With all the rogue-like games in the modern market, one would expect developers to have an understanding regarding the core aspects that these games not only all feature but execute well enough that the game can be considered good, let alone have it stand out in the sea of new releases. However, not everyone understands how to make a game good. Whether it results from inexperience or plain negligence, sometimes a development team fails to understand what they need to do to make something enjoyable. The recently released IRA showcases this as it fails to deliver a satisfying experience due to how it sloppily weaves together bullet-hell style gameplay and rogue-like mechanics as well as making several confusing decisions that turn the game into a repetitive nightmare.
Despite its flaws, the core concept of IRA provides intrigue and engaging gameplay at times. When the bullet-hell mechanics overpower IRA’s flaws, they cause the gameplay to feel decently well-crafted and fun. The game also does well at providing the quintessential gameplay mechanic of a rogue-like: the feeling of constantly getting stronger throughout a run. Admittedly, this is a tricky aspect of gameplay to mess up, but the effort is appreciated.
Running counter to the feeling of perpetually getting stronger throughout a run are the various weapons one can acquire during said playthroughs. The player can obtain several bows that vary in every way except their restrictive and limited ammo counts. This causes the game to suffer a fate similar to Breath of the Wild, wherein the player is discouraged from using brand-new weapons due to their fragile nature. Even if the player can obtain more ammo for these bows, it still imparts the feeling of restricted availability and hampers every playthrough.
The speed at which one can blaze through the bland and uninspired levels causes repeat playthroughs to become quickly stale. Rogue-likes live or die by their replayability and ability to keep the gameplay fresh and intriguing, but IRA’s ludicrously short level length—one can reach the boss fight of an area in a few minutes with just decent gameplay—and lack of variability means one is constantly going through what feels like the same area every time they start up a new run. These conditions are ideal for optimal boredom and impart nothing but a lack of engagement with the player.
The clashing of the gameplay styles compounds this issue, as one can find themselves dying quickly. A good rogue-like typically revolves around fast-paced gameplay and rooms full of hostiles; a quality bullet-hell is more about careful and methodical dodging. When mixing these two styles, IRA creates infuriating gameplay that combines a slow-moving character with an overwhelming number of hard-to-dodge bullets.
Contending with the conflict between gameplay styles does nothing to alleviate the frequency with which one will find themselves dying in IRA as the game features a fatal flaw in its design. Not only is the hitbox for the main character confusingly placed but taking damage delivers the same impact as getting hit with a wet tissue. There is virtually no noticeable indication that one has taken damage aside from an oddly quiet sound that one can easily miss during combat.
The game also feels extraordinarily unstable and unrefined. The text in the game is weirdly opaque, which makes it difficult to read the awkwardly phrased and paced dialogue at times, the game made it seem as if beating certain bosses would unlock new features, yet nothing happens when one bests said foe and the game can soft lock when one does something as simplistic as obtaining a reward for their efforts. IRA clearly needed more development time before anyone should have considered releasing it to the public.
All in all, I give IRA a 3/10.
