by If you haven’t played ICEY, you probably have one of two reactions: “ICEY? Never heard of it.” which isn’t surprising, since it seems to be a somewhat small title. But, as is more likely if you keep up with games news: “ICEY? That’s the Anime Fighter Stanley Parable, right?” And indeed, it is.
I went into ICEY expecting quite a bit based on the hype. Initially, I was underwhelmed. As a fighter, it’s not terribly difficult (though it does use a dual WASD and IJKL control scheme, which I think is kinda nice). The Stanley Parable bits weren’t terribly exciting; though I probably wouldn’t have said that before the Stanley Parable came out, but now all games must suffer underneath the quintessential decision simulator.
As my hour progressed, I changed my mind – it’s still not terribly difficult (though a few boss fights have been challenging), but it’s a fine addition to the Parable-esque games genre: the hype having washed away, I was able to enjoy it for what it was. And I ended up playing twice as long as I meant to: which is the whole point of Tier One, no?