Beyond the Ice Palace 2 Review: He Lives Again

Growing up, I had little experience with the Amiga, Commodore or any other pre-DOS 8-bit personal computer games. Very few in India had. But I’ve heard about Beyond the Ice Palace from my peers in the retro gaming community. While I’ve never heard anyone talk about the game as a platformer masterpiece, they hold it in high regard. Imagine my surprise when 37 years later, a sequel aptly titled Beyond the Ice Palace 2 is announced. Now, I understand the appeal of making sequels/remakes of retro classics like Streets of Rage, Double Dragon, Shadow of the Ninja, etc, but this was totally out of the blue and I’m sure the news made fans of the original very happy. Thanks to developer Storybird Studio, I got to spend quite a few hours in the dark and twisted world of Beyond the Ice Palace. As always, I pen down my mad ramblings here. Presenting Gameffine’s Beyond the Ice Palace 2 review.

Back From the Dead

As the name implies, Beyond the Ice Palace 2 is a direct sequel to the original. You once again take on the role of the Champion of the Gods. After saving the kingdom and obtaining the crown, the champion is betrayed by the demonic forces with the help of the court pages. The Champion is slain and chained away while the land is plunged into chaos. However, it doesn’t take long for him to resurrect and claim his rightful throne. A fitting metaphor for the release of the sequel, wouldn’t you say? Armed with the chains that kept him locked away, the undead Champion embarks on a bloody quest to rid his kingdom of all evil.

Similar to the era of games, the story here on offer is minimal, but the game supplements it with plenty of environmental storytelling and NPCs. NPCs the Champion meets throughout the game will always have something interesting to see, whether it be lore or tips. I really dig the dark and bleak tone of the game and the excellent Classicvania-inspired chonky pixel art is a feast for your eyes. All the different biomes in the game look visually distinct and finely detailed. That being said, I wish there was a CRT filter option (like the one from Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider) and a toggle for the annoying camera shake. The music is also kickass, featuring a wide variety of somber and atmospheric dark fantasy tunes to help set the mood. Simply put, Beyond the Ice Palace 2 is a visual treat for retro fans.

Beyond the Ice Palace 2 is more than what meets the eye. From the outset, it may look like a very simplistic action platformer. However, once you progress a bit, it’s convenient blending of retro roots with modern mechanics becomes apparent. The best comparison would be The Game Kitchen’s Blasphemous. Don’t let the Metroidvania tag on the store page fool you. Beyond the Ice Palace 2 is a fairly linear game with some branching paths offering secret treasures. You’ll hardly find yourself getting ability-gated in the main path, similar to Blasphemous.

The level design itself harkens back to the Classicvania days with plenty of platforming and endless pits (thankfully, they do not instakill you). The only weapon the Champion is armed with is the chain he was imprisoned with. The chain also doubles as a traversal tool. The Champion can use the chain to grapple onto hooks found littered throughout the levels. By the mid-game, the game expects the player to chain together platforming moves like basic swinging, ledge-grab, slide, chain dash, and air dash to efficiently avoid traps and traverse the treacherous environments with ease.

However, the game’s major drawback also lies here. The animations for jumping and ledge-climbing are not very precise and the controls for them can be sometimes unresponsive, leading to the player failing precise platforming sections. The jumping animation does not have any weight to it, making it feel like the Champion is jumping on the moon. While I did get used to it after a while, this needs fixing. The same can be said for the Champion’s walking speed. I did get around this by repeatedly using the slide and jump dash to move around faster. Still, that won’t be for everyone.

Slay, Slay, Slay

As mentioned above, the only weapon in the game is the chain, which can be used as a whip to slay enemies. It works well and you can even unlock more moves for the chain by equipping certain items. Moreover, the chains can be swung diagonally as well as around the Champion to block projectiles (Super Castlevania IV would be proud). As for defensive abilities, the Champion can use an evasive dash, which, if timed correctly, triggers a (annoying) slow motion dodge behind the attacking enemy. There is also a refillable Rage meter, the function of which does not demand explanation. Furthermore, the air dash, slide, can all be used during combat to add more spice to the whole shebang. As for the combat, it’s pretty damn good. Attacks are beefy and there is satisfying hit feedback. Enemy variety is also decent and the boss fights are epic, to say the least.

Similar to many modern platformers, there is an upgrade system for both the Champion and his equipment. By finding, forging and buying upgrade crystals, the Champion’s vitality, attack power, stamina, and rage can all be increased, making him an effective killing machine. As for the difficulty, I found it to be just right, despite some difficulty spikes here and there. Every time the Champion meets an unfortunate end, he loses all the gold and gets sent back to the last checkpoint (the game is a bit stingy when it comes to these) and has to redo the sections all over again. If you’ve played at least one retro action-platformer, then you’d do just fine. Heck, one can even make do without all the upgrades should they choose to.

Real Talk

Beyond the Ice Palace 2 has nearly all the makings of a great action-platformer. It’s got gorgeous pixel art, satisfying combat, and music that sets up a brooding dark-fantasy tone. Some frustrating platforming sections and somewhat unresponsive controls hinder the game from attaining greatness. A quick refinement of these will make a 50-year-old somewhere very, very happy.

FINAL SCORE: 77/100