Hands On With ’25:17′ And Q&A With Iki Gaming CEO

“And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord when I lay My vengeance upon them.”
No, there’s no Pulp Fiction game in the works, but you’re on the right track.

Iki Gaming is hard at work on the upcoming 25:17 , a blisteringly fast runner which will have players traversing the nine circles of Hell in search of a dying man’s soul while combating some of the most gruesome, twisted demons the iOS has ever seen.  I recently got some hands-on time with the title, and believe me when I tell you it’s unlike anything you’ve played before.

From the very beginning 25:17 grabs you by the throat and refuses to let go, dragging you as far as it can into its hellish depths whether you’re ready to go or not.  The game makes a strong first impression with its Ouija board title screen and a soundtrack that can only be described as a synthesis of gothic, speed metal and dubstep.  Not one to be intimidated by a video game, I pressed the play button and forged ahead to the tutorial video, which actually put me at ease after what I had just seen.  Tap the left side of the screen to jump and swipe the right side to swing my sword.  “Simple,” I though.  “I’ll just brush right through this.” 25:17 thought not.

If you’ve played games like Sonic the Hedgehog before, you know that speed and timing are the keys to perfection.  In 25:17 , speed is your only option and timing is the key to just surviving.  I found this out the hard way when I came face-to-face with my first enemy, a slow-moving priest of the underworld.  In what should have been the simplest encounter of the game, I missed my window of opportunity, which is never more than a fraction of a second, and immediately exploded into a fountain of gore.  As if having failed so miserably wasn’t enough, the death screen faded in and revealed a clear message which didn’t sugarcoat the title’s opinion of me: “GAME OVER BITCH”.

I got to play through the first of the nine circles of Hell, Limbo, which consisted of three stages and a boss battle.  Altogether, the world has maybe a minute and a half of gameplay, but over the course of the hour it took me to complete Limbo, I must have died somewhere between 100 and 150 times.  As you can imagine, being told you absolutely suck so many times you lose count before you even dip your feet in the water can get a bit aggravating, and apparently I’m not the only one who thought so.

After going through the initial feedback on the title, Iki Games was forced to send out a revised, toned down version of the demo with the message:

I’ve found that very very few people have actually managed to finish the first world.  Is it too difficult?

That alone should give you an idea of what type of game we’re dealing with here.  But don’t be scared away from 25:17 just because it’s difficult.  Yes, some people might call it too hard, and it certainly has its moments that will infuriate even the most cool-headed of gamers.  But if you don’t even give the game a shot, you’ll miss out on one of the most incredible feelings in all of the video game universe: satisfaction.  I don’t mean satisfaction with the game, having to settle for something that is just “satisfactory”.  What I mean is that when you finally kill a boss, after having died for the umpteenth time and perfected your timing down to a millisecond, you’ll feel a sense of triumph and know that the game, for all the frustration it caused, is worth every second that you put into it.

No resources or assets were provided with the demo other than the game itself, which is far from finished at the moment.  However, from a quick glance at the title screen, a few things are obvious.  The final product will incorporate some sort of shop, though what it will have in stock is still a mystery.  The Ouija board screen may also hint at some sort of old-school password function which could allow players to unlock hidden levels or extra lives, though this is purely speculation.

25:17 is set to be released in three chapters, with each one chronicling the player’s journey through three circles of Hell.  The game has no solid release date yet, but itwouldn’t be unreasonable to see something hitting the App Store in the next month or so, according to the developers.  Until then, check below for a selection of screenshots and keep your eyes on IGM Mobile for the latest exclusive coverage of 25:17 .

Along with a hands-on preview of the game, I was able to get in touch with Carlos Mondragón, the CEO of Iki Gaming , for a short question-and-answer.

Joe Grogan: Is the title of the game indeed, as some people suspect, some sort of Biblical reference?

Carlos Mondrag ón: Ezekiel 25:17 so… yeah in a way it is.  But it’s a reference to a reference.  Did you ever watch Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction ?

JG: Do you have a rough estimate as far as a release date goes yet?

CM: We are planning to release within a month the first three circles of Hell.  When I have an exact date I’ll let you know.  The plan is to release the game by chapters and this will be chapter one.

JG: Are there any big features in the works aside from the gameplay itself?

CM: Yes, there are still some missing almost-ready features related with the story telling part of the game, the shop, some social related things and more blood.