Platformers have been around since the start of console gaming and players have had a plethora of games to choose from with each generation. It is a shame that some developers have their games buried in an overcrowded marketplace leaving it up to the masses to sift through all the pixels and find that buried gem. Rain Games hopes to shine through the competition with Telsagrad, a steampunk inspired 2D platformer.
Immediately you’ll pick up on the fact that Telsagrad doesn’t use dialogue to tell its story, but rather combines snippets of puppet like shows, music to set the mood and gameplay to weave a very unique tale. The intro of the game has a man walking with a baby in his arms to a quaint little home and hands the baby off to a woman. Seasons pass and the babe has turned into a young boy who bursts out of the house to escape the evil king of Elektropia’s henchmen. As the fable progresses you learn bits and pieces of who you may be and the battle between good and evil in your mythical land. Rain Games does an amazing job of spinning a narrative without a single word and shows you that a great story isn’t always told the same way.
Eventually you find out the boy is a telemancer (think wizard) who must traverse across an insane amount of obstacles and puzzles that can only be manipulated through the use of electricity/magnetism, perfect timing, and thinking outside the box. You’ll be able to manipulate certain blocks (in red or blue) by changing their color to move the way you want and as you navigate through the non-linear levels you come across gear that will aid you in your quest to find out exactly what is going on. Gloves that you can use to bash blocks into another color, a hood that allows you to be drawn to certain colors, or boots that allow you to teleport short distances and through obstacles. Puzzles are challenging and keep you coming back for more and more, but aren’t so difficult you want to snap your controller in half or YouTube hints. Plus, there are subtle crude drawings on the walls that assist you if you get stuck on some of the more problematic conundrums.
Hidden throughout the game are scrolls that provide a sort of history and backstory of the telemancers through artwork. These are placed in out of sight locations as well as placed in areas that require you to control those electric & magnetic fields to reach them. Since the map is non-linear you can crisscross back and forth to get those pesky scrolls you couldn’t reach until you had a certain gear piece. Telsagrad also has some epic boss battles that help break the game up into sections instead of just one big platformer. With each boss you’re tossed into the fray not knowing exactly what to do, but after a few deaths from trial and error you’ll find the chink in their armor and bring them to their knees.
Telsagrad’s entire premise wouldn’t work unless the controls were tight and luckily they are just that giving it a natural feel throughout your entire adventure. Visuals are tremendous and provide that first-rate hand drawn feel bringing life to the characters and the background. Light filters and bursts of color give your eyes a feast to devour as each corridor seems to unleash a new world. Add in the superb soundtrack and you’ll be sucked into the disposition of the game in no time at all. Experienced gamers can expect 12hrs of gameplay and that is without finding all the scrolls that reveal fragments of the story.
Overall Telsagrad is a complex puzzler that pulls the gamer in through outstanding gameplay while forcing the mind to process each situation and doing it all without saying a word. Sure the story can get kind of twisted and vague for those who haven’t found all the scrolls or read between the lines with the subtle hints. Visuals and sound are magnificent as you pace yourself through very unique environments. Everything flows so well together players will have a hard time finding any fault in this near perfect platformer that offers up an enjoyable challenge and some old school boss fights. Keep an eye out for future projects from Rain Games because if they are half as good as Telsagrad you’ll want to make them an instant addition to your game library.
Score – 9/10
Review code supplied by Team Xbox.
