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TurnOn Indie Game Review

TurnOn Indie Game Review

We at Geeky Hobbies would like to thank Brainy Studio LLC for the review copy of TurnOn used for this review. Other than receiving a free copy of the game to review, we at Geeky Hobbies received no other compensation for this review. Receiving the review copy for free had no impact on the content of this review or the final score.

A city has been plunged into darkness after an accident at the power plant. A living electric spark/alien arrives in the city who has the ability to return electricity to the city. Your goal in TurnOn is to travel through town on the city’s power lines in order to bring power back to the city.

The thing that initially drew me to TurnOn was the game’s theme/atmosphere. The game’s world looked interesting after watching the game’s trailer and after playing the game I have to say that I was not disappointed in this area. TurnOn is such a charming game. The game’s main storyline could have been developed a little further but the game’s atmosphere is fantastic. I love how the gameplay supports the atmosphere as each thing you power up lights up the game’s world. Seeing the lit buildings against the dark backgrounds looks really nice. The main story is a little hard to follow but the little stories told in each level are charming. For example in one level you are helping guide a lost child back to her home while in another you are guiding two people together for a date. This is just a couple examples of how TurnOn does the little things so well which creates such an engaging atmosphere. Add in a great soundtrack and it is hard not to notice the charm in TurnOn.

I would classify TurnOn as a “puzzle” platformer. Most of the levels play like a normal platformer except that your character can only travel on the city’s power lines. TurnOn is a mix of a 2D platformer mixed with 3D graphics. Your character is a 2D sprite which moves through the 3D world by jumping between different layers from power line to power line. At first this takes a while to adjust to but I found it to be a clever mechanic once you get the hang of when you are supposed to jump between layers.

The “puzzle” aspects comes into play as you figure out how to move around the levels and power up different things that block your way forward. The puzzles aren’t particularly challenging though since they mostly involve just exploring the environment looking for the next thing that you have to power on.

TurnOn also contains some levels between different sections of the city where you are moving along the power lines. In these levels you automatically move forward and have to jump between the different power lines to prevent falling to the ground or running into red obstacles that will kill you if you run into three of them.

I would consider TurnOn to be a casual platformer. It is the type of game you sit back and relax while playing. There is no precision platforming and most of the challenge comes from exploring the environment. I had a lot of fun with the game and I found the mechanics to be a welcome change to the traditional platformer.  TurnOn is a pretty easy game though and won’t give you much of a challenge. If you are looking for a hard platformer, TurnOn is not it. You will breeze through most of the levels. The levels where you are automatically moved forward are slightly challenging because they require a little memorization. A couple of the last levels also become a little challenging as they combine the different mechanics you learned throughout the game. I don’t see anyone having much trouble finishing the game though.

Other than being on the easy side the only other real complaint I have about TurnOn is the fact that it is not as long as I would have liked. The game has 31 levels but since the game is easy you will breeze through most of them in only a couple minutes. I finished the game in about 4.5 hours. I wish the game would have been a couple hours longer because I was still having a lot of fun with the game when it ended. I hope the developers consider making a sequel. If you are an achievement hunter you might be able to add a couple hours to the length if you want to 100% every level as I while I didn’t 100% every level I was pretty thorough on most of them.

TurnOn is a great game that I had a blast with. The game’s atmosphere is fantastic and charming. The gameplay is fun and relaxing. I enjoyed my entire time with the game. I just wish the game was a little longer and more challenging. The game is quite easy for the most part which means that you can breeze through most of the levels. Unless you want to 100% every level, you can probably beat the game in around 4-5 hours.

If you are looking for a challenging or long game TurnOn isn’t going to be it. If you want a more laid back platformer with a charming atmosphere though I think you will love TurnOn. If you would like to purchase TurnOn you can purchase it Steam.