There have been an increasing number of multi-platform titles coming to the Switch recently that almost feel like they were made specifically for the console. Games such as Rocket League and Stardew Valley have been available on other platforms for a while now but, when we booted them up for the first time on Switch, there was the sense that they truly belong on Nintendo's system. Teslagrad – a game that was released on Wii U back in 2014 – continues this trend and joins an illustrious group of killer apps.
Teslagrad follows a young, orphaned boy as he journeys through a huge tower to unveil the history of his kingdom. The opening scene sees you running away from the King’s guards; you have no powers, no map, and no idea where you are headed. Eventually you’ll reach the tower and the true essence of the game starts to shine through – you’ll pick up your first ability and begin journeying through the tower’s many rooms, completing the puzzles within to progress further and further.
The entire game is based around electricity and magnetism; each puzzle you come across will use positive and negative magnetism in some way to either attract something to something else, or make things repel each other. Despite that core principle feeling like it would restrict the creativity of different puzzle types after a short while, it actually does anything but. Every room manages to do something slightly different and, even if the puzzles use similar techniques, the addition of new abilities as you make your way through the tower enable you to take things on differently.
At first your abilities are restricted to simply being able to add either a positive or negative current into metal objects. Eventually, though, you’ll be teleporting over short distances, applying a charge to your own body to stick yourself to objects (or send yourself flying away from them), and eventually you’ll get an item that lets you send out a charge of energy that can defeat various enemies, too. Mastering all of these abilities is the key to success and will really come in handy towards the end of the game if you wish to search for every last collectable.
Getting the hang of these powers, and getting your head around switching between the different magnetic polarities, however, can be pretty tough at times. Some puzzles require you to shift between positive and negative - and cross between using different abilities - in very quick movements. When you pull these kind of manoeuvres off it feels wonderful but they’ll likely take a few attempts. In the first of our “this game feels like it was made for Switch” arguments, though, the different polarities are assigned to red and blue colours and these are controlled by using the shoulder buttons of your controller(s). If you’re playing with the Neon Red/Neon Blue Joy-Con, your controls will match up perfectly!
As well as the odd room feeling particularly challenging every now and then, you’ll also have some particularly brutal boss fights to deal with. You cannot take a single hit in these fights, which means that you’ll be dying an awful lot before being successful. In fact, the bosses feel more like memory tests than anything; you’ll start to pick up on their patterns and you’ll have to keep replaying the fights, dying every time they do something new, until you’ve remembered all of their moves in order. This means that on the hardest of bosses we were left slightly frustrated; usually an occasional meaty challenge is more than welcome but, when you’re used to moving from room to room rather quickly, getting stuck in a single fight for a while can be slightly draining.
Each time you do make it to a new room the game will automatically save your progress and this acts as a checkpoint. This means that, should you die a grizzly death being mauled by one of the creepy, pitch black, ravenous monsters, you are hardly ever left annoyed at having to redo entire puzzle sections. This setup of having puzzles constrained within their own small rooms is another reason (and one that is much more useful) as to why Teslagrad feels so perfect on Switch – if you only have a short amount of time available to play, you can probably squeeze in a puzzle or two.
It’s probably rather lucky, then, that you’ll want to do just that – everything about this game is presented beautifully and you’ll likely find yourself wanting to be within its gorgeous, hand-drawn worlds whenever you’re away from your console. The game actually feels almost flawless in its presentation and execution, although one major bug which caused the visual aspect of the game to cut-out to a black screen did happen during our play-through. Luckily the game still worked underneath and, thanks to a mixture of our memory of the pause menu and the sound still coming from the speakers, we were able to blindly save our game and reboot it. This bug seems to be present on all versions of the game although many players never come across it – hopefully this can be fixed but if not, make sure to follow our trick!
Conclusion
From the moment Teslagrad begins you are instantly filled with the feeling that you are about to play something pretty special. The world around you is truly beautiful and the platforming puzzles are great fun to ponder over. A few difficulty spikes – particularly in the game’s boss fights – distracted us slightly from the game’s hypnotising ways but we had a wonderful time nonetheless. If you’ve never played the game before but you like the sound of what it has to offer, we heartily recommend giving it a go and, to be completely truthful, we wouldn't be surprised to see players who already own the game wanting to ‘double-dip’ for a portable version, too.
Comments 23
Hm...
Nah.
The theme is so dark...
I don't like Dark theme.
This is a great indie game guys. If you haven't played it already, I highly recommend you do.
No way! This game is too scary! XD
Why are people saying this game is scary? The theme is a bit dark yeah but scary? I wouldn't say so, I played it on pc or WiiU and loved it.
It was great on Wii U & on PC as well 3 years ago but now i'll skip all those ports of old games, my wallet is only for new titles with rare exception of some great remakes (Xenosaga, let's the rumor to be true). If Rainway will eventually release I could play Teslagrad on my Switch but I highly doubt i'll be doing it as it's time has gone for me.
Never got to finish it on Wii U. I’ll def get it it soon.
Sounds interesting, but I am not lacking in other games to play.
I wanted to like this so much, but in the end only liked it a bit, mainly because i found the physics pretty floaty and unsatisfying, kind of a killer for this game.
Didn't finish it on WiiU either, but loved it and I am a bit tempted to double dip. At the same time though, double dipping is a habit that I am trying to break (with maybe a few exceptions)!
awesome game, if you like puzzle platformers go for it. not worth the double dip for me tho
I played this on the WiiU as well but did not finish the game. The boss fights were incredibly tedious and simply not fun.
This was a tough one for me on WiiU. If you like challenging platforming give it a go, but the difficulty spikes in some areas can have you pulling out your hair.
Beyond that, the control isn't as tight as it could be. Clearing some areas felt like luck to me as a result.
Still, a solid game with a few warts.
Wow... final score is an 8 with a strong recommendation?
While I agree with the review that this game looks pretty, there are some notable problems. It doesn't play very well, with the physics system often being "wonky" (a generous term). The narrative is very weak, which was disappointing as the art style is very appealing. The game also includes notable bugs that can cause you to lose progress.
Maybe my expectations were too high going in, but for $20 I'd advise people to hold off and wait for a sale. This is another case of an indie game that looks great, but ended up being a mediocre experience upon release.
@Kalmaro I was kidding.
I love this game! I've beaten it several times. Speed runs, 100% runs, casual playthrough... It's just a blast. One of the better Metroidvania games out there.
I loved this game (& completed it 100%) on Wii U & I'll definitely be adding it to my Switch! Very fun game!
Played this on Vita and it didn't really grab me so I'll pass this time.
This really looks cool and I 100% want to play this, however $20 is just a bit too steep I feel. If we can get it down to $12 or maybe even $15 on a sale I will probably scoop this one up.
Tough bosses = no sale. I just get frustrated, and then don’t pick up the game again
Great game, but the boss battles are just too stinkin' frustrating, especially for a puzzle game. Made my otherwise enjoyment turn to controller throwing anger.
This was a pretty great game on Wii U. Except for that last boss fight. That guy made me want to smash my controller into a million billion pieces. GRRRR.
8/10 is too low, honestly. It has an exceptionally well told story, gorgeous graphics, and really fun mechanics with all 3 of those faucets of the game being executed in a fairly unique manner as well. If you like Metroidvania's this is an exceptional one, fair and challenging secrets to find, fair but challenging boss battles that all manage to be exceptional, a very interesting place to explore, isolation, and exceptional puzzle elements. It's only flaw IMO is being far too short but in saying that if you are not much of a Metroidvania fan but want to try one out the length makes this an appealing choice. I'd honestly call it a perfect game given it's price point, one of my all time favourite games from the Wii U and indie scene, right up there with SteamWorld Dig. If you haven't played it you should really give it a go.
How can a 2D game be scary? Lol
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