Isbarah
- February 25, 2015
- Leikir Studio
- 12h median play time
Get on Steam"Isbarah is a single-player Action game that combines elements of bullet hell and platformer styles, offering a challenging 2D boss fight experience. With Slow Motion, Dash, and Barrier abilities, players must strategically manage powers and make smart movements to survive. The game features 18 epic fights, 3 difficulty modes, and 90 unlockable contents, along with a rich story conveyed through short comic strips."
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Reviews
- The game features a unique blend of bullet hell and platforming mechanics, providing a challenging yet rewarding experience.
- The art style is gorgeous, with well-animated backgrounds and a comic strip storytelling approach that enhances the overall presentation.
- The controls are tight and responsive, allowing for fluid gameplay and effective use of abilities like dashing and slowing time.
- The lack of controller support in a platformer is a significant drawback, making it less accessible for some players.
- Some players find the game too complex and difficult to master, which may deter those looking for a more casual experience.
- Chasing cannons around the stage and dealing with high platforms can be frustrating, detracting from the overall enjoyment.
- gameplay34 mentions
- 35 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The gameplay of *Isbarah* is characterized by its unique boss rush format, requiring players to utilize precise mechanics such as dashing, barriers, and time-slowing abilities to conquer each stage. While the game is mechanically sound and offers an easy-to-learn, hard-to-master experience, the lack of controller support and the singular focus on boss fights may detract from the overall enjoyment for some players. However, those who appreciate challenging platformers will find the gameplay rewarding and engaging, with a perfect score from many reviewers.
“It's an easy to play/hard to master gameplay, and it'll allow you to keep improving yourself and elaborate new techniques even after lots of hours.”
“If you like platformer gameplay, hard but highly rewarding games, fights for survival, or playing until you get the top score, this is perfect for you!”
“The mechanics are precise and feel amazing to play.”
“The lack of controller support in a platformer of all things combined with boss rush-only formatting ('each level is a duel boss fight' didn't give me that impression when I initially bought this) hurts Isbarah immensely; it's mechanically sound, sure, and the art is by all means gorgeous, but there really isn't enough here for me with two glaring issues at the forefront.”
“The gameplay may need a few hours to be fully able to play with all the abilities to control your character perfectly.”
“Isbarah is essentially formatted in a way where every stage is a boss, and you have to use your epic platforming skills, along with the use of the dash, barrier, and slow time mechanics to conquer said bosses.”
- graphics14 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 71 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their polished, crisp, and clean visuals, with many reviewers highlighting the art style as absolutely gorgeous. Overall, the aesthetic quality has resonated well with players, earning high ratings, such as 9/10, for its impressive visual appeal.
“Everything about the game feels polished, and all of the visuals look crisp, clean, and sharp.”
“Usually I don't really care much about art style, but this one seems to hit a sweet spot where it definitely deserves to be mentioned for being absolutely gorgeous.”
“The game's graphic style is really nice to look at.”
- music12 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The music in the game is highly praised for its intensity and ability to enhance the fast-paced gameplay, with several reviewers rating it as 9/10. Overall, it contributes significantly to the gaming experience, making it a standout feature.
“The music in this game is just awesome.”
“Music: 9/10”
“While the game itself is already at a high pace, the music will make the game even more intense.”
“Note, I'm a variety gamer who prefers rage platformers and bullet hell games - my rating related to the actual game (not music/graphics, basically) might be biased!”
- story6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game's story is presented in a comic strip style, providing brief interludes between the action-packed gameplay, with well-animated backgrounds enhancing the experience. While the narrative is generally decent, some dialogue is criticized for being corny, and the pacing can feel disjointed at times, particularly with abrupt transitions between scenes.
“The story is fairly decent, though a few parts of the dialogue in the game caused me to cringe because it was so corny, and the pacing sometimes felt a little odd as well; such as teleporting to a new area in one frame because 'something' happened.”
“In the spirit of bullet hell games, it keeps you constantly in the action, with only brief periods of downtime between fights for a comic book-styled storyline.”
“Between each stage, the story is told in a comic strip style, and the backgrounds to all of the stages are well animated and detailed.”
