Ironcast

Genre: Unlimited Pattern Puzzle / Turn-Based RPG / Roguelike

Players: 1

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Review:

Ironcast is a Puzzle / RPG hybrid much like Puzzle Quest, with some Roguelike elements tossed in for good measure. Set in an alternate-universe Victorian-era Europe, it puts players in the role of one of the upper-class elite noblemen and women operators of a steam-powered mech in a war between England and France. Players outfit their mech with various parts and upgrades in-between battles, and during battles must balance out their mech’s various systems’ needs through puzzle game mechanics.

The presentation here is decent, with hand-drawn art depicting the various characters, and simply-animated mechs moving through the battlefield, backed by traditional military music and arrangements of La Marseillaise and God Save the Queen, which really makes for a striking image. This is complemented by some pretty well-written dialogue between allies and enemies alike that’s hilariously polite and genteel for a game about mechs pelting each other with explosive munitions and powerful laser beams.

While the gameplay here does bear some similarities to Puzzle Quest, there’s a lot to set it apart as well, even beyond the presentation. Each of the symbols in the puzzle grid represents a different resource – ammo, energy, coolant, repair supplies, as well as additional bonuses like scrap (this game’s primary currency), overdrive (which powers up your abilities), and link modules (that let you connect multiple types at a time). Most of the various abilities you’ll be making use of will require you to be aware of multiple resources – weapons require not only ammo, but energy and coolant as well, while shields and movement (raising your evasion) both gradually wind down and require energy and coolant to keep running and power up. But if any one of your systems is damaged, it becomes unusable until it is repaired.

That’s just on your end, too. Players have the ability to target enemies’ systems individually, and so part of the strategy here is not only knowing when to attack, but what part of the enemy’s machine to target and with which weapon. Players can make as many attacks, repairs, and boosts to shields and movement as their resources will permit in any given turn, but may only make two matches on the puzzle board to refill those resources (with the matches linking up any number of touching pieces.

I have to say, while there’s a little bit of a learning curve at first, once you get a feel for how the game mechanics work, there’s a really nice multilayered amount of strategy going on here that I really appreciated, with battles forcing players to manage their own resources, be mindful of the state of the puzzle board, and watch the behavior of the enemy to factor into their next move. One lesson I had to learn the hard way was to not match every single puzzle piece I could – extra matches beyond what you need to fill your meters do nothing for you, and you may very well need those pieces after you drain that resource. Likewise, clearing out a resource you don’t need won’t net you anything useful, but will help clear the board to bring you more useful resources.

The difficulty here is high, with death ending your campaign and forcing you to start over, but that’s par for the course for a Roguelike. However, this frustration is balanced by permanent unlocks and upgrades that players can earn in-between campaigns, and this gives the game a pretty good amount of replay value.

One other thing I should mention – there are a lot of commands here, and while they’re all properly marked, it takes a while to get used to them to the point where they feel like second nature. However, in handheld mode, it’s another story entirely, as the touchscreen makes this game a breeze to play. While I certainly wouldn’t say the control in docked mode is bad, Ironcast is absolutely a game that benefits from a touchscreen interface.

Overall, I really enjoyed the strategy here and how delightfully interconnected the game’s systems are, but I do have a few small complaints. Namely, I wish Ironcast held on to a few more of the mechanics from Puzzle Quest. I wish the game showed you the enemy’s resources as well as your own so you could take that into consideration during battle. Likewise, it would be nice to see what their puzzle board looks like, or perhaps simply share a board (assuming the enemy uses one at all – it’s clear they’re working with limited resources too, but not clear how the game determines those resources). These elements all made Puzzle Quest feel more like a competition with an adversary jockeying for the same resources as you were, and I miss that here. I also feel like this game would have been fantastic with a multiplayer competitive mode, but unfortunately, this is purely a solo affair.

While there’s definitely room here for improvement, overall Ironcast is a phenomenal blend of Puzzle, RPG, and Roguelike that really does a great job of making players consider all of the interconnected elements when deciding how to proceed in battle. Fans of any of these genres looking for something unique and engaging should absolutely give Ironcast a try, especially if they intend to play the game in handheld mode.

tl;dr – Ironcast is a combination of Puzzle, Turn-Based RPG, and Roguelike elements that puts players in the role of an upper-class mech operator in an alternate version of Victorian England at war with France. This is a game that requires players to be mindful of its various interconnected systems as they engage in battles, with some really excellent strategic elements that make the game extremely engaging. There is definitely room here for improvement, but overall this game is a blast to play, and well worth giving a try.

Grade: A-

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