A great little puzzle platformer. Beautiful artwork and solid gameplay. Pretty linear, but the pacing is really excellent, there is rarely a dull moment. Collecting all the scrolls and the several boss fights add a nice challenge. It took me five hours to 100% so it's not too challenging and there is not much replayability. But I would still completely recommend it as it's one of the most enjoyable games I've played in a while. It's good value at full price, but when it's on sale, it's a must-buy. Avoid spoilers or guides at all costs. It offers a nice sense of discovery if you don't know what you're in for.

And... it's a good game, all right. Infuriating at times, but overall very pleasant puzzle platformer. Well worth the time spent, I'd say, especially if any of the gripes below doesn't sound bad to you..

What I liked:

- Lovely art design, backgrounds, animation and music. Production values are overall very high, only a step below UbiArt games, I'd say. Very reminiscent of Braid, I'd say.
- Good puzzles, solvable without resorting to outside help in most of the cases. Definitely nothing as obtuse as Gateways final puzzles.
- Interesting player abilities. Can't really say that having magnets and Dishonored Blink was innovative, but the way they were used and interacted with each other very much worked in the game.
- Controls were very good, even if the jumping was a tad too floaty for me. Would be a much bigger problem if the game had a bigger focus on platforming, but given that it was 80% puzzles, I can't really complain.
- Metroidvania-lite concept with no forced backtracking - only some of the secret scrolls required revisiting areas, everything else could be done by the first visit.

What I didn't care for:

- Boss fights, or rather lack of checkpoints during boss fights. Main character doesn't have any sort of health meter/shield, so the second you touch any of the hazards, you're brought back to the beginning of the fight. Which gets a tad annoying if said fight has several stages with new, random hazards added in the later ones.
- Few instances of physics not working consistently - I had worked out a few puzzle solutions, given up on them as non-working after a few tries, only to check online and find that I had the good idea, but one that requires blind luck to work out. This is only true for a few scrolls, nevertheless should not happen.
- Lack of proper map - the game marks your location, sure, but doesn't allow for map scrolling and doesn't mark the collectibles you discovered but haven't solved yet. Which makes the whole map pretty useless.
- The achievement system used by the game (1 for each of 36 hidden collectibles) could do with a revamp - you can 100% the game well before finishing actual playthrough. Would be lovely if the devs added at least a 'Finished the Game" achievement.
- Weird performance issues - I don't have the fastest computer, true, but still, would not expect the game dropping down to 30 fps in few areas. Really noticeable when most of the game is silky smooth. I've also had the game crap out on me three or so times - game logic was still running, but the game stopped updating screen. Had to enter menu and quit the game using only sound effects as a guide.

I will be writing a full review covering everything , if you're interested in ever buying this game read : )

To start i really wanted to give this game a bad review and (Not recommend) because i was disappointed for it showing so much promise in "beautiful story-line" at the beginning but then ends up hours and hours of puzzle after puzzle with no point to feel that it connects to the story somehow .. i can say the same for several indie games...

So as you can see in the screenshots its a puzzle 2D Platformer, with a very well-done animation and the artwork is completely outstanding very very beautiful indeed.

You die from one hit, so the game is set for you to be able to avoid, by dodging and jumping your way through obstacles and enemies but you can also fight so no worries.

if you like puzzlers this game is for you it is well-thought on that matter so it stays interesting, you change between Red/blue (opposites attract) and just figure your way out of the puzzle and use it to fight enemies, and the boss battles , don't even get me started on them they are truly both amazing and challenging.

So summing it up

Whats Great :
1 - Artwork, the game is diffidently worth its price just for that i mean wow, the screenshots don't show half of it, there are so many beautiful things not shown there 10/10
2 - Music + sound effects , both work out perfectly for the game 10/10
3 - Puzzles, challenging , keeps getting interesting without repeating themselves but are a lot 8/10
4 - The story and (Theater plays) are great but they didn't stick to it for 80% of the game 7/10

Whats not so great:
1 - Achievements ... they are not really achievements you just get one every-time you collect one of those lightbulbs or whatever they are.
2 - Probably the only thing that made me feel bad about the game is how they did not stick to the story and just try to refresh it every now and then, yes the theater plays are good and i like them but it was just pure puzzle after puzzle without the sense of the story carrying on , thats it there is litterly nothing else i hate about this beautiful game and i am being 100% true and fair with my review

So if you're into this type of game, just look in some videos of it ( not steam videos) And you will simply fall in love with it
Diffidently a game worth buying at full price to support those awesome devs , yes you might get a bit disappointed if you notice or simply wants the story to carry on but it will only at the end of the game and it still will give you the satisfaction you need to feel the closure

overall rating of the game 8/10
1- for achievements ( probably should have done an achievement for finishing a puzzle in a certain way or something)
1- for not keeping up with the story until the end

Teslagrad is a game sort of like Super Meat Boy except not so extreme. It's a load of fun if you're expecting a good challenge. Im talking specificly about the bosses. There's a lot of practice involved with the bosses- some might see them as unfair, and some will find them as a good challenge.

The puzzles are very complicated and the mechanics are very creative! There's alot of exploration involved also. Which I really enjoyed.

The art is amazing, sometimes reminding me of Braid and Limbo (but with color, of course.)

The animation/sprites are hand-drawn, and they're beautiful.

The story is ABSOLUTLEY GREAT too! It's told through a series of small mechanical theatres and a lot of it is also told through drawings in random locations. I wont spoil anything about the story- its too awesome.

Teslagrad is a great- but challenging, beautiful platformer with a very intriguing, well-told story.

An intriguing setting, epic boss fights, amazing art and a lovable soundtrack. If you love the new generation 2D platforms, don't miss it. Better if played with a gamepad.

Pretty short game of about 6 hours. In Teslagrad you start off playing as the village idiot, at first it seems interesting but the controls like all platformers are garbage. Ignore the awards games like this get and awards in general they are usually meaningless. The menu is a mess as well its difficult to even tell what is selected its so poorly designed. The boss fights are laughable at best, if they can be called that. Example is the bird fight, a robot not a human could play this part, it takes zero skill. Run up to the bird wait for animation attack, rinse repeat done, a robot could do that. Like all platformers this game was garbage controls, great idea making a game, then forgetting how to make controls work, just make the whole game based around platforming then implement terrible sluggish response and use of odd button assignments. There 4 BIG buttons on the front of most controllers yet their ignored except the A button. This game gets the award for just being another platformer fail. It may look pretty but this is a game, noone is hanging this on their wall, if we could it would be spit on and burned. People seem to like it because the fights are easy maybe, who knows, maybe because its pretty, either way the controls suck.

The dev is very active and helpful on the forums so +5 for that.

Rating: 5/10 Value: $4.99

Teslagrad is a metroidvania game where you play a son of a Teslamancer. Your town, Electropia is overun by The Corrupt Kings men, and it's up to you to bring The King down, who hides in the Storm Palace.

This game is done simple, but effective. Your progress is impeded until you explore for power ups such as the glove, that changes Positive and Negative which helps you manipulate magnets to lift doors, the Boots that shoots you forward like a bolt of lightning which helps you cross long gaps, etc.

Less is More is a theme with this game. You start by running from home to a palace where you are chased to, and it explains the story with theatre (That you can choose to watch. It's optional). Other than that, you are solving puzzles and you quickly learn how to make progress. To go UP. During this time, you find scrolls that vaguely tells you the story, and seems like a collectable until you reach the final part of the game, where you need a minimum of 15. I don't know about anyone else, but I had 20 scrolls when I got to this part of the game, and it elongated the game for me knowing that I may need to get all the scrolls. If you rush through the entire game, you'll surely miss scrolls. It's a game that you can play at YOUR pace.

The scenery, the music, the subtle story telling, the Less is More emphasis, everything was made very well, but because of this, the only reason you have to play this game for more than 20 minutes is the art since it slowly teaches you everything you need to do over time and it's understandable if you get bored of this concept over time. This game didn't have an instruction manual that'll tell you the story and what abilities will be available to you over the game like Super Metroid. You're going in blind, hoping for an enjoyable experience. From first hand experience, I did find this enjoyment. It's a short 4-5 hour game depending on if you look for a 100% completion with lots of replayability, and because of this, I give it an 8/10.

Beautiful game with unique mechanics. This is also the first puzzle game I've seen with multiple boss fights that are both unique and challenging.

im so confused why none of my freinds have this game its amazing! the story is deep even without words, the controls and gameplay are smooth, as soon as i saw the trailer for this I instantly bought it with out a doubt. the art and stunning music caught me in a amazing mood and the feels so many feels ;A; I really enjoyed this game Overall: BUY THIS GAME YOU DUMBS

(please)

Super Fun! I saw a commercial for this game while I walked into a Rent-A-Center. I got back home looked at it and purchased it on sale during the steam sales and it was worth it!

Such a great game. It's kind of Braid meets Magrunner: beautiful 2.5D graphics, cool phantasy setting, good mechanics, simple but nice story/plot (lovely told via marionette theaters), puzzles and a tesla staff!

Not recommended to Thomas Edison's fans.


8.5/10

Fantastic game. But it suffers from Portal syndrome.

It's way too short.

This game is a really good example of the artform of games. A good story, which ties directly into the mechanics of the game, which are well-balanced and intuitive, and provides a solid 10 hours of well-thought out cinematics. It even mixes mediums well, with puppet plays in some places, cutscenes integrated directly into the gameplay, and a non-linear narrative revealed through the cards. The big reveal was interesting, if only because it broke certain hero tropes, and while the story wasn't necessarily ambitious it was visually very stimulating. Loved this game =]

Fun Puzzle-ish platformer. The story is wonderfull. And the bosses are quite frustrating when you have to restart from the begining on the boss. Altho the artwork it beautiful and so is the soundtrack.

9/10

ENjoy^-^

It all got started when a friend showed me a remix of the soundtrack for some indie-game. I listened to the song and thought "man, if someone can make a remix THIS good, then the game has to be wonderful!" So when the summer sale conviniently rolled in a few days later, i bought the game. The game was 'Teslagrad'.
I imediatly loved the game, the graphics, the music, and most of all, the story. The gameplay is wonderful; it has wonderful maps, challenging bosses, and all sorts of challenges. The graphics are astounding; just straight up gorgeous. Also, the entire thing is hand-drawn! The music is beutiful, as well! (i just wish there was a way to download the soundtrack) Finaly, the story. Despite the fact that not a single word is spoken, the story is wonderful! An evil king elimenating all the Teslamancers, while a boy sets out into a mysterious tower, destnined to displace the king and restore peace to Teslagrad.

10,000,000,000,000,000,000/10 best indie game game ever.

Teslagrad is a wonderful Game. Just when you think the recent challenges are too easy, you receive a new ability that opens up new ways. The puzzles are very interesting and require much attention. Despite the simple mechanics the game is very varied. To 100% the game you have to find 36 scrolls, and some are not so easy to get.
The graphic style is wonderful and enjoyable and the sound fits really well.
If you're not quite convinced, you can play the good, but short demo and test the game first. In addition, it is possible to 100% this too.
I highly recommend buying Teslagrad as one of the best platformer I've played so far! It would be a shame to skip this at sale price, it is really worth every cent.

It's a very pretty game with clever puzzles. Also, the soundtrack is REALLY great. Amazing music.

I started playing Teslagrad knowing almost nothing about the game, story or mechanics, and it turned out to be a very pleasant surprise.

The story is interesting enough, but sometimes told in a somewhat confused way, through "cinematics" and the collections of cards. The cards are not collected in the order of the story however, and so we learn bits and pieces from different parts before we can connect the dots. Although slightly confusing, it didn't really affect much in the game (I just love stories).

The mechanics are utterly simple, so after a bit they fade into the background. Your fingers just know what to do after a point. I was extremely pleased with the challenge the game provided in terms of gameplay. It constantly forced me to improve my skills, learn by trial (and death), jump just a split second later, drop a few pixels lower, time it -just- right. Not once did I mind having to start over after I died, because I really enjoyed it, and my death had usually taught me something helpful. It felt like old-school games, where you had to actually try hard to get past some spots, and there was just no way around it, or any consolation prizes. If you wanted to do it, you had to get better at it. There were not many enemies to fight, but the puzzles to be solved were interesting enough to keep me occupied, and the boss fights were entertaining and rewarding as well.

The game played quite lightly. One day I had to keep pausing, or alt-tabbing to attend to other things, and it remained responsive, smooth and didn't burden my laptop at all. It felt both casual and also deeply immersive at the same time.

I would love to play a sequel.

Filled with originality and love for the metroidvania genre, this game is great and gorgeous. Simple yet engaging, the exploration is deeply satisfying if you love platforming and puzzles. You can even increase the replay value by collecting all the tarot cards hidden in hard-to-reach places.

Still, there is one major issue. The game is hard. Not "I wanna be the guy" hard, not even "Super Meat Boy" hard. It is simply "old school" hard. Every room will come with a few deaths, every boss will have to be carefully studied, every pattern analyzed. That would be the good kind of hard.

The bad kind of hard is the philosophy of the one-hit kill. I am not a huge fan of "variable health" in platform games but a two or three strikes approach gives a little room for error while maintaining tension (Spelunky for instance). Here, one slight mistake or one tiny timing imprecision and it's back to the start. For a room, it's okay. For boss fights, it becomes borderline rince-and-repeat tedious if you're not patient/dedicated/born with lightning reflexes. You can also regret the small use of checkpoints (especially during the first final boss which is known to make grown men cry). But there is a reason why the lack of margin of error is detrimental to this game.

Which brings us to the worse kind of hard, namely letting a physics engine handle key elements instead of using scripted behaviour. Do not misunderstand me, the engine is solid but it introduces randomness (even in some boss fights) leading to your doom not by lack of skill but by lack of control, precision or just luck. Of course, this is a core part of the game, but this plus the one-hit kill principle sometimes seems ridiculous.

To give you an example (spoiling the method for the first boss), one boss fight consists of charging blocks that the enemy will swallow. After a certain amount, it will try to burn you, killing you if you are not on the edge of the platorm, but not too far as not to be thrown in a furnace on one side, electrocuted on the other. At this point, you could have a perfectly good boss fight. Unfortunately the blocks fall randomly and are handled in a "realistic" fashion sometimes piling up and blocking your way getting you killed.

However, this should not prevent you from buying this game, far from it. The experience is amazing and the art (design and animation) memorable. If you like platforming, add this to your library this instant. Just be prepared for a lot of frustration now and then, but it is worth it.

Teslagrad is an intriguing indie puzzle platformer. The use of magnets and electricity as a gameplay device is fun and reminds me of a 2D version of Magrunner, also from last year.

Unlike similar games such as Vessel and The Swapper, Teslagrad is more action and reflex oriented. There are enemies and traps to avoid on practically every screen. The checkpoint system is generous in most places if you die, but the one thing where the reflex oriented gameplay falls short is the bosses. There are five throughout the entire game, with the 2nd and 4th being particularly difficult thanks to the fact that you only have one hit.Teslagrad is not afraid to offer a challenge. It is the Dark Souls of puzzle platformers. You will die. A LOT. You'll also feel a real sense of accomplishment upon completion, eve if you don't get all of the scrolls for the best ending.

The environments are rich and beautiful. Cathedral-like aesthetics rub shoulders with steampunk and Eastern European influences to create a game world that is striking in its look. The game is 2D, but makes occasional use of 3D and advanced lighting effects to add depth. There were times when I felt the sprites could have used a bit more frames of animation, but overall its a very impressive looking game.

Where the game falls a bit flat is in the storytelling. The developers made the decision to tell the story without dialogue, so despite all of the characters having names, you won't really know what's going on unless you look up material outside the game. At its core, the story is about a young boy overthrowing a power-mad dictator.

Teslagrad is worth playing if you enjoy this genre, but if it were a bit more polished, it would be truly top tier.