illumine is truly a hidden gem of a game in a sea of mediocre (and sometimes just plain bad) games within the same price range. It's the perfect mix of Zen and panic and can seamlessly transition between the two in a moment's notice and without warning.
You play as (coming from an American who only knows enough Spanish to say "I don't speak Spanish," mind you) an inpronouncable symbol on a quest to collect books and "make friends" with letters of the English Alphabet. And by "make firends" I mean boop them so you have a higher Karma score when you die. We'll get to those bits later. But all the while, you're trying to avoid "A"s, "ß"s, zeroes, "M"s (or possibly "W"s), and perhaps other things that want you dead. Why do you need to collect the books? I couldn't tell you; I haven't beaten the game yet.
The graphics are simplistic to say the least, and really nothing to write home about. But for a game where you play as characters such as @, the simple visual style really works here.
As I mentioned, there is a Karma system in this game, which is used to (as far as I can tell) unlock new ways to play. You gain Karma by booping letters, putting out fires, freeing letters trapped in cages, and possibly other means. But in order to do that, you need to deal with possibly the biggest flaw of the game: enemies that will kill you in sometimes cheap and unfair ways. One-hit deaths abound in this game, and your biggest enemy is likely to be those zeroes hiding behind the wall you break that will kill you dead. Then, in true rouge-like fashion, you go back to square one. Another problem I sometimes had was that your character will occasionally break the wrong wall when you're in a corner. This has actually gotten me killed before.
But honestly, those are the only two problems I have with this game. It's challenging, it's addictive as heck, it's simple and easy to pick up and play, the soundtrack is great (and I would love to own the OST if possible for the excellent ambience), it's relaxing, and the price is more than reasonable. A lunch at Subway costs more than this game, so I would highly recommend you buy it, play it, die, and play it again. So you can repeat the process from step two all over again.
Can't sleep… "A"s will eat me…
