Ib is one of the few games that incorporates the phrase “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” On the surface, Ib looks like your run-of-the-mill pixel art game. Still, Ib lives up to that expectation and surprises you. The experience is very short and feels made for a specific kind of audience, but Ib is an interesting and spooky game that people might want to check out.
Eve It focuses on the title’s main character as she and her parents visit an art gallery housing notable Guertena’s work. After getting permission from her mother and her father to explore freely, things begin to change after reaching the top floor and examining a particularly magnificent painting. Everyone in the art gallery, including her receptionist and her parents, seemingly vanishes into thin air, and a sinister terror pervades the gallery.
In fact, it’s this level of creepiness that makes Ib work so well. Ib is by no means a horror game. It does a great job of making you feel uncomfortable all the time. Environments are utilized to varying degrees, but the most obvious collective examples are the paintings, which include creatures that shoot projectiles and sometimes pop out of their portraits. Every step in a new room should be done with extreme caution because you never know.
Ib, on the other hand, is pretty much your standard adventure game. You can press A to interact with objects, B to access your inventory, or talk to your partner at that point. As you explore, you’ll find various items that can be used to solve puzzles around the world. This is the strength of Ib. Puzzles are brain teasers and the solutions are often very clever. There are some puzzles that are a little too trial and error and lack the “oh, I see the solution” cleverness.
One of my main issues with Ib is how short it is. It didn’t feel that long, but I managed to finish the game in 2 hours. After playing for an hour, I finally got into the groove and felt like I was done. Certainly not everything I play has to be an extremely long 30 hour experience. Still, Ib is an experience that hits you so quickly that it really feels like it never started. There are multiple endings, but playing the same puzzle again becomes less fun. After all, you’ve already come up with a solution.
My other issue with Ib is, well, the game as a whole. Created for a specific audience, with a focus on people who love RPG Maker (allowing people to create their own RPGs) and custom “horror-like” games that people create within it. It’s a pretty decent game, but its pixel art presentation and horror-like puzzle gameplay really narrow down who enjoys it, so it’s not something I’d recommend to many people.
Finally, if you want pixel art titles with a very spooky feel, Ib is an amazing experience to check out. Ib makes you feel uncomfortable around every corner and heightens your tension every time you go near a painting. Ib’s main “meat and potatoes” puzzle is also very clever. That said, Ib is a very short game that seems to be made for a specific audience. You may get it. If those words don’t immediately intrigue you, it might be best to look elsewhere for your next game.
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