When in doubt, hit it with a wrench

Iconoclasts feels like a significant leap forward from the developer's previous game, Noitu Love 2. This is way more than a Mega Man homage -- Iconoclasts tells an epic story using multiple protagonists as they explore an interconnected, Metroidvania-style world.

Well, the world isn't that interconnected; more like the separate-but-adjacent map regions of Dust: An Elysian Tail. (And like Indivisible, Iconoclasts frustratingly refuses to show you more than the current region's map.) The "multiple" protagonists point is also kind of a stretch; main character Robin is frequently rolling with a party of companions, but those characters are only playable for a few minutes of the game's running length. And that "epic" story ... is hard to understand.

The first half of Iconoclasts' campaign is pretty light on storytelling, and yet is still difficult to follow due to a crazy amount of factional jargon. The One Concern is an army fighting for the defense of City One which is ruled by Mother, and there are Agents with super-human abilities granted by Ivory which is also the planet's primary fuel source, while the One Concern General hates the Agents (and also... is one?) and they all enforce Penance upon religious criminals, especially the Pirates which are really a tribe called the Isi who also get Ivory from plants? but not upon the ChemiCo science group which works for the One Concern but also helps the Pirates and Settlers under the table by crafting your weapon upgrades.

In the second half, this narrative stew starts to come together in a meaningful way, and the game fleshes out its pseudo-religious backstory with cool sci-fi elements. ... but the story never completely makes sense, and ultimately I can only speculate regarding the true nature of Ivory and Planet Spines.

Iconoclasts spends more of its narrative focus on characters than on world-building, with uneven results. NPCs gush about Robin, and how strong and helpful you are, but Robin herself only communicates in emotes. Mina is a two-dimensional character whose down-to-earth plights are sympathetic, but she talks too much and her scenes drag on a bit long. And most other characters are just bad people. Especially Robin's brother Elro, who is set up like a stoic ally but is really just an abrasive, antagonistic asshole.

Alright. So how about the gameplay? Well, it's pretty good I guess.

Robin's got a wrench, which can be used as a close-range weapon, as well as a gun which acquires a few different modes over the course of the game. Most enemies have immunity to some forms of attack - like, wrench hits and stun gun shots may just bounce off - so combat tactics are shaped around learning and using the proper ability for each enemy. This gets more interesting in boss fights, where each phase or each weak point requires a new tactic.

That puzzle-like complexity is balanced, and arguably a little dulled, by how easy the fighting is (at least on Standard difficulty). Most enemy attacks don't do a whole lot of damage, and only a couple of boss fights really challenged my dodging or parrying abilities. This definitely kept the game at a low level of tension, but I'd rather that, than have to repeat those fights over and over again.

There are also non-combat puzzles, which can become rather devious as you accumulate more tools and techniques. And a few that are devious due to hidden bullshit, like I literally couldn't see the platform I was supposed to jump on, so inevitably I started popping open a walkthrough every time I got stuck. While most of the game's puzzles are just fine, plenty of them could have used a little more design polish.

The action and puzzle gameplay in Iconoclasts may not be mind-blowing, but it works, and the game's rich visuals and catchy soundtrack help make up for its confusing world map.

It's a shame that the story is so messy, but overall Iconoclasts is fun enough to be worthwhile from start to finish.

Better than: Pocket Kingdom
Not as good as: Indivisible
More exciting, but less puzzling, than: Toki Tori 2+

Progress: 100% on Standard mode.