ICEY

Even after getting 100% honestly bit meh,

Combat is nice but variety is lacking
Meta stuff is nice but gets old quite fast
Narrator (only tried Japanese and English) is good (Japanese honestly better since English seems too monotone even when they should be having a mental breakdown) but nowhere near charming as Stanely's Prable.

If you like meta stuff go for it but I was bit borred till the end, at least it's short.

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It's just annoying to play, you gotta wait for the narrator to get pissed off at you for not following his orders and that means not playing the game for minutes for each "secret", literally just standing around doing nothing

No flow in the combat either, enemies overlap and stun lock you to death this means that you can get clipped by an enemy that you couldn't even see

I guess I could just get good but to be honest this game is not fun enough for me to put that effort

I appreciate the idea, but the execution for this game leaves a lot to be desired. First off gameplay. Nothing special, feels insanely average. Make no mistake, this is no DMC or Ninja Gaiden. Lacks a lot of depth, and gets repetative very quickly. The game's short though, so theres that I suppose. Combat has that feeling of "use rare abilities to get an edge" instead of offering new moves/weapons and expanding on a combat sandbox. The new moves you do get all feel very samey, just ways to increase your combo meter very quickly for extra damage. Defence options are a dash and jump. The dash has a stamina bar, and has an option to deal damage if you time perfectly. The jump is how you break free from the ridiculous stun-locks this game ADORES. The perfect timing dash is cool, but again, gets old fast. Not much else to say, just very meh. Now the story. I 100% this game, got the true ending and I have to say: I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON. Information is presented in a confusing way, and it's unclear what is actually the true narrative, and whats just random gibberish. For example, there's a bunch of fourth wall breaks in the game, hinting at a larger story behind the scenes then the games presented "stop evil bad guy from being evil" narrative, but many of these fourth wall breaks are either for comic relief or just being... I guess quirky? And at the end of these fourth wall breaks are texts that might be hinting at a bigger narrative, but it doesnt all come together at all in the true ending, making it sound to be gibberish. And don't even get me started on the story's narrator. I have never hated a game character more in my life. If I had to list some pros, it'd be the art style, the game looks gorgeously hand drawn, and combat can be somewhat fun in the beginning (again, it wears out very quickly). This game is a confusing average experiance that I personally wouldn't recommend. 5/10

Bassed This Way!

Great game I enjoyed it way more than I expected ,It is really fun to frick around in this game

Fantastic art style and very tight gameplay

Game nearly broke my mind beyond repair, but I still quite enjoyed the ride.

Definitely worth more than 5x the price this game was a fantastic fourth wall breaking experience and a great joy to play. 9.5/10 sometimes its finicky to enter rooms or to activate the upgrade bot that's literally my only problem everything else is peak!

It's been a while since I played this so I don't really remember details, but I do know that I found it to be pretty fun even though this isn't really my kind of game. What really drew me in was the story, the meta narrative of one person's game development journey, expressed through constant fourth wall breaks that I found amusing rather than cringe. It's not just an obnoxious, endless barrage of stupid jokes. Definitely don't play it with the English language narrator though, I played with the Japanese one and they were amazing. I love the soundtrack as well, I'm grateful to the developer for making that free DLC. The other free DLC, UCEY's Awakening, seems to be an endless battle mode.

I had a problem with one specific boss' attack being entirely unavoidable, but besides that my only complaint would be that the game is really short for the current price of $14 Canadian. I spent about three hours on my first playthrough then the rest of my time was achievement hunting with a guide and a little bit of playing for fun. On sale at 40% off or more I think it's a great deal, and highly recommend it.

Amazing game, I learned to always move in opposite direction from what someone suggests. I wish there was a harder difficulty than hard, since I thought it was an intended difficulty.

If you plan on playing this game, I HIGHLY recommend the japanese voice, it's a lot more expressive than english dub.

Overall combat sucks. Controls are unresponsive, it's easy to get stunlocked do death, dodge has almost zero i-frames, grab attacks with shitty hitboxes, attacks with zero windup. The whole combo system can be put to trash, because you will mostly just spam single attack with that amount of enemies the game throws at you.

I recently played it and i gotta say its a short but very nice time.

its cool

I need more of ICEY

Interesting action game. The gameplay is nice with the combo abilities which can be upgraded with currency found in the world and through fighting enemies. The story on the other hand is where things go off the rails (in a weird way). Without spoiling this game's narrative, the story is like the Stanley Parable but with very cryptic messaging which I won't go into to prevent spoilers. I can recommend the game for its gameplay but the narrative seemed all over the place for me/I didn't understand it too well (I took the route of playing the game for achievements in the first run so I don't know if that messed up the tempo of the game's story and made it more fragmented/confusing). Overall I'd give it a try on a good sale since it is pretty short of a game as well (4 hours to 100% complete).

Very brave to make a game that leans so hard on meta-narrative when the core gameplay is so mushy.
In this case, it does not work.

Enemies stun lock you, save points are rare, the story writing and narration are cringe, and the control scheme is ass, like who tf thought B to accept and A to go back was a good idea

Bardzo przyjemny slasher/mettroidvania na jeden wieczór.

10/10 arte

The game left me wanting more and I don't entirelly get the plot but overall I reccomend this game

Often enemies can just combo you and do all of your health with no possible way out, lots of sections with waiting just because (about half of the achievements are like this), difficulty curve is horrible (I went from 0 deaths throughout most of the game to 30 on one boss followed by 0 deaths until two bosses later), and the final boss has a 30 second long wait time before each attempt

for me its short but sick game

Hard but i like it

Short but fun game, just what I was looking for. Good combat and enjoyable story.

Fun game

The obvious comparison is The Stanley Parable, but the game falls short.

The narrator is condescending. The game drags out the "plot" scenes in annoyingly long waiting scenes. The actual fighting gameplay is mediocre at best. If I had played this when I bought it, I'd have gone for a refund.

The only possible redeeming quality could be the plot itself, but it feels written by a middle-school child, thinking themselves "deep" and forcing you to listen to their rambling.

Spare yourself the 5 hours it takes to finish the achievements and get the final ending. Your time and money is best spent elsewhere.

Went into this very excited about getting a Stanley Parable-like narrative about the nature of video game storytelling. Instead I get lectured about how hard it is to make games and getting locked in rooms for disobeying the All Mighty Developer.

Overall: 8.5/10

About my reviews: I'm a dork with two decades of gaming experience under my belt. My reviews come from somebody that almost exclusively plays games on a controller (unless such a thing would make no sense at all) and are meant to be as unbiased as possible. The number above is entirely just for fun, it really doesn't mean anything! The breakdown below is meant to give you more useful information if you're considering buying the game. Also, please feel free to leave feedback if you think there's something I should adjust/add. This review system is still a work in progress!

---Breakdown---

Worth the Money?
[-] 100% worth full price
[X] Buy it on sale
[-] Buy it exclusively on a deep sale
[-] Not worth even if it was free

DLC Worth the Money?
[-] DLCs are priced fairly and provide substantial value
[-] DLCs provide good value but are a bit overpriced
[-] Only buy the DLCs on sale
[-] DLCs aren't worth it even on sale
[X] There's free DLC!

Personal Enjoyment
[X] So good I completed the achievements
[-] A great experience
[-] It has its moments
[-] Not for me

Starting Experience
[-] Grabs you by the balls
[X] Starts strong
[-] Needs some time to cook
[-] Never quite got there

Learning Curve
[-] Easy to pick up
[-] Takes some time to learn
[X] Challenging but rewarding
[-] Very complicated
[-] Entirely overwhelming

Gameplay Loop
[X] Incredibly satisfying
[-] Smooth and polished
[-] Its alright
[-] Feels like its missing something
[-] Boring

Controls
[X] Buttery smooth
[-] Intuitive and responsive
[-] Gets the job done
[-] Clunky and confusing
[-] Feels like you are fighting the game

Narative/Character Writing
[-] An absolute masterpiece
[-] Well written and engaging
[-] Good enough to get you invested
[X] Has its problems but is enjoyable
[-] Mediocre at best

Art Direction/Thematic
[-] WOW!
[-] Absolutely nailed what they went for
[X] Stylized and unique
[-] Gets the job done
[-] Not my cup of tea

Sound Design
A quick note, the soundtrack is fantastic but the English dub narrator is very hit or miss.
[X] A complete banger
[-] Good sounds/music
[-] Has a unique sound
[-] Uninspired

Time Commitment
[X] Great for short sessions
[-] Can stop and go as you please
[-] Long but with solid stopping points
[-] You'll need dedicated play sessions
[-] You cannot be employed

Attention Required
[-] Prime second monitor content
[X] May require full attention for brief periods
[-] You need to actively focus on the game
[-] Requires your full undivided attention

Closing Comments:

ICEY is a fantastic game with excellent combat and movement. My only real complaint is that its very short, I 100%'d it in 4.4 hours. In my opinion, the $13.99 CAD price tag is pretty steep and hard to justify for such a short experience. Game is worth $5, buy it on sale!

got to the archive room and holy crap the dev is annoying as hell, nice unskippable cutscene where you talk about game versions... NOBODY CARES. game iis fine but wasting my damn time

Great combat system, fun enemies, amazing graphics.

If only there was a way to disable narration... i fucking hate his voice.
no, i don't care if it's "an essential part of the game" he contributes nothing besides a segment of whining about game-dev and a few easter eggs, and frankly, whatever a "king in yellow" is, i can't be fucked to read about the piss emperor.
The game would imo benefit from a no-narration mode.
(on another note, steam needs a neutral option for reviews)

There isn't even an option to turn off the narrator. Insufferable.

Really good and fun.

This is an action game, where the heroine slashes her way forward through the enemies using a sword. The main feature here is the so-called “breaking the fifth wall” theme.

At the first glance we are following the narrator towards the quest of smiting the great evil. Technically you are even able to finish the game this way. But most likely you will end up searching around bonus areas and “defying” the narrator. You may expect these actions will uncover some conspiracy or hidden extra storyline, but no - all we get is a set of “Easter Eggs”. For example: we can hear the narrator apologizing for unfinished game areas, telling a sob story about how difficult game development is and so on.

These episodes look funny, until you realize there is actually nothing else in the game. The whole product feels like just a “prank”: a joke around the regular storytelling and game-design from the common action games.

Despite the game presenting itself like a parody - it does not really feel that way. It is not like authors attempt to make you laugh all the way or make a joke from every activity. There is a particular dissonance between all these pranks and the main gameplay.

Speaking of which, the game has a decent combat system with comboses, evades and finish moves. There is a nice diversity of enemies: different enemy types require different tactics.

There are several bosses. Each one is unique and requires a different approach to be beaten.

There is only one weapon available - the sword. There is no ranged combat or special fighting abilities.

The game is quite short. It has only a few different world areas: the forest, the town streets and so on. It also ends up copy-pasting these close to the end.

When we actually reach the end, it feels disappointing: like “is that all?”. We ran several hours, fighting enemies and listening to the author whining about his business, and what did we achieve in the end?

During the game process you just enjoy the combat and occasionally jokes. But the game has no actual closure and ends up too early for the player to get tired of it.

Technically you can revisit past world areas searching for the remaining easter eggs, but I have no desire to do this.

Total rating 5/10.
Despite dynamic and interesting combat along with unconventional storytelling there are many things amiss. It is too short, too simple, and many aspects do not fit each other.
The game has a low price, which seems to be fair, but even so in the end I feel like it is a waste.

The visuals are stunning! Buy it! The Producer is famous! Buy it! There are so many reviews! Buy it! Like a machine, spewing out cash. Do you really beat all the games you buy?

Fun combat and fun story!
NOTE: PLEASE switch the narrator's voice to the Chinese dub before playing. It's the most expressive voice, and really ties everything together.

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance and the Stanley Parable had a child and it was great

Got every achievement in 6 hours. Absolutely would recommend

Pretty short game, really fun cathartic combat but the story does go all over the place. Apparently a lot of players complain about hitstun which means they didn't pay attention to the tutorial, you can recover from hitstun instantly by pressing the jump button to recover a la kingdom hearts.

Outstanding visuals and the combat honestly feels very good..
however the game is very short... is what i thought at first but achievement hunting gives it a few more hours of playtime which i heavily recommend.

its fun ignoring the narrator and listening to him get mad as you do your own thing!

enemy stun lock combos
unskippable cutscenes
repeating unskippable cutscenes
Narrator is obsessed with imagery from some play called "The King in Yellow"...Black stars, Carcosa, yellow kings...if you're not familiar with it, nothing will make sense....which I'm not, and it doesn't.

Average Hack&Slash.
The meta commentary made it better.

controls and navigating menus are clunky on keyboard, and the "meta" narrative may get interesting later on but honestly the narrator's voice is grating and makes me not want to play

This game left me with so many questions, and not a single one is answered. It is too short and not linear enough to warrant going back to replaying it and figuring out the lore. I don't get the meta commentary aspect, and the narrator is just very annoying. The combat was satisfying, but not engaging. I got to burn through enemies without ever thinking about the buttons I was pressing.

TL;DR - If you enjoy The Stanley Parable and fast-paced 2D action games, this will be perfect for you. Be expecting plenty of 4th wall breaks and a shockingly brief amount of time to complete this title (I got all achievements and beat the game in a little over 4 hours).

Gonna' be honest, going into this game blind, I did not expect it to be what it was. I will keep this mostly spoiler-free, so no need to worry, I'm not going to ruin anything that you don't experience in the first 5 minutes of the game. That said, the appearance of the narrator completely caught me off-guard and it was only after a bit of playing did I realize what the game was truly going for. I will say, I'm not too crazy on a lot of games that break the 4th wall so heavily, but I didn't hate what was done here, so that's a plus in my book.
Now, I will say, this game plays so amazingly, I really wish they could have made it longer for that alone. It's so intense, fast-paced, fairly flashy, and the dash ability is amazing, both in and out of combat. Major proper to the battle designers here because they definitely nailed it.
The music and sound design were pretty spot on too, although I am not super crazy on the electro/techno/synth-y sort of genres on display in this title.
Also, I will say that I do enjoy the idea of the game's plot as a whole, but I do kinda' wish there was a bit more to one half of it. Not on the 4th wall break side of things, but the other plot. Keeping it vague for newbies, but those who have played the game should get what I mean.

All in all, I enjoyed this title quite a lot and definitely look forward to sequel, or another game by this crew that plays kinda' like this one. I highly recommend it if you want something to just sit down for an afternoon and blast through some enemies and a fairly short story.

The Stanley Parable if it was actually good

If you played Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, then this one is for u.

ICEY is more of hack and slash & less of metroidvania. (no itemisation, just 1 or 2 acquired skills & you are done)

The rest is pure ACTION. Go wild & stylish as yet another "Daugther of Vergil".

love the art, love the style , love the story love the game play love the achievements. fun game to play if you want to kill some time

interesting combination of 2d god of war, anime and stanley parable. yes, THAT stanley parable.