Recent reviews by Red

I know some people have been having issues, but this port has been fantastic for me.
I have a Ryzen 5 3600 and RX 6600 XT - just about the minimum specs - but I can easily hit 1080p 60FPS on low settings, with decent upscaling to 1440p.

Pop-in HAS been noticable: Expect some blurry textures or low-quality models when loading new areas. However, unlike the the first FF7R, there's no stuttering. For me, this is vastly preferable. I get better visual quality AND better performance compared to the first part on the same PC.

Oh yeah, and the game's pretty fun too.

Shadow generations seems decent enough, but the level design and controls don't show the same level of polish as the base game. 3D levels feel a bit artificial and constrained compared to Sonic generations, and controls feel stiff. 2D shadow levels are much more barebones and flat than class sonic's.

Sonic generations is still great, but the version here lacks modding support and Shadow generations doesn't provide nearly enough new content to make up for the loss of modded levels.

Not the 10/10 people seem to think it is, but still absolutely worth the price.

Many of the games early stages are relatively weak. (If you're looking to use steam's refund period as a trial, make sure to select "Robot Rampage" when you have the option, this will get you to the good stages earlier) Not terrible, but not great either. (Avian Museum, Airship Sigwada, Zao Land, and Shenlin Park) There are some pretty rough issues distinguishing the background from the foreground, and unmemorable music and bosses. There's also some pretty rough camera issues, where you need to maintain a high speed to see what's ahead of you, even in some enclosed boss fights. I didn't hate it, but it certainly left a weak first impression compared to it's predecessor. None of this is helped by long, insignificant cutscenes and constantly throwing you into hub areas.

Great Midgame, Excellent Endgame

Thankfully, though, the game gets much better about a third of the way in (*if you follow the recommended stage order, some can be done out of order) Bosses get good, then great, most of the soundtrack is amazing, and it's clear what is actually a solid object (thank god.) There are triggers that zoom the camera out when you need to see what's around you - these were notably missing in the levels I mentioned above.

By the final stretch of my first playthrough, I was thoroughly in love. Once the game picked up, it never let me down. The last few stages were some of the best.

This is a very long game though, at least for what it is. There 24 lengthy stages and an average playthrough lasts a little under 10 hours. Don't try to do it all in one go or you will get burnt out before the end. It also supports framerates well above 60, which is sadly rare for 2D games.

Technical Issues

I played the game about two months after launch, and only experienced a two major gameplay issues, both of which are now fixed. At launch, it was seemingly pretty buggy, but now seems rock solid.

There is one major issue though, the game doesn't scale properly to resolutions above 1080p, leading to a slightly blurry image. The game's pixel art is lovely, and look better with sharper pixels. I use the app Lossless Scaling set to nearest neighbor for my 1440p monitor. It works great, but you really shouldn't need a piece of paid external software for your game to look right. This is being looked into, but as of writing there's doesn't seem to be a fix in the works.

Controls terrible, bizarre flickering issues and frequent stutters. Level design is bad to nonexistant

Absolutely phenomenal.

Most reviews praise the visual quality and level of polish, and rightfully so. It contains tons of new assets and areas that match the level of quality of the base game, a fantastic original dynamic soundtrack, as well as pretty solid and well produced story.

All of that is great, but more than anything I appreciated the puzzle design. There is a hard mode and an easier story mode. I only played through the hard mode, but I massively appreciate the option. Everything I say will, obviously, be about hard mode.

The puzzle designs are incredibly original and creative. Every level made me think, not a single one felt like filler. Even with the few chambers that took me approaching an hour to solve had solutions that were incredibly satisfying and, in retrospect, made perfect sense. Not a single fully new mechanic is introduced, but existing mechanics are used in clever new ways.

There's also a large amount of behind-the-scenes areas where you explore Aperture. They're every bit as pretty as those in the base game, but they do a much better job at incorporating actual puzzle solving. (Think the latter half of Portal 1)

It's not Portal 3 in length or name, but it absolutely is in terms of quality. A must-play for fans of the series.

Fantastic character-action gameplay from the creators of the games that defined the genre. (DMC, Bayonetta) Decent graphics with great art design and a unique aesthetic. The story is a contender for the best in the history of the medium. (The story also ties in with gameplay in some really clever ways)

The PC port job isn't fantastic, but its nowhere near as bad as people have made it out to be. It's playable and still the definitive version of the game. Absolutely worth the price and your time.

is good

Cloudbuilt is difficult. It is unforgiving, with the only crutch being a poorly implemented powerup system. It has an uninteresting story, and terrible storytelling.

It is also one of my favorite games of all time. Cloudbuilt's core gameplay is incredibly fun and polished, at the expense of almost everything else. Pulling off split-second inputs to string together jumps, double jumps, shots, dashes, wallruns and wallclimbs is incredibly satisfying in way no other game has ever quite matched. If this sounds fun to you, buy this game. – This game acheives the zen-like state of gameplay I play games for better than any other I've played, and is totally worth the price. – If not, skip it. There's not much else to find here.

A few extra bits:
The soundtrack is fantastic, worth a listen on bandcamp or spotify even if you don't play. The 'super' version of the game is fundamentally the same game, but it's worth they extra few bucks. None of the additions are too great, but none make it worse. It adds a simple hub, new levels, a better opening/tutorial, improved/customisable visuals, and all dlc from the first game.

TL;DR: Iconoclasts, despite its handful of shortcomings, is a fantastic experience and is worth the asking price and more. If this type of game is at all interesting to you, it is without a doubt worth picking up.

EDIT: Steam seems to have not counted most of my playtime. I've played this game through and done some postgame content for a total of about 18 hours.


Story:

The story of this game is mixed. Many of the characters are pretty archetypal, but all of them were executed well enough that I personally didn't mind. Dialogue is well written, and all characters have some level of nuance and moral ambiguity with the way they interact with others and fit into the world.

The plot is interesting enough, if a little cliche. Theocratic dystopia with questionable ideas, impending doom, etc. There's a surprising amount of levity despite the dark premise. There's also quite a few references to LGBT stuff that actually manage to add to the story and worldbuilding. (Take note other game devs) Surprisingly, Iconoclasts does fantastic job at balancing levity through cutesy humor with some incredibly dark themes and moments.

Quite a bit of the plot, specifically around the middle of the game, is delivered quite messily, with a handful of concepts brought up without ever getting properly followed up. I feel like this game would benefit greatly from optional collectable bits of flavor text to flesh things out a little more.

In spite of all this, the story manages to build a compelling world and has a ton of powerful moments. Much of the story is told partially through missable visuals and gameplay sequences, which is a huge plus as far as I'm concerned. Overall, the story is saved from slightly-above-mediocrity by a handful of fantastic stand out moments, and some pretty solid humor throughout.


Presentation:

Not a lot to say here, just look at the gameplay trailers. It's consistently great. One small thing I'd like to point out is that, despite the 16-bit style, this game runs in HD. Most animations are allowed to subtly break the pixel grid, which makes everything feel just a tiny bit smoother. There are also a handful of more advanced graphical effects in use, such as screen space refraction in some sections and subtle use of bloom throughout. The soundtrack is also great, although it would benefit from a few more unique tracks.


Gameplay:

Iconoclasts is a puzzle-platformer first and foremost. The puzzle-platformer label is usually applied to puzzle games with platforming elements. This is not the case with Iconoclasts. The puzzles, and the actual platforming, are both treated as equally important. Both are decent on their own, but the game is at its best when it combines both seamlessly; which, thankfully, is most of the game.

There is also a somewhat heavy focus on combat. For the most part, combat is an extension of the platforming, puzzles, or both. All of these converge together to make some of the best and most creative boss battles I've ever played - many of which are also simultaneously well-executed story sequences.

Each major area introduces one or two new elements used throughout the area, and sparingly throughout the rest of the game world. These are used expertly, most memorably the many variants of the bolts, in platforming bits, puzzles, and even boss fights. The best uses of these elements are in some of the games optional puzzle rooms, which combine different elements in really interesting and novel ways. My biggest gripe with this is that there are criminally few of these more complex and difficult puzzles. What was there was fantastic; but I finished the game feeling there was a lot more that could have been done with the mechanics its introduced.

There are metroidvania elements throughout. These are well done, but mainly used as a way to gate complexity and keep things manageable. There are also bits where metroidvania elements are used to promote exploration, but this is in no way the main focus.

Collectibles are materials or blueprints, which let the player craft different tweaks - small buffs that can be equipped to one of three slots. This system isn't particularly complex, but offers some compelling choices. What's more useful: Increased melee damage, immunity to one attack, or slightly easier parries and charges? Of course, it depends on the player. The one exception to this is the 'dodger' tweak which gives you a dodge roll and is unambiguously the best tweak. It's also the hardest to get, so this is fine by me; others may take issue though. Tweaks will be deactivated one at a time upon taking a hit, and can be reactivated by destroying enemies or objects. Tweaks always deactivate in the same order so there's some strategy involved in slot selection. The tweak system adds an incentive to collect the already rewarding collectables, and a reason to avoid damage, even if ample health and regen is available.


Conclusion:

I find numeric ratings to be overly general, but if I had to give one to Iconoclasts it would be a 9 out of 10. Considering how ambitious it is, and the handful of areas it falls short, that should say something about how amazing this game can get at it's high moments. It should also say something that my most substantial complaints about this game are essentially that there isn't more of it. It may not be perfect, but for an ambitious $20 indie game, made by one person nonetheless, Iconoclasts is truly incredible, and without a doubt worth playing.

This is a great game. Not quite on the level of Human Revolution overall, but definitely worth playing if you liked that game.

The main point of this review is to point out the issues with this game and the solution.
IF YOU HAVE 8GB OF RAM THE GAME IS UNPLAYABLE
I tried with 8GB and there was constant slowdown, stuttering, and crashing. Once I installed 2 more 4GB sticks and now the game runs amazingly.
Before buying this game make sure you have at the very least 10GB of ram.