Daniel Remar’s Iji is undoubtedly his most ambitious game. It’s also his best by far. No small feat from the guy who brought us Castle of Elite!
In the game you play the titular heroine – a human-turned-cyborg equipped with alien nanotechnology. Waking in a space station in the midst of an alien invasion, she must use her new-found powers to save what’s left of mankind. Somewhere else in the station is her brother, Dan, who guides her via the speaker system.
Iji is broken up into a number of very large sectors, most of which have multiple paths. Depending on what weapons and upgrades you have, you can brute force your way through each sector, or take a more pacifist approach by sneaking around and cracking systems (via a simple minigame). Or anything in between! These choices have the potential to alter the game’s narrative and affect new outcomes.
Combat is visceral and feels good, especially with the game’s excellent soundtrack pumped up. Once again, you have a variety of attacks at your disposal – you can, of course, take on enemies head-on, blasting them with your Nanogun or kicking them to death (if your Strength stat is high enough). Alternately, you can crack an opponent’s defense systems and sabotage their weapons, or perhaps defeat them in other, even less direct ways.
Overall, I’m just really impressed with how much there is to do in this game, and how much choice the player has in each situation. It’s a testament to Daniel’s strength as a designer that very little of it feels forced. And considering that there are also four different difficulty levels and a wealth of unlockable bonus features (some hidden in remote areas of the game), you can bet that you’ll be (happily) spending some quality time with this one. It’s destined to be a classic of some sort.
TIGdb: Entry for Iji