removed just to make it less unfun then that's a problem.

Similarly to the combat, at first the story is also decent if not especially exciting. But it doesn't get anymore exciting as it advances. The world is just a bunch of bland, unimaginative copy paste magic whatever. Nothing special, nothing unique or creative about any of it. The lore of how the world was created gets even worse. Arbitrarily large whale, mammoths and a raven who for some reason have the ability and desire to create things; created things. That's it that's the universe lore. Same with the plot, it does try to at least do something different yet it's still just a vague asinine problem that has a vague asinine solution and overtime it just becomes less vague. None of the twists the plot provides in twelve hours are actually exciting, especially because most of the specific details that the plot revolves around are arbitrarily thrown at the player out of nowhere; and the player just has to nod along.

The characters are about the same. Not awful, but not unique or interesting either. Very copy paste predictable personality categories without much depth beyond that initial category. Half of the characters either don't have any major drama problems but also supply absolutely no reason for the player to be interested or intrigued by their existence at all; while the other characters do have drama problems but it's all petty obnoxious issues that make zero sense to be showing up in the middle of such a drastic world saving whatever plot.

The most consistently fresh aspect of the game is simply just running around the world collecting items and advancing from room to room while solving mild puzzles. The game has decent pixel graphics and fairly diverse, if not still uninspired, environments along with a solid amount of nice music. The select few songs that actually have sung lyrics tend to be shallowly written and extremely out of place though. Ironically the least music variety appears to be in combat. Players get to listen to the same song for the fiftieth time while performing the same quick time event for the two hundredth time.

As referenced I was genuinely fine with the game at first. But after twelve hours of the same quick time events, the same empty maps; the only reason combat even started becoming especially difficult was because the characters had become underpowered due to me desperately avoiding enemy encounters to save time, and I actually started missing quick time events more often because of how tired I got of doing them. Meanwhile the story just keeps going on with the same inane fantasy save the world discover the boring details of the predictable secrets and now one of the characters is having a tantrum again so time to stop everything for them before immediately resuming once the petty social crisis is over.

There's just nothing new about this in terms of gameplay or story. Yet it's over twelve hours long and demands constant attention from the player the whole way despite not providing anything of genuine intrigue. This game actually would of benefited from being much, much shorter.

If you're interested in finding some games that I do positively recommend they can be found on my curator page here .

22 Produkte im Account

5 Reviews

Empfohlen

300 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 25.08.21 00:40

Imagine a game with the music and energy of Undertale, the combat styling of the DS Paper Mario games, and everyone is is a gay wizard, or witch, or whatever floats their respective pyromancing boats. They also manage to do a not shit job of representing the LGBT community. In 2021. Crazy, I know.

gameplay-wise, every character that you unlock, from the primary protagonist to the last character (no spoilers!) feels viable for combat. some are much better at certain jobs than others (for example, one or two characters have strong healing moves, while others have moves that trap spaces and do hefty damage if you or an enemy trods on one of those traps), but all of them have their niches and i thoroughly enjoyed building one character as a tank with another being a glass cannon, which I played through much of the game with.

The story, for the most part, makes crystal-clear sense and is decently fun to follow, but if you are playing for the story primarily do NOT make the mistake of skipping a custscene. I did that once early on and lost quite a bit of context for one of the party member's actions (though this was later rectified). It also does a great job of conveying tension, especially for the style in which the game is in. There were a few moments that had me genuinely laughing or disturbed or even a bit freaked out, and sometimes all three at once.

my only actual gripe with the game is that the final boss (or bosses, depending on what you consider a boss) took me FOREVER, not because I failed multiple times, but because the bosses had massive-ass health pools that took me ages to put a dent in, supplemented with dozens upon dozens of annoying little guys who were fully capable of ganging up on one of your party members and taking them from full to no health in a single turn, even if you perfect-blocked every attack. as a result, half of my turns were spent downing healing items and revives rather than actually attacking the boss (granted, I didn't bring a dedicated healer into the last fight, which may have contributed to this).

Overall, do yourself a favor and play this game through. I was lucky to win it from a raffle on discord, since I don't think I'd have heard of it otherwise, but it was really a treat to play through, and I think I'll be going back to 100% it later on if I've the time.

391 Produkte im Account

7 Reviews

Empfohlen

1245 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 20.08.21 01:26

Ikenfell is a cute and well written game and it's also very gay. The story kind of meanders around a lot but it's the kind of game that keeps you wanting to play an hour or two every couple days to see what's happening next. It also gets into heavy territory but is overall very positive and uplifting.

The characters are great, the music is great (there are tracks with vocals which can get a little annoying but whatever), the art is very charming, and the combat has a lot of high points. The main draw I can say about the game is that sometimes the combat is going to seem slooooow, especially in the earlier parts of the game where it can feel like there's no reason to fight random battles because the rewards for doing so are so low then and you barely need to grind at all in this game anyway.

But it's a good t/rpg, play if gay.

529 Produkte im Account

20 Reviews

Empfohlen

447 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 19.08.21 02:35

Super enjoyable so far. I've not gotten too far yet, but the game is very charming :)

141 Produkte im Account

2 Reviews

Empfohlen

1875 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 18.08.21 03:30

Gameplaywise, I'd sum this up as similar to Paper Mario or Megaman Battle Network; turn based grid combat with action commands (although these can be switched off in the accessibility options). It features an impressive array of accessibility options (including the ability to switch on content warnings, and skip irritating fights), but also combines this with smart design (bossfights have their own leitmotif just before save points, and you always get one before cutscenes for example). This makes for an experience very similar to early JRPGs without any of the frustrating parts.

Storywise; All the best parts of a certain wizard franchised patched over with Steven Universe DNA (I wasn't surprised to learn that the music was done by some of the same people who worked on the latter!). Some top notch spritework and animation, catchy music, and just the right line between building on and deconstructing the genre without getting too cynical.

15 Produkte im Account

5 Reviews

Empfohlen

10551 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 31.07.21 22:00

Got this from some bundle my sister got with a Civ game. I'm a big nerd, so she gave me a few of the codes. This Looked cute, so I got it. It's definitely for LGBT supporters. (They don't affect your lives negatively, from their preference, so why hate?).

if you buy it, just remember some points, late game, are not for the faint of heart.

955 Produkte im Account

33 Reviews

Empfohlen

1802 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 30.07.21 09:59

I like this game a lot. It's not often I 100% a game, but this one I did.

And they didn't even shoehorn in any cishet crap.

3739 Produkte im Account

101 Reviews

Nicht Empfohlen

16 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 28.07.21 03:52

The game isn't bad, but it's gimmick of attack/defending critical hits ruins the game for me. I suck at that part of the game and it makes it unplayable.

I love Harry Potter type stories, but in the little time I've played it wasn't fun.

At least I picked up the game in a Humble Choice Bundle, so I didn't spend any real money on the game.

If you can get past the timing attack/defend and aren't bothered by a LGBTQ story, it's not bad.

622 Produkte im Account

5 Reviews

Nicht Empfohlen

432 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 25.07.21 20:03

Ikenfell has potential but squanders a lot of it through a lot of small issues that end up building into one massive frustration.

The core gameplay of this game is similar to the Mario and Luigi RPG games from the Nintendo GBA and DS days. Its a turn based RPG that requires you to learn the impact point of moves so you can hit the action button at the right time to either muliply the damage you give or reduce damage taken. The system works competently enough in this game and isn't all that hard to get to grasp with. Even then there are accessibility options in the game that allow the player to automate these if they struggle with their reactions. In my opinion accessibility options are always worthy of praise.

However battles feel like they take an age. Not that they are difficult or challenging but they all start to feel like they drag after a while. Maybe the designers were trying to go for the same sort of experience you get in the Persona games where even an encounter with even the simplest of enemies could expand into explosive clashes but it kind of just falls flat here. Unlike Persona this game lacks the masterful presentation those games have which make those long battles interesting to play and engaging to take part in.

The snails pace of the battle also starts to bleed into other areas of the game after a while. The story is glacial at revealing further plot twists and developments. With no sub plots or side activities that support the main story I honestly started to
physically feel the passing of time. Either the main plot needed more to happen, move at a much faster pace or be supplemented by other side stories to keep itself interesting.

The final straw for myself came when I had to find several keys to enter a location. To do so you have to wander a small but very bland map in what I can only describe as a pixel hunt. Nothing is more infuriating than when I start to feel I am wasting time without fun in a video game.

With that said I don't recommend Ikenfell but I do hope the developers do carry on with their work. I feel there is a good game almost ready to be made here and just falters in too many areas for it to be truly enjoyed. I'd like to imagine with some time they will be able to make more cohesive and engaging stories and gameplay.

693 Produkte im Account

9 Reviews

Empfohlen

1642 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 08.07.21 19:17

A beautiful story, an amazing soundtrack, wonderfully diverse set of characters and chill gameplay.
What else could you want?
My heart will always have a special place for this game.

674 Produkte im Account

41 Reviews

Nicht Empfohlen

814 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 08.07.21 09:18

Cute game, but overall it has a few large flaws that keep it from being really enjoyable to me. The combat being slow with its mix of grid based movement and timed hits to attack, as well as bosses with multiple phases and continually spawning enemies makes just fighting a chore. The writing itself also has a number of moments which are just.. frankly poorly written and feel like they were added just for inclusiveness. Personally, I feel unless Gender politics is a big thing you absolutely adore, you'll find yourself taken out of the game from the multitudes of time the writing wants to hamfistedly shove it into the conversations. If you can ignore both of those parts, and try to see the game around it, I do feel like theres a cute, if a bit sub par and poorly paced story beneath it all. Overall, not really worth it in my opinion, but your mileage may vary.

730 Produkte im Account

2 Reviews

Empfohlen

1290 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 22.06.21 21:17

This game deserves more eyes on it because of its LGBTQ+ representation. Never in my life have I felt represented like this. There's a variety of identities spread around the entire cast, but even more important than that, they're all respected here. Thank you, Happy Ray Games.

1049 Produkte im Account

15 Reviews

Empfohlen

1105 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 22.06.21 12:54

Great game with a great story

821 Produkte im Account

37 Reviews

Empfohlen

1357 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 22.06.21 03:05

Very good A+ gay game!

62 Produkte im Account

10 Reviews

Empfohlen

1379 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 21.06.21 04:46

soundtrack is incredible (by steven universe composers)

my biggest complaint is that the story, while interesting, takes too long to progress because of sidetracking.
late-game bosses are also way too long, i started zoning out on them. gameplay and story are otherwise nice

for that reason I wouldn't buy this full price, otherwise give it a try if you like turn-based rpgs

4025 Produkte im Account

251 Reviews

Empfohlen

1223 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 13.06.21 07:54

Campaign and 100% completion can be done in about 18 hours. (Why i have 20 hours explained below)

Its a Turn Based JRPG using Grid Battle System. Closest game i can recall is like Rhapsody PS1 version. It also has something like FF8 Squalls Gunblade or Legend of Dragoon type of timed attacks to deal critical damage or lesser damage per action.

First and foremost majority of the complaints is its characters are mostly LGBT+, it was not forced but nearly every character seem to have lines specifically mentioning that they are(not forced but still unnecessary to always bring up). If you have problems with it then skip this aside from that the storyadventure though contained in plot, was engaging enough for me to want to know the ending.

Battle System as first mentioned is QTE in a way. Good thing though the game has built in cheats to remove it completely or even instant win. As much as you really don't need to use the Instant win, it was VERY USEFUL for me since i forgot to backup my save when i reformatted by SSD. The 2 hours of game I played was redone in about 20 minutes. Battle System it self though is sometimes difficult to time and thus increases its difficulty specially for new enemies that have different timings.

Pros
- Decent Adventure
- Good soundtrack as Store Page has stated
- Part of currentl Humble Choice
- Useful cheats to modify your gameplay style
- AND SAVE YOU FROM REPEATING but it shouldn't be a problem if

Needs improvement
- They enabled Steam Cloud saves
- Maybe they timed this due to LGBT+ month and it does promote them but i felt that shoehorning nearly every person as one and repeating it for nearly each character is not a good story idea. The story already flows enough that you should understand some characters are LGBT

145 Produkte im Account

2 Reviews

Empfohlen

1293 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 01.06.21 16:09

A very charming, almost even relaxing game. The combat incorporates a lot of simple concepts in a way that makes it all come together into a fun system with a lot of options, with a cast of 6 unique characters who all bring a ton of different spells to the table.

That being said, the timing based block and attack system, akin to Paper Mario or the Mario & Luigi series, can sometimes feel a bit too punishing (although the game has a handy option to prevent complete misses, or even circumvent the timing system entirely, if needed), while the position-dependent grid system, almost like a trpg, can sometimes feel a bit sluggish.

The characters are diverse and interact in fun ways, while not lacking in depth, and the story is charming and interesting, although it doesn't do anything particularly special or unique.

The soundtrack is fantastic, with track after track of beautiful atmospheric music, although I found the few songs with vocals to be bothersome to the point where I almost wanted to mute them entirely, despite the fantastic backing tracks. Luckily, there weren't too many of these all-in-all.

The art is a bit weird - the expressions are very detailed and the overworld looks gorgeous, without sacrificing the ability to tell what is what, but the battle art and animations can looks a bit wonky and take some getting used to, and some character's faces are a bit off as well.

Over-all, it's a very solid game and a definite recommendation if you want to play something not too active, but that wont bore you either.

7 Produkte im Account

1 Reviews

Empfohlen

1100 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 01.06.21 05:55

Wonderful gameplay, excellent story, and lovely characters. Nel's a mood.
Didn't think I would like turn based RPGs, but this one's amazing. If you're on the fence, I'd say go for it for sure

70 Produkte im Account

3 Reviews

Empfohlen

3632 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 18.05.21 08:04

sup cool game and its take time cool story ano no more needed i love it lol

718 Produkte im Account

218 Reviews

Empfohlen

1340 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 12.05.21 14:53

There are a few issues with the combat. For one you can't see enemy range or attack pattern when viewing their stats during battle so you don't know how far they can reach. Also if large enemies stand in front of your characters they can obscure the indicators of the quicktime events. Lastly the turn order makes no sense. Your teammate with the highest speed doesn't even come first among the 3 partymembers all the time. And it can often happen that some enemies have double turns before one of your team even had 1.

As for difficulty the only thing that seems to matter is not missing the quicktime events. Especially late game it is the difference between taking 2 damage and 22.

Otherwise a great game with a nice story.

570 Produkte im Account

23 Reviews

Nicht Empfohlen

52 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 02.05.21 16:13

I quickly found myself avoiding enemies just because combat wasn't fun.

47 Produkte im Account

4 Reviews

Empfohlen

1253 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 02.05.21 00:16

It is definitely worth getting if you enjoy playing for the story, The game play is not bad either though can get repetitive here and there.

255 Produkte im Account

10 Reviews

Nicht Empfohlen

236 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 25.04.21 07:39

It's a cool concept and the art and music are amazing, but unfortunately, the gameplay is repetitive and boring. Each battle is just doing the exact same moves with minimal strategy and very wonky timing for the bonuses (at least at first, but my patience wore out at the bar's basement).

I really wanted the story / discovery / and secrets to carry me through a dull battle mechanic, but unfortunately it takes ages to get to the plot and most of the interactions for the first hour or so of the game are just setup, setup, setup. I like the concept and I wish I had better things to say, but this title fell a little flat for me. :(

673 Produkte im Account

12 Reviews

Empfohlen

647 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 18.04.21 20:38

A sort of Harry Potter-esque world with mechanics reminiscent of Mario and Luigi games combined with the position-based combat of the Trails series. I'm only a few hours in, but this is scratching a video game itch I've had for a while. If you want a satisfying, yet simple RPG that's like Harry Potter but not made by a narcissistic TERF, this is a game for you.

231 Produkte im Account

11 Reviews

Empfohlen

2045 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 15.04.21 02:16

This is one of my favorite games of all time. It succeeds in so many ways, not reinventing the wheel in any particular area, but perfecting and refining every area that it touches. This game is probably one of the most inclusive games I've ever played. So many different identities have a place in this game, and none of them feel like tokens, it all feels authentic. Gameplay plays out a lot like a mixture between Old School Paper Mario and Fire Emblem, with a level up system that gradually gives you more and more powers. The story is FANTASTIC, and I will not be telling you any of it because I feel like the more blind you go into this game the better. A Must Play! One of the best games of 2020, if not the past decade.

35 Produkte im Account

5 Reviews

Empfohlen

610 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 10.04.21 15:45

good game, its fun
keep in mind the action commands are a bit later than you would think, it can mess you up early-game
also its pretty easy so if youre looking for [strike]the dark souls of rpgs[/strike] a hard game, dont get this one

195 Produkte im Account

7 Reviews

Empfohlen

1433 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 28.03.21 16:15

Power. Adventure. Magic. Friends. Love.

That's some words that fit the game perfectly.

A great game for a good ol' RPG game that doesn't requires big open world maps and silly fetch quests. This game is pretty straight forward, and the characters feel very genuine, with their mistakes and their grow during the adventure.

A hidden gem, brought to me thanks to Steam Discovery Queue

403 Produkte im Account

20 Reviews

Empfohlen

1791 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 22.03.21 23:46

Super fun and engaging timing based rpg action
story and characters good enough to keep me interested
Inclusive AF, characters of differing backgrounds and identities
a real fun time

31 Produkte im Account

1 Reviews

Empfohlen

4343 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 16.03.21 14:57

Innovative RPG AND gay? Sign me up.

Also Gilda is the perfect character

11 Produkte im Account

4 Reviews

Empfohlen

1705 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 06.03.21 02:11

pretty good

693 Produkte im Account

28 Reviews

Empfohlen

1964 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 05.03.21 21:18

A wonderful game! Progressive, great combat system, and lovely story. Plenty of side things to do and optional bosses!

462 Produkte im Account

152 Reviews

Empfohlen

1763 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 20.02.21 10:10

Witches. Magic. Ghosts. Queer af characters. And cats – lots of cats.

The story starts out with the protagonist looking for her sister at the witchy school of Ikenfell. Her sister always comes home for summer break, so when she doesn’t, the protagonist feels something is very wrong. Upon her arrival, she discovers she has powers, even though it was believed she was an “ordinary”. While searching for her sister, she uncovers secrets about the school and befriends several people along the way.

Info
• Turn-based battle system. On a grid, but isn’t actually strategy.
• Even though magic is used, there isn’t an MP measurement. However, some spells do have a cooldown period.
• Only 3 characters in active party. 6 party members to choose from all together.
• Each character has completely unique magic and abilities.
• No characters use weapons, but some characters can conjure a weapon for it to fly into enemies.
• For me, it took about 29 hours to finish this game, but I actually watched/read all the story parts. I also fought optional bosses.
• For those just wanting to enjoy the story and aren’t fans of fighting, there is a Victory Option, in which the battle menu has an option for an instant win. Also, as far as I can tell, the player can run from all non-story battles.

Minor Complaints
• Keyboard settings can’t be changed in options. As a left-handed player, that’s super annoying, so I definitely utilized the controller.
• The game crashed a few times, even though my computer has absolutely no issue running the game? Thankfully, auto-save kept me from having to redo much.
• Typos here and there.
• Some areas could’ve used more save points, or “save cats”, if you will.

Praises
• Just about everyone in the story is queer af.
• Several nonbinary characters. F*ck yeah!
• Excellent ethnic/racial diversity.
• There are lots of cats and they’re save points! You pet the cat, their purring heals you, then you get to save!
• An optional boss is the Allcat, in which you get to engage in the most adorable battle, ever. The cats don’t get vanquished like regular enemies; instead, they just trot away once you’ve “defeated” them. There’s a move the Allcat does called “Stampede” in which a bunch of cats charge onto the battle grid and it is the cutest move in the game. :3
• The characters are really well-developed and written. Each have their own personal issues to work through, as well as the protagonist.
• Promotes self-care and acceptance.
• The Epilogue actually tells you what everyone does after the main story. I also feel like there’s an opening for a sequel, but perhaps I’m looking into it too much.
• Puzzles throughout the game are well-designed and not too difficult, and this is coming from someone who feels they’re not that great at puzzles, honestly.
• Photosensitive Mode, Content Warnings, & Timing Mode options available for ensuring more availability to players. Photosensitive Mode is for those who could possibly experience seizures from flashes of light or those who have sensory issues. Content Warnings can be enabled for those who want to be warned about disturbing content. Timing Mode is basically a way to enable “easy mode” for some of the battle mechanics, as regular gameplay involves timed key/button presses.

In conclusion, this game is really for anyone who enjoys a good story and characters, as actual battling is optional. Be gay, do magic.

86 Produkte im Account

9 Reviews

Empfohlen

1204 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 19.02.21 03:56

Ballin' track, and it's like harry potter but gay, 11/10

274 Produkte im Account

12 Reviews

Empfohlen

865 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 05.02.21 23:43

I love the diversity in this game. It really feels great to have some representation that isn't forced or ret-con.

129 Produkte im Account

4 Reviews

Empfohlen

4781 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 05.02.21 00:50

I got this game as a Christmas gift and I cannot believe how much I enjoyed this game. If you need need a great RPG to play with a good storyline and soundtrack, then look no further, Ikenfell is here.

816 Produkte im Account

10 Reviews

Empfohlen

1402 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 03.02.21 20:58

TL;DR: Worth playing, but battle system is kinda flawed.

I definitely enjoyed Ikenfell. The story was great, the characters were charming, and the visuals & music felt retro in a good way. Though the game parts, while fun, definitely had a lot of annoying issues that detracted from my enjoyment:

* The timing mechanics were wildly inconsistent with some having nice obvious UI while others were unclear and had very limited windows to hit the mark so they ended up feeling unfair and frustrating (ie. Force Punch).
* Items were barely worth using. Out of battle, you can constantly recharge at save points that are trivial to reach. In battle, their range is so limited that you have to have the character using the item be directly adjacent to their target.
* Status effects were so limited and mild that it's barely worth bothering to stock up on curing items to heal them.
* Traps became practically worthless late in the game as enemies started jumping and teleporting so they wouldn't trigger unless you could get an enemy to end their move directly on the trap tile.
* Late game enemies and bosses had such ridiculous movement ranges that close range characters were at a huge disadvantage.

73 Produkte im Account

13 Reviews

Empfohlen

1269 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 07.01.21 12:44

The best word I can use to describe Ikenfell is delightful. A delightful game about delightful characters in a delightfully charming world.

The visuals are understated, but clean and the animation is very impressive in battles. The soundtrack is wonderful with a predominately chiptune style with orchestral elements weaved. And when they bust out the vocal performances, it becomes incredibly catchy.

The battle system is what truly sets Ikenfell apart, using the grid system movement and attack ranges of games like Fire Emblem pushes through the filter of a turn-based RPG. Lining up enemies perfectly and busting out a spell to wipe them all out in one attack is a beautiful feeling. The fact that the game foregoes MP was strange at first, but the different ranges and applications of spells as a counterbalance meant I wasn’t missing it.

I can’t say I’ve finished the story yet (though I feel I am quite close), but the characters encountered thus far are great. Each one a flawed, but brave young person assisting each other to overcome their weaknesses. It’s a story of emotions and control that’s not afraid to lighten the mood either (usually whenever Gilda’s on screen who is a treasure).

I wouldn’t say the game’s perfect. The formula of ‘go to place, solve puzzle, fight boss, repeat’ can be repetitive and gives little incentive to return to old areas. The game’s first half is also a little on the easy side. Not a complete pushover, but I didn’t suffer a single character KO until about 7 hours in.

But does any of that ruin the game? Of course not. Ikenfell is still an excellent RPG with exceptional aesthetics and a charming cast that I highly recommend.

375 Produkte im Account

28 Reviews

Empfohlen

927 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 05.01.21 00:41

It's a Big Gay Story (that also features other LGBTQ traits that you will find on your adventure). Nothing wrong with that unless that something you do not want to explore.

87 Produkte im Account

3 Reviews

Empfohlen

68 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 04.01.21 00:31

YOU CAN PET THE CAT

797 Produkte im Account

34 Reviews

Empfohlen

1373 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 27.12.20 23:16

Lovely RPG, with a good setting characters pixelart and music.

Only negative is I think the battle system with its timed button presses is tuned a bit too much on the hard side of things, and would recommend using the 'Auto' timing setting. This likely makes it too easy, but I enjoyed the game more that way.

34 Produkte im Account

4 Reviews

Empfohlen

1352 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 23.12.20 19:30

Discovered this game bc I heard that Aivi and Surasshu are composing the soundtrack of this song, they definitely did a great job on that department!

Good combat
Good music
Nice story

Might not be everyone's cup of tea but as an appreciator of the Mario & Luigi franchise and the Paper Mario series, the combat mechanics hit close to home.

The characters are definitely great!

89 Produkte im Account

2 Reviews

Empfohlen

2153 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 22.12.20 03:36

11/10 not only can you pet the cat, petting the cat is mechanically relevant

211 Produkte im Account

1 Reviews

Empfohlen

2071 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 22.12.20 01:01

This is easily one of my favorite RPGs. I just finished it up, and while the overarching plot is okay, it's not the focus, it's a character driven story and the characters all feel great and well thought out, and I love all of them.
The gameplay is also great, the puzzles are fun and not too easy but not too difficult, and there are lots of accessibility options.
All around, just, an amazing game. Please get it and recommend it so they make more like this.

344 Produkte im Account

1 Reviews

Empfohlen

1292 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 12.12.20 02:55

I go to some RPGs for tight, precise combat that rewards critical thinking over sheer luck or persistence. I go to some for a sense of adventure in a richly-detailed world full of secrets. Some are for instantly lovable character designs, or a story that seriously changes my outlook. Honestly, sometimes I'm just there for the bops. It's rare that I get all of that at once; in fact it may have been over two decades since a game hit me this good.

If you were raised on JRPGs from the SNES era onward and haven't been able to really sink your teeth into an experience for the last few console generations, Ikenfell's got you covered. The fights will test your wits, the twists will warp your brain, the feels WILL bring tears to your eyes...and yes, it lasts longer than four hours this time. Reminds me why I fell in love with this medium in the first place.

(Oh and if you're looking for queer representation you just hit the mother lode baby!! At least three canon gay couples, an ace/aro character who stays that way and is never pressured to convert, a non-binary character who uses neopronouns, holy smokes it's incredible)

Super validating game in so many more ways than one, please give it a try—it's a steal at twenty bucks, truss me.

67 Produkte im Account

6 Reviews

Empfohlen

1473 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 11.12.20 22:58

This game is a must-play for any fan of quirky RPGs like Paper Mario. The characters are diverse and fun, the environments are full of secrets to find, and the battles are challenging without being unfair. Not to mention the soundtrack, which is phenomenal!

I've seen criticism of how attack timing is handled in this game. At first, I agreed with it. I thought it was confusing how there was no clear visual indicator to tell you when to time your attacks correctly. However, after a while I realized that the game wants you to practice your spells as if you were a real student learning magic for the first time. The game gives you opportunities to practice your timing during random enemy fights, which will help you prepare for the more difficult boss fights. The game lets you suffer a bit so you can learn to grow and overcome challenges. I appreciate that detail, and I prefer it over the game holding your hand.

Also, if you don't want to take the time to practice spells, there's an option that lets all your spells land with perfect timing automatically. It's good that the game devs considered an easier option for people who need it.

The story is where most of my personal criticism comes from. It's not a bad story at all, but it is very slow in the beginning. It takes a while of playtime before the plot really kicks in.

TL;DR : Please play Ikenfell! 8/10! Very worth your time and money!

499 Produkte im Account

23 Reviews

Nicht Empfohlen

697 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 05.12.20 17:03

A lot of love went into this game and it breaks my heart to make a negative review.
However, I can't recommend this game at all.

This is a turn-based JRPG about an ordinary girl(non-magical) exploring a magical school to find her sister, who happens to be a witch. The game has diverse characters . . . but failed to make them actually interesting. After 10 hours of playing, I can't describe ANY of the characters for more than half a sentence. The game barely explores ANY of the characters. Instead, most of the cut scenes are conversations about main character's sister . . . a character who I, the player, have yet to meet. The game basically is mostly tell, don't show. There were so many interesting explorations to be done with Gilda and Pertisia . . . but simply didn't. I don't know what purpose Rook and Petronella fills in the game other than being main characters' side kicks or something. Who is Ima again?

The combat system is a simple turn-based system with timing press, similar to Mario RPG series. I think the big problem with this system is that the game deliberately attempts to confuse when the player should press the button. When the precise button press is practically required to deal damage, (missing it would deal less than half) I am not entirely sure WHY the game is designed this way. I ultimately found myself using the same moves and same characters that I am comfortable using. Why bother learn how to use other characters or other moves? Not to mention, every move in the combat is drawn-out in order to implement this frustrating combat system and most of the battle feels like a waiting time for the animation to resolve.

As I have stated, I can see that the game had a lot of love poured into it. Pixel art animation is pretty darn impressive. After 10hrs, I don't think I am close to finishing the game and the game world is pretty darn big with large areas to explore.

I just don't think I will finish the game though.

243 Produkte im Account

7 Reviews

Empfohlen

209 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 30.11.20 15:34

that's pretty gay, so yeah, u can count me in
and the game is actually good
and gay
yep

915 Produkte im Account

4 Reviews

Empfohlen

1892 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 28.11.20 17:20

A very solid JRPG style game. I very much enjoyed the combat system, which reminded me a lot of Super Mario RPG in how good timing could increase the effect of you abilities. I did find it frustrating at times that all attacks and defense relied on pressing the button at the right time to be effective. In a game that focuses so much on diversity (delightfully so), it was a weird move to have a core mechanic that would make it almost impossible for players with hand slowing disabilities to play it. For me, though, it was an intensely enjoyable experience

1386 Produkte im Account

14 Reviews

Empfohlen

1649 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 25.11.20 19:25

A game about trauma, with queer folx, that isn't about queer trauma.
Great art and music, good design, and tons of fun secrets. It plays with some tropes and mechanics in fun and interesting ways, and has great writing and narrative structure.
Truly outstanding accessibility options.
A must-play of the year.

137 Produkte im Account

2 Reviews

Empfohlen

1316 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 23.11.20 21:59

good and gay

73 Produkte im Account

1 Reviews

Empfohlen

3045 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 15.11.20 13:35

Fun, inclusive, adorable. I kickstarted this game years ago and have remained excited to see the progress and now that it's out I have to say all my hopes were met. It's easy to play in short bursts or play in longer stretches, the characters are sweet, the music is engaging.. I love this game.

100 Produkte im Account

3 Reviews

Empfohlen

289 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 09.11.20 06:22

A cat threw glass at me!

954 Produkte im Account

5 Reviews

Nicht Empfohlen

356 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 06.11.20 01:28

I wish I could recommend this, as the art and soundtrack are both beautiful, but unfortunately the rest of the game just sort of falls flat pretty quickly.

The game play loop starts to get old/overly repetitive only a few hours in, and for story that's cast is so diverse all the characters still somehow end up feeling pretty bland and uninteresting.

The combat starts out pretty fun, the boss fights are engaging while never being too punishing, but the random fights on the map start to drag pretty quick.

Overall maybe get this if it's on sale, it's not a terrible game but there's a good chance it won't hold your interest for very long. Or skip it all together and just buy the soundtrack, the music may be the only thing in this that kept me playing for as long as I did.

221 Produkte im Account

2 Reviews

Empfohlen

823 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 04.11.20 21:08

Ikenfell is a darling little game. My review might be biased because it's been exactly the sort of escapism I've needed during these uncertain times (lol), but I think it's what everyone could use right now. Charming sprites and environments, a unique combat system (though it isn't always clear how to counter enemy attacks or set off yours), immersive music and characters that you watch grow and overcome personal challenges, who are written so realistically, dealing with those hard-to-talk-about issues that come with the territory of being a young adult. The LGBTQ+ and minority representation is much appreciated, too. I needed this game during my own formative years, but I'm happy it's here now!

118 Produkte im Account

25 Reviews

Empfohlen

245 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 04.11.20 18:15

Everybody is gay.

227 Produkte im Account

5 Reviews

Empfohlen

1159 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 03.11.20 03:32

I’m actually kinda surprised that it had as much playtime in it as it did (20~ hours in my case) but honestly none of that time was ever wasted or spent on padding. I kinda had my doubts pre-release because there’ve been other games that try to cash in on LGBT+ stuff for marketing, but this isn’t one of those games. Or rather, its actually a valid selling point instead of a half-assed gimmick. The gameplay is good, I enjoyed it, and I’m not gunna ramble on about that because the characters are the real stars. I won’t go into THEM because otherwise this post would be a multi-paragraph text avalanche. I am love all of them

146 Produkte im Account

3 Reviews

Empfohlen

1269 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 01.11.20 23:48

100%'d it. Great game with fun characters, unique and engaging gameplay, with just enough secrets to lead you off the beaten path while not overshadowing the main story. I recommend to any RPG fan.

733 Produkte im Account

29 Reviews

Nicht Empfohlen

868 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 01.11.20 23:20

I appreciate the games attempt at accessability, but unfortunately it doesn't fix the games awful pacing. The combat is incredibly slow. That, and compared to most RPG's, the character and story are extremely bland. A lot of the characters are one-tone personality traits with one defining characteristic that becomes their whole personality. There's never any cute quirks or remarks you get from the characters outside scripted cutscenes to help make the characters feel more dynamic and alive, no charming mid-gameplay conversations that add nuance and subtlty to the characters...

The bosses are all very similar as well. While some may have more phases or different aesthetics rarely do they have you do anything other than just hit attack and time your attacks and defense well. There's puzzles in this game that range from infuriatingly difficult to brain dead easy with no progression. It's very easy for the player to assume one thing, with things like enemies being misinterprated as clues for a puzzle, and no puzzle solving in fights themselves.

There's a *lot* of running back and forth for no reason. Even with the fast travel trees.

Bosses have too much health and outstay their welcome even with the highest attack I could have at the time.
There's... just so much about this game that's annoying. With more side content it might help with the pacing of the game but as it is now I can't recommend it.

96 Produkte im Account

22 Reviews

Nicht Empfohlen

348 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 31.10.20 15:16

Auggghhh I don't think I can finish this one.

I am okay with the story and the combat, I wish the combat could be fasten up a bit tho.

What I am not okay with was the map/level design.
After playing it for 6 hours I could tell that the whole game is going to be like this :
- Go to a checkpoint.
- Explore some rooms.
- Stumble open a locked door.
- Find a key.
- Fight a boss.

Well you could say that MOST games are like that but something felt off about Ikenfell.
I am guessing is that the areas look identical with just some reskins done, so it felt repetitive.

There is also a lack sense of progression. After going in an adventure for hours and fighting some bosses, it would've been great to change the time to dusk. So you could feel like something is actually happening, instead of having the areas looking the same all the time.

I think I might play it later on because I still want to listen to the music through the game rather than streaming it, the music is the only thing that kept me going.
But looking at other reviews, seeing that most of them took 20 hours to beat the game feels daunting.
I don't think I can play this game that long.

113 Produkte im Account

17 Reviews

Empfohlen

74 Std. insgesamt

Verfasst: 08.10.20 20:56

(Note that I played this game mostly off of Steam! I had early beta access as a tester, but decided to also buy it to support the team.)

A really fun and charming RPG with fun characters & animation and stellar music too. The battles are really fun and tactical. Later in the game the battles got quite difficult for me, but thankfully they included options to make some aspects easier so I was able to tune the experience to my taste. There's a lot to appreciate here!!

Sammlung

Über das Spiel

Systemanforderungen

Steam Nutzer-Reviews

A quick summary

Gameplay Breakdown

Gameplay Troubles

Writing

Conclusion: