Beyond The Ice Palace 2 Whips A Forgotten Series Back To Life

Review by Gamatroid

 

Arise from the abyss of death to reclaim your rightful throne in a captivating action platformer. Assume the mantle of the 'Cursed King,' wielding the chains that once imprisoned you, now transformed into formidable weapons to vanquish your enemies and navigate the perilous terrain of your shattered kingdom. Discover hidden areas, solve puzzles, and uncover secret treasures to feed your power as you prepare for epic battles against grueling, colossal bosses. Level up strategically to overcome all who stand in your way and take your seat as the rightful king once more!

BEYOND THE ICE PALACE II

• RELEASE DATE: 3/11/25
• MSRP: $19.99
• DEVELOPER: STORYBIRD Studio
• PUBLISHER: PQUBE LTD
• PLATFORMS: Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, PC/Steam

Beyond The Ice Palace II is a pixel-art metroidvania staring the "Cursed King" that plays more like a classic Castlevania title than most modern metroidvanias. 

The main character's whip may bring back some memories of Castlevania IV, as you can whip in all eight directions, however you can't go full limp whip in this one. Instead, you have an interesting move where you quickly spin your whip around your character by holding the "Y" button, and this can not only eliminate projectiles, but it can eliminate smaller enemies who may be hard to reach otherwise.

The whip can also be used to grab onto rings to swing across gaps, to grab certain enemy shields and eliminate them, or to pull open door or treasure chests. The game really leans into the whip mechanics and usage.

Saving is done by walking past "thrones" where you can also choose to upgrade your character. The movement of the main character is a little stiff compared to some modern games, but you get used to it pretty quickly. The thing you need to be cautious of, however, is that you really can't cancel out of moves, so if you decide to try and whip something at the same time an enemy is about to hit you, you can't simply cancel out of it and jump away.

Other than the whip mechanics, the game is largely a straightforward affair, where you will acquire power-ups or otherwise open passages to previously inaccessible areas.

RETRO ROOTS

Beyond The Ice Palace was released in 1988 by Elite Systems, and available on the Commodore 64, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, AmigaOS, and ZX Spectrum. 

While Beyond the Ice Palace 2 is supposed to be a sequel, the original's "story" is so thin, it's honestly hard to figure out how the second game is a sequel in more than name only. The main character does roughly look like the barbarian-type dude in the original, but any barbarian-looking character would fit the bill.

While it's interesting to try and revive a classic franchise like this, it feels like it may have been more of a ploy to cater to retro-enthusiasts than an honest sequel.

REVIEW

Gameplay & Mechanics

The gameplay is a little slower than I might have wanted, and your character can't cancel animation actions, but these are minor gripes with the generally tight gameplay and interesting selection of attacks and movement mechanics. Your whip can be directed in eight different directions, and the circular whip attack can deflect projectiles and smaller enemies very effectively. After you get used to the speed and overall style, the game plays very well. 

 

Like a lot of modern games, there is also a level-up mechanic where you can trade-in powerful gems for permanent upgrades to your character.  

Visuals & Art Direction

The visuals are solid looking pixel-art, on par with both modern pixel graphic releases, and some of the best of the 16-bit era. While more beautiful games certainly exist (like Blasphemous) there is nothing bad looking about Beyond the Ice Palace 2.

 

Story & Narrative

The story of Beyond the Ice Palace 2 is certainly more detailed and well thought out than the original's, but that's not saying much. The plot isn't bad at all, but I wouldn't necessarily call it compelling or very interesting. Good enough to keep you playing, but nothing you'll think twice about after you finish.

 

Audio & Music

The soundtrack for Beyond the Ice Palace 2 was composed by Allister Brimble, a video game music veteran, who has composed music for A LOT of games over the years. While there is nothing wrong with the soundtrack, there is nothing really epic or noteworthy either (Castlevania this is not).

 

Technical Performance

Like a lot of modern games, Beyond the Ice Palace 2 launched with a fair share of bugs. The biggest one, that I personally encountered, was a failure for the warp portal to activate after you defeat the first boss. This essentially locked my progress and ended my run when I was first playing. I almost never went back to the game, but then I tried it again a few weeks later and magically there was now a portal where I had defeated the first boss. Luckily this enabled me to continue my journey, but this review would have been MUCH different if that had not been fixed.

Innovation & Originality

The originality of Beyond the Ice Palace 2 is about average. I like the various attacks the character has, and some of the different ways you can use the whip to grab items and either pull them towards you, or destroy them altogether. That being said, the game itself is largely a pretty straightforward metroidvania, leaning more towards being a classic Castlevania-style game than a modern styled metroidvania. Nothing wrong, but nothing super inventive either.

Value

Beyond the Ice Palace 2 is $19.99 across Steam, GOG, the Xbox store and the PlayStation store. Considering Blasphemous is $24.99 and Blasphemous 2 is $29.99, the pricing for Beyond the Ice Palace 2 seems in line with similar games, and is good for the value delivered. Of course getting a game on sale is always preferrable, but even at full price, Beyond the Ice Palace 2 seems like it delivers good value.

 

  OVERALL SCORE: 7  

 

During my time with Beyond the Ice Palace 2, I thoroughly enjoyed the gameplay, look and feel of the game. It certainly feels like a 2D modern-day Castlevania in most regards, although the music doesn't hit nearly as hard. This game would have been a solid 8, if it weren't for the progression-breaking bug I ran into early on that prevented me from progressing past defeating the first boss until weeks later, when it was apparently patched. Overall I do recommend playing this game, but you may want to proceed cautiously, as I can't be sure you won't run into a different bug that stops your progress. Still, it's a fun time while it lasts, and it's priced right for the experience it delivers (ignoring possible bugs).

CRITIC'S CORNER 

In looking at other critic reviews and user ratings, Beyond the Ice Palace II's ratings are fairly consistent, with either a 6 or 7, which we would consider average or slightly below average. Given the various bugs we encountered, this seems about right for this game.

(EG's score compared to other publications - raw score quoted then followed by normalized score out of 10, if applicable) 

• Electronic Gamers: 7/10
• The Games Machine: 6.2/10
• Video Chums: 3/5 (6/10)
• Loot Level Chill: 7/10
• Xbox User Rating: N/A (not enough for an average)
• PlayStation User Rating: 3.64/5 (7.28/10)
• Steam: 60% positive (6/10)

GAMEPLAY 

You can watch beginning gameplay from Beyond the Ice Palace II on PlayStation 5 in the video below:

And if you want to see gameplay from the original Beyond the Ice Palace on C64, you can check out this video (we made sure to play that one too for context):