Beyond the Ice Palace 2 brings back a great nostalgic feeling from over 35 years ago, having withstood the test of time.
Beyond the Ice Palace 2 was developed by Storybird Studio and Storybird Games while being published by Pixel Heart and PQube. It is a sequel to the Commodore 64 classic 8-bit game that was released back in 1988, titled Beyond the Ice Palace, which was developed and published by Elite Systems, and Paradise Software. The first game was a 2D scrolling platformer, which would have the player playing a man blessed by the gods/spirits and tasked to complete various missions by fighting through three levels of monsters to save his kingdom.
The king does not take on this endeavour alone, though, as he is also accompanied by two spirits of the forest, who aid him in battle. The first game, however, when first released, wasn’t as widely seen as “big” for its day, rather an entertaining time passer. Well, until the next big thing came along. Having received comments from places such as Your Sinclair, such as “not a classic in any sense” and “all in all a rather super little game,” but enough with the history lesson, onto the review.
Beyond the Ice Palace 2 is an interesting comeback for a classic in gaming history while also staying true to the storyline and further progressing it—spoilers for the first game. The king saves his kingdom from the evil ice witch, bringing prosperity, peace, light, and joy to the land. With the threat gone, the spirits or gods see fit to keep blessing the king for many years.
Now, that sounds all good and nice; however, jealousy is still something that dwells within men’s hearts. With the blessing only ever choosing the king, the betrayal comes from within the king’s court. The divine arrow that pierces the king’s heart during every chosen ceremony is stolen and corrupted, leading to the king and his kingdom’s fall. Fast forward into the future, and the king’s pages do a forgotten ritual and give the old king life again.
Once Beyond the Ice Palace 2 has officially given you the recap of what has transpired in the history of the world, your character is reanimated in a tomb chained to a wall. This will be prompted by the player having to spam the controls to free themselves. Once you free the chains that once held you, these bindings are now your weapons, two blades bound by chains, much like a famous game character today found in a title known as God of War.
Making your way around the crypt, taking out monsters, and learning how to survive, there will be tutorial hints along the way teaching the player to jump, scale walls, destroy doors, pull metal bars, and the like. Pay close attention because these tips could change the outcome of big boss battles.
However, as far as Beyond the Ice Palace 2’s combat style and move list go, it’s really quite simple, not straying from the first gameplay style while still giving it a refresher. Heads up, though: Beyond the Ice Palace 2 is mainly catering to controller-based, so no mouse and keyboard.
The player will have to make their way through Beyond the Ice Palace 2’s maze-like platforms, making it to different stages, zones, and levels all before getting close to the bosses. In normal scrolling fashion, you can explore the world a little by moving around, almost like in games like Odin’s Sphere, with more of a linear push to the story. Slowly, the player will very easily get the grip of timing and combat strategy.
The smaller enemies are easy to learn and anticipate; however, I believe this is done on purpose as it makes the player believe it’s almost too easy. Once you are done with the tutorial, you’re shown a few useful things, like where to store your cash in between circles (I’ll get into that in a bit). In good rogue-like fashion, if you die with a coin in your pocket, you lose it all.
As mentioned above, the term circles was used. This is used to explain the rings of blue candles that can be found around the kingdom. These circles are used by the player to get around more efficiently, acting as waypoints for fast travel in Beyond the Ice Palace 2.
However, travel is not the only thing they are good for. The game is quite generous with its currency; you will see and find gold, whether it’s from breaking candles and light-producing objects or just opening a chest or taking down enemies. Now, there’s no point in dying with 1300 gold in your pocket.
Finding these circles and standing on them will send your money to the Treasurer, a nice NPC who explains how this waypoint works. It’s like GTA V, putting your cash in the back; it’s the same concept. Merchants in the game will also have access to your money automatically, but that does not mean the prices in the game can be inflated as there is an apparent cost to convince.
Besides being able to beat your enemies with your new weapons, the game will also allow you to upgrade your damage, life bar, and stamina, as well as your rage meter, with special stones named power crystals, that come in two forms: One comes in a large stone form being ready to be used, which is used to upgrade passives. The second form of these special stones is smaller and requires a trip to the alchemist in order to make use of them, as he has to compound them into a bigger, more usable stone for the passive tree.
Once the player has grasped the basics and had a conversation with the Treasurer, they are free to explore and reclaim their kingdom. The game is fun and quite addictive. If not for the story, at least for the style and play, it invokes a very, very powerful feeling of nostalgia in players who used to play these kinds of games back in the day and even now.
Beyond the Ice Palace 2’s visuals are amazing for the retro feeling of the game itself; the color, the characters, the scenery, and even the enemies’ design are all visually pleasing to look at and explore. Each boss is unique, and their respective combat styles are frustratingly unique, changing up when you least expect it or starting completely different from the first attempt. The pattern of combat changes only slightly, but it is enough to shake an unsuspecting player, especially if they think they have won the fight too soon.
However, Beyond the Ice Palace 2 does have some downsides that could lead to a large percentage of its player base giving up before they even really start. The game is a platformer, but it always emphasizes its grappling and swinging mechanics to get around, explore, or progress to the next stage.
In addition to being your weapon, these chain blades also act as your grapple, and as you progress, you obtain a double jump and a stronger dash skill, allowing you to dodge attacks and break into previously inaccessible places.
However, as useful as these skills are throughout the game, the character feels overly stiff and a little slow (now I’m not sure if that’s because of rigour mortis due to having been dead for so long). It’s definitely not enjoyable. Having to double jump and dash to get places sometimes feels like the jump is too short or the length required to grapple is just out of reach, not to mention it misfires now and again.
Beyond the Ice Palace 2 itself is great; the story is strong, and so is the world-building and characters (NPCs). However, the controls need some help, and the jump and hit boxes need some adjustments. Beyond the Ice Palace 2 is a challenge and is meant to make the player think about timing and strategy, but that becomes redundant if the player is more frustrated with the game itself rather than the challenges it offers due to timing issues or just grappling issues, which is a major point of the overall game.
Having a rage skill is useful and boosts damage nicely; however, it doesn’t make up for some of the game’s small but still noticeable issues. From a returning standpoint, the game has made quite the feet leaping back from the past 35 years, give or take, later into the future while still retaining its core essence and soul.
Overall, Beyond the Ice Palace 2 is a fun, nostalgic game with easy-to-grasp gameplay, great graphics, and world-building. There are some issues that hold it back from being a perfect game, but it definitely has much to say about time, the gaming world, and how things progress or regress. With some love and TLC, the game will definitely be up there with some of the other greats to make a shocking comeback. It will hopefully inspire other long-forgotten classics to make their own attempts at resurrection.
