Developer Rain Games' first title for the Wii U is a delightful mixture of open-world 2D exploration, brain-bending electricity-based puzzles, and poignant storytelling.
The first immediately striking feature about Teslagrad are the insanely beautiful graphics. Characters are stylish 2D sprites, while the environments are nothing short of 3D-rendered marvels. This is especially pleasantDeveloper Rain Games' first title for the Wii U is a delightful mixture of open-world 2D exploration, brain-bending electricity-based puzzles, and poignant storytelling.
The first immediately striking feature about Teslagrad are the insanely beautiful graphics. Characters are stylish 2D sprites, while the environments are nothing short of 3D-rendered marvels. This is especially pleasant since screenshots of the game definitely don't do it justice; you have to experience it in motion to fully appreciate the art style.
As far as the gameplay goes, you're tasked with the exploration of a massive tower, gathering new powers and solving puzzles along the way. The electricity and magnetism theme is at the game's heart, as the main character has to conquer each section by skillfully controlling the polarization of several different objects (represented by blue and red hues). If this sounds annoying, don't worry: it's generally a very well-implemented mechanic that eases you into the physics. Most puzzles, while hard, feature intuitive resolutions, although there are a few difficulty spikes here and there and two or three sections that can prove to be insane head-scratchers (Giant Bull room, I'm looking at you).
True to the electricity theme, the game features an ominous steampunk atmosphere that works wonders. This is also the perfect setting for the surprisingly engrossing story, which is told entirely by images and brief "stage play" sections. To get the entire picture, however, you'll have to track down several scrolls along the tower, which are the game's main collectibles. Getting all of the scrolls to reach the beautiful "true" ending is going to be quite the challenge; one that can be at the same time exciting and intimidating. Finally tracking down a cleverly hidden scroll feels great, but there are a few problems as well: for starters, the game lacks any sort of indication as to how many scrolls are left in each section, resulting in more trial and error than necessary. Furthermore, there isn't an easy way to quickly transverse previously beaten areas, which sometimes results in having to go through an entire section all over again just to use a newly-acquired power to get a single pesky scroll.
At around six hours to get everything, Teslagrad does feel a bit short, but the vast majority of the playtime is very rewarding. It's easy to see the amount of care put into every aspect of the game by the developers, which has resulted in another small classic for the Wii U e-Shop.
Rating: 8.5… Expand
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