I'm recommending this game based on my own preferences and enjoyment. However, there are a couple of things you need to know going in before deciding whether this game is for you.


Not an RPG
This game is not an RPG. It has no XP or loot. There are no items. You do not make choices that influence the story. It is a completely linear experience. Character progression is based on milestones, which allows you to learn and upgrade skills at the end of a chapter or mission.

No exploration
The game is entirely level based. While they look very pretty there's barely anything to find in them besides consumables and enemies. The reason I consider them levels rather than areas is because you cannot freely travel between levels. Soon as you exit an area you cannot leave until you've completed whatever objective it is you're there to do.

Real-time Combat
The combat is real-time with pause. Everyone acts at the same time but you can pause to assign actions to your characters. Actions are divided into heartbeats similar to rounds in D&D with certain actions taking more heartbeats than others. You can rewind up to a certain point and undo previous actions as you see fit, even when characters die.

No save during missions
There is no manual saving and instead the game autosaves between levels. The lack of manual saves means that if you are interrupted you will have to restart the level from the beginning. During missions you can rewind to save a dying character, but you cannot rewind all the way to the beginning, so if you play too recklessly you can still lose the mission.


Combat
Combat is the meat of the game and quite fun once you get used to it. Don't get frustrated if you die, since you can always rewind. Reacting to audio cues helps in predicting which attacks you have to dodge. Sometimes you have to dodge towards the enemy in order to avoid their strike as well as get within range for a follow up attack. As the game goes on you learn a lot more spells to throw at your enemies and buff allies. The enemies are pretty challenging and you often have to react to their attacks or preemptively prevent them from devastating your party.

If you're familiar with Divinity Original Sin then you'll find some similarities in the way certain spells and the environment interact with each other. I actually think the combat is very similar to Divinity with the exception that you don't take turns.

Voice Acting
I liked the voice actors. Everyone really sinks into their roles. They may be somewhat over the top but I thought it added to the charm. Try to go in with the expectation that this is a fairytale with obvious villains.

Lore
This is very specific to my background so I don't expect anyone who isn't familiar with Kalevala to get that much out of the setting. Some of it may not translate very well to English. Even the name Iron Danger is drawn from Finnish but it doesn't quite carry the same weight in English.

Iron Danger is a linear Tactical RPG featuring a unique combat system. The title follows the story of Kipuna, a normal girl living on a coastline village that one day gets attacked by the militarist Northland Empire. Amidst the commotion, the protagonist's fate reveals itself binding her to an ancient artifact. After these events, followed by her trusty friend Topi, she embarks on a quest of knowledge to discover the meaning behind her newfound powers.

🟩 Pros

• Original fight system with time manipulation as centerpiece. Delivers a yet unseen, fresh take on RPG combat.
  
• Good narrative, character development throughout the story: situations and dialogues feel realistic.
  
• Well done visuals and art style, delivering a beautiful fantasy / dieselpunk setting consistently.
  
• Very good variety of skills, consumables, devices to use in combat and combine with each other.

🟥 Cons

• Lack of side content. No secondary quests, locations apart from the main ones.
  
• Noticeable lack of polishing and refinement in several areas, including optimization.
  
• Enemy variety becomes repetitive in the later parts of the adventure.
  
• Absence of a loot / equipment system apart from consumables and throwables.

Click here for the complete Rating Chart

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2035324603

Starting with the good parts, of course the feature that carries Iron Danger all the way into being an original title is the time manipulation system, which divides time into intervals and allows you to rewind up to a limit. This opens up interesting possibilities in combat, not seen in other games. The narrative and writing are very good, as the characters feel coherent with their personality, have an evolution during the quest.

The art style is also well-crafted and many locations, some enemies inspire to Finnish folklore. The visuals themselves are more than acceptable for the current times, except for the massive amount of distance blur. The game keeps pumping out new skills and upgraded ones for your characters, along with consumables and throwables, so the variety of approaches increases as you get further, keeping the gameplay fresh.

On the bad side there is also much to say. First of all even for a linear RPG style, the lack of side content, quests and optional areas is near absolute here, having only the main quest objectives to clear. The same goes for NPCs which can't be talked with in a deeper way and this may discourage deeper RPG fans. Enemies are pretty unique on their own but get repetitive as the game progresses since only a few new ones get introduced. The lack of a stat / loot / equip system also weighs heavily on replay value and build possibilities.

Overall Iron Danger is a good but linear TRPG whose main saving grace is the unique combat system. Those who seek a deeper RPG experience focused on dialogues, items and quests might be disappointed here, instead who looks for a different experience might discover a hidden gem - this title is not for everyone. It took me 13 hours to complete the game on Hard difficulty, being thorough in exploration as well. For the proposed price of 30€ and low replay value, I suggest waiting for a sale before buying.

Liked this review, and want to see more of the same quality? Check out Tamaster's Review Archive to see all my Reviews in a single, convenient location.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2035325928

🎮 Gameplay Analysis
The gameplay is divided into Exploration, Combat and Character Manegement.

Exploration
Is done mostly on foot and sometimes by remote controlling certain devices. The world is divided in levels set in various places: each of them is usually filled with consumables to gather, devices to activate, dynamic surfaces such as oil or ice, and of course enemies to battle. Keeping an eye out of life-restoring consumables, or useful throwables like grenades and barrels can make the difference in combat, so exploring in this sense is rewarding. There are no side areas or secrets to find though.

Combat
Is the centerpiece of Iron Danger, and plays out in a unique way. It plays out as a real-time RPG but time is divided in intervals of 0.5 seconds each, and you can rewind it up to a limit, stop it or make it advance. Of course, you will be able to issue orders to your party members simultaneously to coordinate attacks. Trial and error is the keyword here, as your characters will die many times... only to be brought back in time and avoid the fatal mistake, while damaging the enemy. Mastering this mechanic, and uniting it with perfect timing on attacks and skill usage, is the key for success.

In combat each character has a variety of skills, having a cooldown but otherwise using no other resource. Kipuna will be able to wield magic while other party members will use other means of offense such as arrows or melee weapons, depending on which one. Consumables, both offensive and defensive, play a major role if used correctly, to lay traps for the enemy or putting foes against each other for example. It takes a while to understand how this system works but once you get the hang of it, it feels very fun and dynamic.

Character Management
Is not very fleshed out. There are no stats to level up or gear to equip, as the only evolution consists in one skill upgrade at the end of each major level. Other than that each character can carry a finite amount of each consumable / throwable so being efficient that is a good idea. There is no leveling system or stat upgrades of any kind outside of temporary buffs in battle.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2036206442

🔩 Technical
PC Specs: RTX2080Ti, Ryzen 3900X, 32GB RAM DDR4
Optimization needs major improvements, as in some locations noticeable frame drops happen even with a high-end machine, system resource usage is way too high for the graphics complexity delivered (80-90% GPU use on a 2080Ti in 1440p 85Hz and high settings). Character path-finding is prone to glitching and in rare cases can cause gamebreaking bugs. Rarely, triggers for objectives may not work and force a level restart. Hitboxes and reliability of attacks need improvement as well. Movement is very clunky.

An innovative Tactical RPG that focuses on a fresh take on combat, but also lacks the roleplaying depth and interaction level some might expect. A good pick for RPG fans that want to try something different.

This game was reviewed using a free key

Very enjoyable game. I played it a bit when it first released in 2020, but it was poorly optimized, or it didn't run well on my video card. I have since upgraded my video card, and I think the devs put some effort into optimization.

Regardless, the second time playing I am thoroughly enjoying this game. The rewind mechanic is very cool and just plain fun to mess around with. The game isn't too brutally difficult so far, which is just fine with me. I'm not into impossibly difficult games. With the rewind mechanic, you can basically craft the perfect battle. It's lots of fun to play with the timeline and try to set up cool combos and explosive actions on the timeline. Great stuff.

So, two dark sunglasses up from Jake and Elwood. Give it a try. Set the controls for the heart of the sun and just enjoy pure fun gaming goodness.

[Update 3/14/2021] I'm getting close to the end of this game, and it is still a blast to play. I wish the game got a lot more exposure and interest, because I would LOVE to play another game using this system. It's a brilliant puzzley, action, semi-turn-based combat game.

There is no equipment loot to find, except grenades, explosive barrels, and various healing herbs and mushrooms to enhance your combat skills, but that's ok. Not every game has to be the same. This one is different, and just super enjoyable.

[Update 6/27/2021] I finally finished the game. 28 hours. That's about double the amount of time it seems to be taking everyone else. I'm slow, but I got the job done. This is such a hidden gem of a game. I don't know if the developers disbanded or what, but I would love a sequel to this one. I doubt it will ever happen, though.

Iron Danger is one of those games that makes me wish Steam reviews were less binary than the choices presented to the users. While by no means a bad experience, it was definitely one with several shortcomings that made playing somewhat of a chore. So in short I guess I would rather give Iron Danger a mixed opinion.

At it's heart this game is essentially an RPG with it's biggest selling point being a rather unique take on combat. Once in a fight, time stops and is divided into a row of segments at the bottom of the screen. Each character has a large variety of actions they can take which are familiar to the genre in whole. Attack, magic, heal and special abilities can be activated and once done will appear on the timeline and time moves forward. Now the trick in Iron Danger is that if you mess up, like casting a fireball in the wrong location and blowing yourself up, you merely click to a segment on the timeline before said action was taken and everything will reverse back to the chosen point in time.

In a way it's almost as if this game has made "save scumming" an actual magic power and at first this is a really fun mechanic to use. You're character will, most likely, die multiple times in a level (or even a single fight) and each time you can rewind and re-do your actions for the best possible outcome until victorious. Like any impressive trick it's entertaining at first but once you've seen it hundreds of times it becomes tedious and routine.

One of the problems with the combat is that it doesn't really get much better or advanced as the game progresses. Sure you unlock new abilities for the characters as you finish levels but the tactics for each fight could almost be copied and pasted from start to finish. You only ever get to control a party of two (each with their own timelines you have to manage individually yet keeping the two in tandem) and you never get to choose who to take into the fight. You will always be playing as the mage character (who is the story's main) and one of her three companions (an archer, a warrior and healer) at the behest of the game's choice. The mage then bombards enemies from a distance with magic, while the other characters follow their own set of skills (up close and personal with the warrior or at a distance with the archer).

In retrospect it feels as if the game could have been better fine-tuning it's combat to be more like a puzzle than an outright fight. By the time you get into the final third of the game, the main character will have learned so many new and powerful spells that she can almost take on whole armies by herself if you cycle through them in the correct manner. Even the rare boss battles that turn up in this game aren't all that different to regular enemies fought throughout other than the damage they commit, which is undone by reversing time after all.

The rest of the game doesn't have much to stand on unfortunately. The music while acceptable isn't memorable. The characters are fine but generic. The art direction is OK but bland. For the one interesting mechanic this game has it's surrounded by an awful lot of mediocrity.

I'm probably being too harsh on Iron Danger as in the end after it was all said and done, I was glad I played it and I did have fun to an extent. But there was always a constant nagging boredom building up after finishing a couple of levels (which roughly take 10-30 min to finish with no saving other than autosaves upon completing a level). There's a good idea here that is worth checking out (probably for a discounted price) but it could have been so much more with a little thought and extra creativity.

I don't think people are being objective in the negative reviews.
It's true that the time mechanic essentially serves as an undo button, but that's the point!

I would sum up the game as a wholesome experience with great voice acting and decent strategic elements. Sometimes it feels like an RPG puzzle game, and I don't think there's anything that fills the niche quite as well as Iron Danger does.

A good game to buy on sale if you're looking for something new to fill your time. The character design is interesting, the gameplay is fun, and the story is actually quite engaging.

I'm not sure why other reviews say the story isn't good, I'm loving it so far. So much so that I felt compelled to write a review condemning those who felt the need to be so negative.

"This game isn't for me." Then why are you reviewing it? Imagine if people who didn't like puzzle games went around reviewing puzzle games? If this isn't the sort of game you'd play, don't burden it with a negative review. For what it is, this game is good. You can feel the passion that went into it and we honestly need more of that.

Extraordinary game with a wonderful combat system! I would like to call it 'combat choreography' at times, a delight for anyone looking for a casual adventure, because the mechanics ensure that you basically can't loose. This inside a pearl of a story, which isn't always conveyed the best in this game.

Kipuna's hometown is under attack, and during her fled out of town, she tumbles through a gap in the pavement to an ancient forgotten temple, right upon a magical shard. The shard is pierced through her heart, and it gives her the power to turn back time 7 seconds, and to conjure firespells. A magical apparition sets Kipuna off on a quest to get the five other shards that form together the Aurolith!
The king sets her out on the same quest, he wants to harness the Auroliths power to conjure a shield around the capital.

The game is told in small chapters, most of them beatable in half an hour. After each chapter the game autosaves, there is no manual saving.

You play realtime, until you encounter combat. The game pauses at that point, and you can execute orders for each character. The orders are per 0,5 second, so you can pinpoint precisely when to move, dodge, attack etcetera. You get hit, or even die? Just rewind a bit and adjust the plan!
The description of the game is spot on, 'a tactical combat game that blends the tactical depth of turn-based games with the exciting action of real-time games'. The Steam tags are incorrect, this is not turn-based, and I would not call this RPG (you can select upgrades for spells after chapters, however there is usually only 1 good upgrade). My tagchoices are adventure, time manipulation, tactical, and I added casual. This game is not isometric at all.

I don't think the game tells this story the best way possible. To elaborate this I use some spoilers.
The spirit of the Aurolith warns her that the king can't be trusted, yet she asks him to remain in the capital without pursuing the quest. The quest, where he sends this young woman and a veteran smith. Or later when she interludes her quest to visit her cousin, whom is married to a leader of another town? She isn't there, but he joins her on a personal vendetta towards the villain, and during the quest he makes advances towards her?
I can't believe this story is written like that. Maybe the story had to be shrunk down. There were a lot of dilemmas that were only hinted to, but deserve a bigger story. Understandable that doesn't fit in this game, however the design raises some questions in me. Also because of the jokes which feel unnatural, or the voiceacting, very well performed but feels a bit off. But that's nitpicking, very happy that there is voice acting!!

Being a handicapped gamer this was a delight to play! I hope there will be more games with this time manipulation technique! Maybe one with only one character, because that would be quicker in some situations.
The other aspects of the game are just solid. Very good level design, good atmospheric music (it really blends in).
A very good game to play casually for an hour.

84/100

Really good game with new combat system that is very interesting, turning your fights into sort of puzzles.
The graphics and sound are excellent along with the voice acting and story.

All was going well until I came to around to were you find the second shard and then the game goes downhill fast. The story takes a nose dive, the combat becomes boring as you are always trying to fight in a green mist of poison and it basically become a game of having OP enemies thrown at you for no rhyme or reason.
I think this must have been the point they gave up on the game, shame because the first few hours were excellent.

At the time of writing, 6.3 % of people got the achievement for finishing Iron Danger - and now I am one of them. I can only assume that this rather low percentage - for a game that has never been given away for free so far - stems not from the game being overly difficult, but rather being really clunky and unfun to play.

Let's start with the positives though. The artstyle of the game is sufficient and clean, it has a very fitting and pleasant soundtrack and the voice acting is decent. The game tries to build up a whole universe in a rather short playtime, and while it doesn't quite succeed, I can applaud the effort. The battle mechanic is, at the very least, creative.

The problems start when you look beyond those aspects. Iron Danger is a game that has been completely built on battles. There is nothing else in the game. Almost every mission in every chapter has one or multiple battles, and inbetween battles you spend time walking to the next battle. Aside from a few consumable items and the occasional note, nothing can be found.

This would of course be fine if the battles were as fun as they should be, given that they were the focus, but sadly that is not the case. The main gimmick of the game is interesting: due to story reasons, our heroine can reverse time up to a limit, one heartbeat at a time. Each action, like moving around and attacking, costs a certain number of heartbeats. If one of your actions doesn't land or you got hit, you can rewind and try to block or look at a different approach.

It's a pretty cool mechanic, but it has two massive problems. First of all, it makes all battles essentially inconsequential. Death doesn't mean anything as you can just rewind, and every enemy action can be countered that way. This also has implications on the story as you can't ever really fail. The second problem is that it makes battles really clunky. You usually fight four, five or even more enemies at a time. They chuck grenades, use skills and ranged attacks and so on. You will constantly get hit, have to rewind to dodge the attack, then get hit again by a different attack, and so on and so forth. Since your two characters can also only take two or three hits max, this quickly becomes frustrating even if you can never really die.

Couple that with the dreadful optimization (dropping as low as 25 fps on my pretty good PC, even when not in battles) and the rather slow story and it just isn't fun. I see the approach the developers were going for here - making battles more like puzzles - but it just doesn't work. It's not even really difficult, as you can't fail, it's essentially just a heap of trial & error until you get it right, over and over again.

There is a lot of artistry in the style and soundtrack, but sadly I can't recommend it because the only gameplay loop you have isn't very fun. The game does end on a cliffhanger and if a second game ever comes, I hope there will be a bigger focus on making battles fun and maybe giving the game more of an RPG aspect beyond upgrading a skill after every couple missions.

This game has gotten so bad, I came back here to edit my review just to make it worse.

Pros:
--Unique and intriguing time shift mechanic.

Cons:
--There is nothing "RPG" about this game.
--No character customization.
--You can't choose who you want as your companion, it just forces one on you. Which wouldn't be a problem if any of the companions were as good as the one you start your adventure with.
--No EXP or level gain
--No Shops
--No Gear, Weapons, Trinkets to search for or find.
--No reason to explore because there is nothing to find.
--Every character turns really unlikeable half-way through the game: The main protaganist starts telling people to "shut up" in every other cutscene. One companion cares more about shards than her life... Another aggressively tells her to kiss him, and then threatens to SLAP her if she doesn't stop talking.
--Pointless unmotivating combat. Enemies don't drop loot, experience, or anything of value. So there is no point to even fight them... just run through them all, using your dash on cooldown to avoid their attacks and gain distance.
--The ONLY merit of the combat is the above mentioned time shifting. There are no debuffs or status effects to manage, there are no diverse arrays of enemies to plan for. The time shifting is a fun diversion for the first hour or two of gameplay... but then when you realize that every singe other aspect of this game is bland and boring, it becomes a chore.

I don't write many reviews, but I wanted to write one for this game because it's sadly not getting lots of attention (and I know how important reviews are). This game is a LOT of fun. The time rewinding mechanic is addictive, clever and intuitive to use. Even when you lose horribly, it's wonderful to just be able to rewind time and try again. Get killed by an arrow? Rewind a few heartbeats and dodge the arrow just in time. My only wish (and this seems to be a oft-requested feature) would be to be able to see the entire completed fight from beginning to end. Seeing my heroes dodge and weave and strike at just the right moments against impossible odds would be incredibly rewarding. Hopefully they add this feature.

The only downside is the story/characters are a touch generic (standard "fantasy heroes against steampunk villains" trope) and ends on a completely unexpected "TO BE CONTINUED" that felt like the game ran out of budget and time. But since the story was probably the weakest part of the game, the lack of resolution didn't bother me so much. Definitely give the demo a try. If you enjoy that, then you will really enjoy the rest of the game.