Ikenfell ( ) is a role-playing video game developed by Happy Ray Games and published by Humble Games. It was released for Windows, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on October 8, 2020.
The tactical combat system involves players battling on an isometric grid, but also includes timing-based elements akin to the Paper Mario series. In the story, the player initially controls Maritte Hildegaard, a non-magical teenage girl who journeys to the titular magical school Ikenfell, in an attempt to investigate the disappearance of her witch sister Safina. While trying to enter the school, she suddenly gains magical powers, concurring with mysterious changes in magic that some link to the mysterious Dark Fold.
Reviews from critics were mixed. Some reviewers largely praised the game's combat and story, while others described it as having potential, but let down by flaws in those systems.
Gameplay
[[File:Ikenfell battle example.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A battle in the Garden levels of Ikenfell, with the player party attacking a group of enemies.|Ikenfell'''s battle system features player characters (here, Rook, Pertisia, and Petronella) on an isometric grid.]]Ikenfell is a turn-based tactical role-playing video game. It uses various 2.5D perspectives to display characters and the game world. Like older Paper Mario games and Super Mario RPG, the outcome of both player and enemy moves depends on timed button presses. The playing field is composed of a grid, upon which both the player and enemies can move, with their position affecting what moves can be performed and how efficient they are. As the game advances, the attack patterns and timing become more complex, providing greater difficulty. For accessibility, there are options to both partially and completely disable combat timing.
Characters are managed with a party system; although the player initially only controls Maritte, they later gain control of other characters, each with their own unique skillset. Three characters in the player's battle can engage in battle at any time; these can be changed at save points (which are represented by cats).
Like most traditional Japanese-style RPGs, gameplay also consists of parts outside battle which characters can navigate. Much of Ikenfell's gameplay involves these, which include exploration, adventure, and puzzle-solving portions. There are no random encounters and as such fightable enemies are always visible in the world. Battle only ensues if the party reaches one, allowing the player to evade combat.
Plot
Players initially control Maritte Hildegaard, a teenager who travels to the magical school of Ikenfell to find her sister Safina, who has gone missing since summer break. Although she is initially non-magical, she soon mysteriously develops pyromancy while trying to enter Ikenfell, after which she learns bizarre and unprecedented magical events began occurring across the school grounds not long after the students left for the break, and thus the school is currently on lockdown. She encounters non-binary alchemist Petronella, a close friend of Safina, who has had an emotional breakdown due to the latter's disappearance, and tells Maritte of a secret passage of Safina's they use to get into the school.
Once inside, they discover Safina's dorm room blocked by a magic seal. After fighting lightning magician Gilda, who is attracted to Maritte, they join up with fellow student Rook. With Rook and Safina's rival Pertisia, they successfully enter it by disguising Maritte as her sister. Inside, they retrieve the Prism Heart, a creation of Safina that allows the user to see through deception, which she had used for research with older student Ima. Meeting with Ima and Gilda, they go to the Summerstone, a large orb which imprisons the Dark Fold, a destructive wave of magic seemingly precipitating the strange events. At the stone, they successfully fight experienced coven magician Bax and his partner Ibn, who are also looking for Safina. Using the Prism Heart, they reveal that the Summerstone is merely an illusion, and Safina destroyed the actual stone.