Platform(s): PC (version reviewed), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5
Genre: 2D, Action, Metroidvania, Platformer, Retro

After 37 years, developer Storybird Studio took out a relic and decide to make a more fleshed-out sequel out of it. Instead of an hour, Beyond The Ice Palace 2 is now 5+ hours full of beautiful 2D graphics and sprite art, and methodical 2D platforming gameplay that hearkens back to the days of NES Castlevania and even arcade title Ghost & Goblins to an extent.

Freezing Point

You play as the imprisoned Cursed King who breaks out and decides to exact revenge on those who kept him down. So off he goes through the blazing countryside, dank swamps, and pirate caves as he uses his binding chains to whip his way through the opposition. He can also grapple onto hooks and swing on them, as well as do a lunge dash attack that propels him to the direction he wants to land or latch onto. You’ll be doing a lot of platforming, swinging, and lunging through Beyond The Ice Palace 2’s challenging layouts and level puzzles.

The enemies you fight are a mix between Castlevania’s lot and Ninja Gaiden (2D NES versions) monstrosities, but in undead fantasy form. You’ll fight skeletons that need to be permanently dealt with using your power attack. You’ll combat shielded foes that require your grapple and lunge technique to break their barriers. You’ll even have to dodge the equivalent of Medusa Heads as they sine wave-fly to your face, knocking you off whichever platforms you’re perched onto. And in true retro action fashion, you’ll fight big bosses with patterns you need to learn while also dodging them lest you get pounded to oblivion and start over from the checkpoint.

At the very least, you can power yourself up using Power Crystals, and gather 5 power shards to form one Power Crystal, boosting your stamina meter (for your powerful attacks and dash-dodges), your health, and your attack power. You can even earn special skills from your retainers throughout the course of the main mode, like a double jump and a powered-up dash that destroys blue barricades. The biggest challenge in Beyond the Ice Palace 2, however, is getting used to how slow and plodding the Cursed King is.

Once you’ve gotten the grasp of his moves and fought the first major boss, you’ll either love the way this emulates the classic Castlevania games with Simon Belmont’s methodical way of navigating, or hate it. I’m with the former as I do love some of these intentional throwbacks. But I am not a fan of the game’s second half where most of its stages have sparse checkpoints that require you to replay significant parts of the game over and over due to how cheap some of its delivery and designs are. The Pirate Cave segment and Church levels are a few such damning areas where long stretches of the game do not have checkpoints, along with a new kind of miniboss that takes a while to figure out while dishing major damage for your mistakes.

Slow & Steady

Beyond The Ice Palace 2 is a fun-if-very-challenging linear-style 2D action platformer that may be plodding and methodical for some, but still enthralling for many of us who need their Castlevania jollies sated. For the rest of the world, it’s going to make you break your controllers, especially in the latter half where checkpoints are very sparse. A word to the developers: your game can still be made difficult even with decent amounts of checkpoints. Being obnoxious with these while delivering awkward controls tends to break that line of challenging that separates frustration.

Still, I can’t lie that I felt good after overcoming such challenges, much like you would a Soulslike or even tougher fares like Ghost & Goblins. So maybe it did bring out that love of retro gaming for me, especially how lovingly all its elements and aesthetics are.

Final Score: 70/100

Review code provided by publisher.