Review - IroncastReview by Matt Taylor
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Developed and Published by Dreadbit
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I’ve been watching the development of “Ironcast” since it showed up on Kickstarter late last year. The steampunk battle-mechs used in all the art assets, set against a late 1800’s London, was enough to peak my interests whenever I received an update about the game. I’d click through the press release or backer updates, lusting over the chance to pilot one of the bronzed, wrought iron bipedal machines. I’d be dreaming about the possibilities for the game to take me back to the days of MechWarrior, but it wasn't long before I’d realise the gameplay elements of the title revolved around a Bejeweled style puzzle game, dashing my hopes and dreams.
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With this in mind, I was slightly dubious when deciding to review Ironcast. Developed by UK developer Dreadbit, the game lives somewhere between strategy and puzzle game. Using either of these words without the other wouldn't work, and Dreadbit’s choice to make the game with both elements left me with a strange aftertaste.
From the first screen I could tell that this game was beautifully made, with buttery smooth animations and transitions and an art style tastefully balancing between science-fiction and the Victorian era. This is post-industrial revolution steampunky goodness. The music is great and the game pits historical rivals against each other. These are all great foundations for a world I’d love to see in a book or a film, but struggled to flesh out as I played the game.
From the first screen I could tell that this game was beautifully made, with buttery smooth animations and transitions and an art style tastefully balancing between science-fiction and the Victorian era. This is post-industrial revolution steampunky goodness. The music is great and the game pits historical rivals against each other. These are all great foundations for a world I’d love to see in a book or a film, but struggled to flesh out as I played the game.
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Ironcast see’s the player control a Victorian gentleman or lady who’s part of a group dedicated to defending Britain against an invading French forces. To do this, you pilot an Ironcast; a bipedal steampunk influenced mech, equipped with energy weapons, cannons and force fields. To use the various aspects of the Ironcast and fight the good fight, you use a grid of icons in the centre of the screen that looks more or less like a game of Bejeweled. The player matches these “nodes” in a string in the centre of the game screen which correspond to an action or function of the piloted Ironcast. Energy nodes for movement and enabling shields, coolant nodes for temperature management, as well as weapon and repair nodes. There’s also a number of secondary functioning nodes that allow you to string larger combinations and achieve a higher experience point count, or earn the player “scrap”, which is used for upgrading and repairing the mech after each battle. Between missions, the player is taken to their Ironcast hanger where you can spend the hard earned scrap on the aforementioned repairs or upgrades.
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Once you’re repaired and ready for battle, the mission screen allows the player to decide what to do next. Choices like the fairly straightforward battle, the nail biting survival or even barter missions are waiting for anyone cunning enough to choose them. The end goal is to upgrade your vehicle for a boss battle on the 10th day of combat (ten missions in) against the leader of the invasion force.
While nothing about the game sounds particularly off putting, I wasn’t ready to see the term “rogue-like” used for Ironcast. Just as quickly as Dreadbit had won me over with the game on my first playthrough, I died. I had completely missed any mention of permanent death, and seeing the game over screen as my XP is counted for the global progress screen I felt angry that I couldn’t sink deeper into the game. |
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I was looking for something refreshing and new to really get into, and was enjoying the lore and mechanics of Ironcast up until this point. The game’s mad scientist musical score reminded me of the upbeat tunes from Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands and the art style kindled a love for steampunk that I never had. Starting from scratch after dying felt like being forced to start a book I was already indulged in from the very first page; never getting more than a few chapters in.
With so many mechanics and features to learn and harness wrapped up in a rich story that has the chance to power sequels and books, the rogue-like nature of Ironcast hurt it more than any other criticism I could give, and helped tarnish my lasting impression of it. |
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It’s really too bad that Dreadbit decided to wipe-out progress between lives. It’s equally disappointing that death can sometimes come to you from unexpected places and left me feeling cheated more than once. Some enemies earlier on appear stronger than others while late game deaths can be caused but simple errors or miscalculations made early on in a two hour run. My bet is that all this randomness is not here accidentally, with fans of rogue-likes often commending a game for the same things I’m condemning Ironcast for. It’s just not fun to me.
It was the screenshots of the in game combat that put me off of the title before playing it, with intermittent amnesia allowing me to get my hopes up every time I saw concept art of a mech battling it out against a weaponised train. It’s the same sense of amnesia that kept bringing me back to Ironcast, even after I’d previously sunk an hour and a half into the game, only to be asked to start again after an untimely demise. I’d stop playing for a few days, forget why I stopped playing such an awesome game, only to remember when I see the game over screen.
It was the screenshots of the in game combat that put me off of the title before playing it, with intermittent amnesia allowing me to get my hopes up every time I saw concept art of a mech battling it out against a weaponised train. It’s the same sense of amnesia that kept bringing me back to Ironcast, even after I’d previously sunk an hour and a half into the game, only to be asked to start again after an untimely demise. I’d stop playing for a few days, forget why I stopped playing such an awesome game, only to remember when I see the game over screen.
