Long before I decided to become a game reviewer, I used to jot down brief thoughts on the games I was completing in order to capture my feelings for personal archival purposes. Since then, I’ve of course evolved my craft into full-fledged write-ups, but I do think there is enough merit to some of the earlier critiques to warrant their publication, especially for titles I do not intend on replaying (in the near future at least). While I’ve thrown in some minor revisions, this is one of them.

GRAPHICS
-Art style is very unique with a pleasant color palatte. It takes the steampunk aesthetic and combines it with something I can't quite describe, like something you would find in an early Newgrounds video.

-Stutter that occurs sometimes when you're transitioning from area-to-area since there's no cut scene: it's all seamless.

-Backgrounds are beautiful whatever their aesthetic or picture (paintings, brick walls, overblown windows, drapes, clouds, etc...)

-Surprisingly good facial expressions on the main character (changes depending on whatever action you're doing: pushing an object, climbing, shooting a ray, etc...).

-Rain drops bouncing on character's head = nice feature.

GAMEPLAY
-Gameplay is good for the most part. It has unique platforming mechanics, and I liked how each new upgrade/item added a brand new mechanic to the world.

-Didn't like the Metroidvania aspect when it came to collecting the scrolls as they were not marked on the map at all, so you couldn't know which ones you had to get and where to look for them. Obviously lots of people won't mind this, but for me I like to have some sort of checklist, especially if the world is a chore to backtrack through.

-Scrolls also lacked a drive to get as a result of the poor storytelling. Doesn't help that the "true" ending for getting them isn't worth the effort.

-Bosses are a real pain in the pass. They're really short with three waves so the developers didn't include any checkpoints, which is fine except for the fact that you die in one hit. Therefore, the fights can be more tedious than fun. Particularly infuriating is the final fight with the King, where his attack patterns are random and dodging some of his moves (the crown blasts, sword shockwaves) require precise timing on the part of your blink attack.

-Also, for a final boss, it didn't really involve the use of all your abilities like it should have (i.e. like Metroid prime in Metroid Prime).

-Also didn't like how childish it was (frying the guy's ass) given that the game has a dark feel overall.
-I can't deny that there's an element of Dark Souls to these games in terms of the trial-and-error combat, but I feel it's pointless in a platformer.

-Clear Donkey Kong Country influence (King final boss, using crown as weapon, some platforming, etc...).

STORY
-The story is told without words, which ultimately works against it. It's a simple story, but the deeper parts of it like the fighting faction names (revealed via a readthrough on Wikipedia) are lost as a result, and make the final battle lack weight.

VERDICT
-Overall I would recommend Teslagrad since it provides enough content for its price (took me 7-8 hours to beat at $10.00, though I think I even got it on discount for $0.99). It's a unique game with a cool look hampered by bad boss fight design and unnecessary Metroidvania gameplay for the sole collectable.

A puzzle and platforming focused title with some action elements and a great art style. The gameplay involves you changing the color of objects to make them repel or attract each other, or to push or pull you away from or towards them. Items can be found that give you new powers, such as the ability to teleport forward. Most of the puzzles are fairly easy to solve which can make sudden increases in difficulty can be frustrating, there is no real gradual increase in difficulty only certain puzzles that are much more challenging than the others either because of the thought needed to get through, the precise controls needed, or just needing the physics of the game to work properly.

The story is told without words or dialogue, instead using puppet theaters to explain the backstory of your family and of the people you are fighting against. While finding where to go for the story is easy, the map and having no quick way to get to certain areas can make going back to look for collectibles can be tedious. The game requires you to find a certain number of hidden collectibles to get to the end and final boss but the amount needed is not too high and many of them aren't that well hidden, which should make things easier for people that just wanted to see the end of the story without spending time hunting down every item. I would have liked exploring the city more than being in the tower the entire time after the opening of the game had such a beautiful background and how enjoyable it was running along the rooftops.

Platinum trophy earned; 36/36 scrolls collected; true ending. Teslagrad is a physics-based puzzle-platformer, tending towards a 'Metroidvania' in some respects. The game's puzzles are largely based around a magnetism mechanic and manipulation of attraction/repulsion of differently/similarly magnetised objects - including the player character himself - with a small range of tools. There are certainly some clever ideas here, but unfortunately my abiding feeling about Teslagrad is of frustration, as I found many scenarios to be very fiddly, with behaviour not readily predictable - it was a case while it became clear what was needed, actually doing that was far from easy... but not for what felt like a lack of 'skill'.

Puzzle mechanics aside, while the game takes place almost all within a single building, there's a reasonably decent variety of environments. Graphics are simple but functional and the background music, while again simple, is catchy in a positive way. Teslagrad is a short game - if you know what you're doing (and are able to pull it off!), it could be completed within a couple of hours or less, but I wouldn't see that specifically to be a negative here, especially as the games feels like it pretty much exhausts the types of puzzle scenario that the magnetism mechanic allows, without a significant shake-up.

Overall, while I wouldn't go as far as to call Teslagrad a bad game, I couldn't really rate it anywhere better than average given the feelings of frustration that it leads to.

Teslagrad uses it's physics-based level design and mechanics to its fullest to create a compelling and thought through 2D platforming experience. However, some platforming becomes a tug of war with Unity's Physics System, which just cause a lot of headaches (also some platforming is too "pixel"-perfect/tight for my taste).
I love the artstyle and the pacing is pretty good up until near the ending where the progression is blocked by reaching an arbitrary number of collectibles and results in unnecessary backtracking, which wasn't really annoying in the end, but the fact that it existed bugs me immensly, since its only there to stretch out the playtime. The bosses are just Meat Boy bosses, but just 10x worse - One Hit Death's on Bosses is not fun in a puzzle platformer!

Other than that, it is a joyous platforming experience.

My favorite part of the game is the minimalist and somber story, told entirely with no words or text. Instead it employs environmental clues and occasional brief puppet theater segments. It has a great narrative arc for each of its few characters.

The idea of a metroidvania based on exploration & puzzle solving as opposed to exploration & combat is novel. The magnet based puzzles are satisfying and fun to play around with.

The puzzles can very occasionally be clumsy and the boss fights can be frustrating as any hit is insta-death, but the fights are doable. Just be prepared for some pattern recognition and execution testing.

Took me 5 hours to 100%. Highly recommend for a unique and beautiful metroidvania-esc game.