Ikenfell

 Switch
User Score
7.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 14 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 14
  3. Negative: 2 out of 14

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  1. captainmeow-vel
    Nov 18, 2020
    10
    Fantastic story and great combat. I love it and all of its quirky characters
  2. Elrick0715
    Jan 6, 2021
    8
    Ikenfell a mix of Harry Potter, Earthbound and the Mario and Luigi RPG Sagas.
    It has all from secret bosses, puzzles and amazing music.
    The story is nice and easy until certain point if you have played the Earthbound games I can cerntain say its as crazy and dull. Gameplay is nice when where talking about exploration and rpg mechanics but the battle system has the tiddius timming from the    Ikenfell a mix of Harry Potter, Earthbound and the Mario and Luigi RPG Sagas.
    It has all from secret bosses, puzzles and amazing music.
    The story is nice and easy until certain point if you have played the Earthbound games I can cerntain say its as crazy and dull. Gameplay is nice when where talking about exploration and rpg mechanics but the battle system has the tiddius timming from the Mario and Luigi games adding up a block by block movement mechanic that is not perfect.

    Grafics to be fair I'm a sucker for old time pizzel art and this game truly did the job. If you are a fan of old school rpg this game is for you.


    #    … Expand
  3. HissMatt
    Nov 7, 2020
    8
    Love the story of this game and also the combat system is quite refreshing and if you don’t like it there are options in the menu to go back to a more casual system. All the characters have their own story but everything comes together very well. The music is quite catchy and memorisable as well. All-in-all well spent 18 hours on this game - I can only recommend to people who love 2d rpg games.
  4. Skybeast722
    Mar 17, 2021
    9
    I loved the cast, story and soundtrack, and props for all the accessibility options and representation. the timing based combat is great but I found it tiresome towards the end and was mainly playing for the story, luckily there are options to automate the timing or skip battles all together. I definitely reccomend this game especially to anyone who can't enjoy that other wizard-schoolI loved the cast, story and soundtrack, and props for all the accessibility options and representation. the timing based combat is great but I found it tiresome towards the end and was mainly playing for the story, luckily there are options to automate the timing or skip battles all together. I definitely reccomend this game especially to anyone who can't enjoy that other wizard-school franchise anymore… Expand
  5. HouraiTeahouse
    Oct 17, 2022
    1
    The best way this game can be described is as being written by a Twitter progressive. That is, someone well meaning, but has no idea what they’re talking about.

    At least the music is incredible enough to bump up the ranking by one, since the rest of the game sure doesn’t make up for the writing’s quality.
  6. probium
    Oct 6, 2022
    8
    Shut the **** up, that guy who wrote that homophobic comment... But anyway I thought this one was cool. Not the best but some juicy fun, though I wish there was more potential and a little too gated.
  7. JohnZiolkowski
    Dec 29, 2020
    9
    I'm so happy I played Ikenfell. It's cute, funny and emotional magical school RPG. It's a very polished experience and I had a great 24 hours with it on the Switch. It's exactly what I wanted!

    The satisfying light tactical combat is the star of the show. One thing that stands out to me is that there's no concept of MP, and I love it. Each spell is balanced in other ways. They can be    I'm so happy I played Ikenfell. It's cute, funny and emotional magical school RPG. It's a very polished experience and I had a great 24 hours with it on the Switch. It's exactly what I wanted!

    The satisfying light tactical combat is the star of the show. One thing that stands out to me is that there's no concept of MP, and I love it. Each spell is balanced in other ways. They can be more useful or more powerful or have a wider range or easier to hit the action commands. And the action command system is unique and really well implemented. By default, a miss or hit can mean 3x the damage taken or given, which really makes the fights engaging, and the unique commands per spell conveys each character's and enemy's style and personality.

    On top of that there's a whole set of accessibility options, and I'm making use of a few. One to reduce hand strain, one to compensate for the drift in my 3rd faulty set of joycons... There are a number of settings to reduce the importance of the action commands, and I recommend giving them a shot if you get frustrated or have difficulty hitting them consistently.

    My only downside was the music. I wasn't a fan of the environment, battle, or vocal tracks. But that might be just a matter of taste. They're the only miss for me in an otherwise spotless package.

    All in all, if you've liked any of the following games or series you should totally check this out:
    • Magical Starsign series
    • Harry Potter (GameBoy Color)
    • Bug Fables
    • Paper Mario series
    • Mario and Luigi series
    • Super Mario RPG    … Expand
  8. Luke_of_Astora
    Jan 30, 2021
    10
    The story is fantastic, the characters are all interesting and unique, and the combat system is more engaging than in the typical turn-based RPG. By the end of the game, I was fully invested in the characters and their stories, and I definitely cried during the epilogue. The soundtrack is full of catchy tunes, and uses a unique mix of chiptunes and orchestration; I catch myself hummingThe story is fantastic, the characters are all interesting and unique, and the combat system is more engaging than in the typical turn-based RPG. By the end of the game, I was fully invested in the characters and their stories, and I definitely cried during the epilogue. The soundtrack is full of catchy tunes, and uses a unique mix of chiptunes and orchestration; I catch myself humming music from the game throughout my work day, even weeks after completing it.… Expand
  9. immykins
    Jul 8, 2021
    7
    There are so many things that I love about this game. I love that it's unapologetically queer, you save the game with cats (like mother 3's frogs), it's loaded with secrets, and the soundtrack is phenomenal.

    The story is pretty solid. There were some pretty interesting twists that made the characters feel much more interesting and complex. But as an actual game, the things you spend    There are so many things that I love about this game. I love that it's unapologetically queer, you save the game with cats (like mother 3's frogs), it's loaded with secrets, and the soundtrack is phenomenal.

    The story is pretty solid. There were some pretty interesting twists that made the characters feel much more interesting and complex.

    But as an actual game, the things you spend most of your time doing (endless dungeons, repetitive combat) just aren't fun enough to make you want to stick with the game. The first ten hours or so are particularly bad in terms of pacing, so I can see why so many people drop it early. I wanted to see how the story ended (maybe I should have turned on auto-win for the fights), but it took me months to finally beat it because of what a slog it becomes.

    Things I wish it'd done better:
    - Cut out half of the dungeons. Seriously, a lot of them only move the plot forward by bits and pieces, and the interesting parts of the game happen towards the end. What Super Mario RPG did well was that you had cute mini-games, fun and interesting townspeople. Pacing-wise, Ikenfell feels like Final Fantasy XIII (well, ikenfell has a more open world and better puzzles)... every little task you need to do (chasing after a mcguffin, being told to find yet another professor) is another dungeon. You get a short break in the form of a cutscene and an NPC who sells you new gear, and then it's on to the next dungeon. It feels exhausting, because combat isn't fun enough to be engaging.
    - Make the secrets more meaningful to find. You collect gems throughout the playthrough if you carefully check for secrets, which can be traded for unique accessories. But those accessories (unlike regular ones) have no stats, so it never feels good to equip them.
    - Combat isn't fun enough to stay interesting after your 100th battle. Most fights play out pretty similarly, other than needing to learn new enemy attacks to block. The most fun and interesting characters for combat show up towards the end. Trap-based moves are more annoying than fun, and because the battlefield is only three (!!!) rows deep, you're limited in your strategy and spend a fair amount of effort trying not to block your own characters or stand to close and get hit by an AOE. Super Mario RPG added timed attacks to keep combat more engaging, but Ikenfell's issue is that the timing is pretty precise and takes a lot of practice for certain attacks. Even worse - you often do like 1 damage if you miss the timed attack, vs SMRPG where it was maybe a 30% damage boost.

    Like, there's a good game in there, and the dev put their heart and soul into the game. But it's frustrating to come so close to greatness but be held back by a few issues.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 10 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. GameSpot
    Oct 16, 2020
    60
    Ikenfell is a game of good intentions. The take on RPG combat is both satisfying and interesting with enough options, both with in-game tweaks to characters and strategy and also directly within the settings, to help tailor it to your preferences. It just drags on a bit without feeling like anything has actually really happened until its final moments. The nice variety and wholesome vibes present a lovely little world to explore and save. There are just enough little pitfalls in the story and execution that can be quite grating when I wanted to feel immersed.
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  2. God is a Geek
    Oct 14, 2020
    90
    Ikenfell is an enjoyable RPG with an interesting story, fleshed-out characters, and a dense turn-based battle system, with a superb soundtrack and some gorgeous environments to boot.
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  3. Nintendo Life
    Oct 13, 2020
    80
    Ikenfell is a charming little turn-based tactical RPG that hooks you in quickly with a well-written story and strong cast of characters and keeps you locked in for its duration with a surprisingly complex combat system. There are accessibility options here to suit all levels of player, a good idea considering how tough some of the battles can be along the way, and, overall, this is a heart-warming and unique entry to its genre that comes highly recommended.
    Read full review
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