ICEY

It was fun making the Narrator angry by doing things the opposite way. Also the narrative itself and lots of different endings are really enjoyable. It's like The Stanley Parable, but 2D side-scroller with anime girl swinging a sword and killing metal gear machines.
9/10

all you had to do, was follow the damn arrow, icey.

ICEY is one of those games that makes you wish you could do a "conditional yes" review on Steam. It's fun. The combat nails a lot of the high notes from a technical character action game - split second dodges, counters, a diverse moveset. The music's fantastic. The presentation is great.
That said, it is a very short game. That's not a bad thing, but this is where the conditional comes into it. ICEY is very much a metanarrative game, poking at the contours of game storytelling and design, trying to do interesting things in that context. So your mileage may vary.
If you're the kind of gamer who constantly tries to test the contours and boundaries of your games; going the wrong way when the game tells you to go in one direction, seeing if anything different happens when you say "no" to the mandatory "yes" dialogue prompt, seeing what happens if you idle somewhere when the game really urges you to move forward, etc - then ICEY is written for you.
If that's not you, then you're not going to get much out of ICEY, because it's a very short and linear game if you "follow the rules". In that case, you're probably better off playing something like FURI, with similarly complex and technical combat but without the metanarrative exploration needed to experience it in full.

This game is very, very short. It took me only 7,5 hours of playtime on the hardest setting to 100% complete it, and that's counting about 1 hour of complete messing about in the first hour.
If length is not an issue for you, however, ICEY is definitely a game worth checking out. It has satisfying 2D combat, looks good and has an excellent story for you to explore. The only problem you might experience is that the bosses may end up being a bit of trial-and-error. Telegraphs aren't always clear and sometimes the boss can and will stunlock you for half your health in one go, only to get immediately hit when getting up and die on the spot, as well as the dodge being inconsistent. They all have a unique identity and playstyle, though, and look really good across the board.
The game's worth playing, even despite its short length and 50/50 boss design. I can't say its one of my favorites ever made, but it's definitely one of the better ones and just a good game outright.

Insert the obligatory meme comment that doesn't provide any insight until you play the game for yourself
Developer begging for 5-star reviews. Can't recommend the game. 1 out of 5 stars.
My reviewer status:
Purchase price - $6.59
Achievements - 34 out of 34 (Easy to acquire)
Difficulty - Easy (The System will initially assign you a difficulty level based on your response, but you can change it in the settings later.)

Alright, let's get to the review. The gameplay is very short and would have been even shorter if the narration was skippable, but the unique narration was enjoyable and comical. The combat is flashy, but it became repetitive within my +7 hours of gameplay - blue slash attacks 24/7. The bosses are all unique and aren't that easy to beat.
Overall score: 6 7 out of 10 +1 point for the music.
It's a solid game, but it feels like an app store game that sells for $1-$3 - especially when you compare it to other indie titles like Terria, Celeste, and Stardew Valley. I don't regret buying it at this price because I had wanted one of its profile backgrounds (Probably won't use it), and I got 7 hours of entertainment out of it.
Comment section is enabled for this review

Narrator is annoying af, the game looks sluggish at first and the story is weak. Starts to get good in terms of fighting as you progress and it was kinda fun to mess with the narrator.

A simple and little 2D game, made for replay and have maximum fun.
I'd like to break down the things I've found I liked and disliked into two lists, with the intention of giving minimal spoilers, so here we go:
Things that I liked:
- Animations - Smooth and Fast.
- Design - Really Beautiful, scenarios and some enemies really got me, one of the best points for the game.
- Music and Sounds - Impresive, toguether with the design another great point in favour.
- The narrator.
- When the game breaks the 4th wall and such.
Things that I Disliked:
- The History. (Completly my opinion about this one).
- Ocasional Bugs, for example the worst one, some bosses suddenly stoped acting mid fight, and when something like that happens really hurts because it kiks you out of the expirience and moment.
- I'm someone that likes to explore everithing and try to contradict the narrator, for that reason I have seen almost all secondary endings in the first "file" and the narrator became a little bothersome near the end. (Some endings could be more hidden)
- The BEAMS, oh boy, the beams, I hate that little nasty thing, it could hit me 1 time or 12 times in a row stunlocking my character mid-air.
I would rate this game with a 7 / 10, it has been really enyoyable.
To be honest, i've had this game on my Wishlist for near 5 years, so maybe i'm being a little harsh.