This game can leave some people baffled by how different it is from others in its genre. The platformer genre isn’t exactly known for relaxing experiences, relying on enemies, traps, and obstacles to keep players on their toes as they try to get from point A to B without dying. Idyllic is a step towards a different direction, opting to be more of a moving painting of sorts.

This game is all about the visuals being the strong point, including the great background art that sets the tone for the game. The soundtrack is quite nice as well, both relaxing and engaging at the same time. The interaction between the player character and the environment is quite a sight to behold. For example, when the character jumps and lands on an island, in comes a burst of colors amongst other things. This title aims to fall under the arthouse category among mobile games, which has been the trend since the boom of indie game development during the 2000′s.

Perhaps there are a few flaws with this game. For instance, when you jump in-game, it feels like you on the Moon at 1/6 of the Earth’s gravity as you float in the air for that half-second. That’s already enough to annoy most people, making them subconsciously shout for the character to land already. It may not be that big of a deal, but certain situations call for an immediate reunion between feet and ground. What this does do well for is double-jumping is not made to be a hardship with the amount of time you have in the air to do so.

The pace is also not as quick as some would want, being slow on the draw when it comes to showing off all the content. This may detract a lot of players since this is of the mobile platform, where games can easily be forgotten and left unplayed for days or weeks at a time. Not being able to unveil everything as quickly as the narrative would allow is a failure to recognize the fleeting nature of mobile gaming, thus detracting from the objective of providing entertainment for people on the go. But then again, perhaps it really is tuned to this game’s particular design.

Idyllic’s design is made for a slower pace intended to soothe the player’s senses. It’s quite unusual for a platformer to go through this direction due to how most of its counterparts had evolved from Mario to Canabalt, emphasizing on fast-paced gameplay that challenged both reflexes and quick thinking. If you have an iPad, then this is a game to get so that you can truly enjoy the aesthetics to the fullest. You’d expect such a game to be in the hands of someone who frequents bistros and art galleries, which is a good turn for indie game design in general.

If such a game is up your trumpet, then you should give this a try by all means as it offers a refreshing change from the twitchy platformers common in the App Store. Otherwise, stick to the more exciting titles.