Izeriya Demo

While it’s not difficult to create a 2D platformer using today’s technology, the fact remains that you need to design it properly to have any real success on the market. There are many elements working together in a platformer to make it tick, and they need to be in tune in order for the experience to be fun and rewarding.

Izeriya is a 2D platformer with a fairly simple set of gameplay mechanics and an even simpler story to tie everything together. It’s not meant to revolutionize the genre, nor is it the type of game that sticks with you for years to come, but it can be the perfect solution to a boring afternoon, at least if some issues are fixed until the final version hits the market.

To begin with, the plot is about as straightforward as it gets, which is not much of a problem for a platformer. Hence, it all revolves around a boy by the name of Trix, who takes it upon himself to liberate the city of Izeriya, which was once a wealthy and powerful city. Naturally, he must defeat the forces of evil that have settled there in the meantime, so the journey certainly isn’t a very pleasant one.

Gameplay-wise, there’s not much to talk about, since Trix can only move, jump and use a sword to attack his enemies. It’s also possible to pick up coins that can be used to upgrade your health or sword damage, and there are potions that regenerate your hit points scattered all over the levels as well. It must be mentioned that the combat system is a tad annoying, since it would seem like there’s no way to land a hit without receiving one yourself.

The controls are to blame for this as well, because the key placement is absurd. Hence, you walk using the classic WASD scheme, but the Z key is used to attack. This makes it very difficult to do both at the same time, and the arrow keys don’t work either. It’s very frustrating, especially since this can be fixed quite easily.

Izeriya is on the right path, it just needs a bit of work to transform into something exquisite. Hence, there’s definitely potential here, and it should be interesting to see what the whole thing amounts to after it’s done.