Teslagrad 2 is the newest release from Rain Games, a physics-based Metroidvania that continues the story of Teslagrad and its standalone spin-off, World to the West. Rather than continue to the story of the first game’s protagonist, players take control of his daughter Lumina, a teslamancer that was one of the playable characters in World to the West. While the game makes it clear at the start that Lumina is trying to return home, everything else remains an unintentional mystery. Thankfully, its short run-time, movement mechanics, and workable physics system are enough to make up for this and keep players entertained.
During the promotion for Teslagrad 2‘s focus on visual and environmental storytelling. The opening moments show Lumina longingly looking at a picture of her family, thus establishing her desire to return home. The beautiful Norse-inspired, steampunk world is scarred by a war that left it void of life, save for wild creatures that stalk Lumina throughout the game. There are also videos Lumina finds along the way that show the war in question and how it came to be. What isn’t clear is why Lumina is being stalked, who the mysterious man helping her is, why she knows where to go and what to do, and everything surrounding the main boss’ motivation and goals for Lumina.
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Where Teslagrad 2 shines is in its gameplay, specifically its physics and platforming mechanics. The physics is centered around magnetism, as Lumina can summon a red or blue electromagnetic field that attracts and repels respectively. This allows players to do things like walk on red walls and launch off blue platforms, and there’s enough versatility to let players get creative. For instance, players eventually get a blue axe, a la God of War‘s leviathan axe, allowing players to throw it into walls and propel up to otherwise inaccessible platforms. The physics are inconsistent at times though, particularly with blue fields that may launch players in different directions than expected or do nothing at all.
Likewise, the combination of movement and Lumina’s electricity powers are fun to use but have a significant issue present in the electric dash. This is by far the most used ability, as it turns Lumina into a bolt of lightning that goes through gates, propels her through water and up waterfalls, travels along zip lines, and even damage enemies. However, its use in combat in less effective than desired due to the recharge time between uses. Despite only lasting a second or so, that window leaves Lumina immobile and vulnerable, which is a significant issue when it takes one hit to die. Like Wo Long‘s incredibly hard opening boss fight, this encounter is an infuriating experience that feels unfair and risks turning players off despite this kind of encounter never appearing again.
Said boss is a stag that can launch Lumina across the stage and summon two draugrs to fight. Lumina has to hit the latter three times with her dash to kill them, with each hit transforming the draugr into a faster variation before ultimately exploding. The combination of these things is a fight that can see the player doing everything right, but the recharge time allows the pursuing stag to launch Lumina into the damaged or exploding draugr, allows the other draugr to arrive and attack, or prevents players from rebounding from a missed attack. Even if players do survive the recharge moment, the next dash will most likely be used to dodge the stag’s attack, only to be hit by the draugr faster and more aggressive draugr.
Thankfully, all the issues mentioned are isolated and only standout because the rest of the experience is fun, smooth, and engaging. Even with a foggy narrative, the feeling of mystery and wonder is ever-present and the player is encouraged to be creative and take chances. With a $20 and runtime between one-and-a-half to two hours, Teslagrad 2 is an easy recommendation to those looking for a unique and challenging platformer.
Teslagrad 2 is available now for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Screen Rant was provided a PlayStation 5 digital download for the purpose of this review.
