Ludography
Iji cover

2008 · Cinematic platformer · Indie

Iji

Iji is an action-packed strategic platform shooter with a detailed story, large levels with multiple paths, powerful bosses and lots of secrets. There are alternate gameplay events, dialogues and scenes depending on what you do, a wealth of extras and bonus features, and seven stats to upgrade through a leveling system. Iji herself has superhuman strength and abilities, and can crack Nanotechnology, use her enemies' most devastating weapons against them, and be a pacifist or a killer - the story adapts to how you play.

Released
1 September 2008
Platforms
Windows
Genres
Cinematic platformerIndieMetroidvaniaPlatformerRole-playingShooter
Developers
—
Publishers
—
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Side view
Themes
ActionScience fiction

About

Iji is a freeware 2008 video game featuring platform and shooting elements, developed by Daniel Remar using Game Maker over a period of four years. In the game, the player controls Iji Kataiser, a young woman enhanced with nanotechnology, as she navigates a research facility on modern-day Earth in the wake of an invasion by the Tasen, an alien species. Awakening after an aerial bombardment, Iji finds herself enhanced with nanotechnology and, learning of the Tasen and their invasion, resolves to convince the aliens' leader to retreat from the planet, guided by her brother Dan via the complex's loudspeaker system. Iji was generally well received. Reviews praised the replay value, the player's ability to guide Iji on different moral paths, and that it was created by a single developer.

Iji was first released on September 1, 2008 (2008-09-01). The original version used version 5.3a of Game Maker; a major update, version 1.7, was released in 2017 that used the Game Maker 7.0 framework for better compatibility with recent OSes (e.g. Windows 10, macOS). It also added a sizable amount of new features, including new endings, more plot, a revamped upgrade interface, a new nonlethal skill tree, overhauled graphics, faster walking speed, changes to the hacking minigame, and more interaction tracking for Iji's actions over the course of the game.

Keywords

  • aliens
  • cinematic
  • female protagonist
  • real-time
  • side-scrolling
  • cyborg
  • multiple endings
  • freeware
  • hacking
  • nanotechnology
  • cinematic platformer
  • free-to-play

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Iji is described by Remar as System Shock 2 in 2D. Players control the titular character, Iji, a human woman who has been enhanced with nanotechnology following the invasion of Earth by an alien species known as the Tasen. Iji must navigate a research station while being guided by her brother Dan, who communicates via the station's loudspeaker system, in order to convince the aliens' leader to retreat from the planet. Though the game's plot is linear, interactions with non-player characters (NPCs) change according to the player's actions, leading to one of multiple endings. The player's primary choice is between pursuing Iji's goal either as a pacifist, or by engaging in violence against the alien threat.

Iji's nanotech energy field functions as a shield, and players begin the game armed with a shotgun. Seven further weapons can be collected throughout the game, including a machine gun, rocket launcher, and alien technology such as the Shocksplinter weapon. Eight additional weapons can be unlocked by combining the standard firearms using a combining station, depending on her Crack ability. Blue nanofields that function as experience can be collected during play.

Story

The player controls Iji, who in opening cutscenes accompanies her little sister Mia as they are shown around a science facility by her father. She notices activity in the clouds, and suddenly the sky is lit by beams of light. When the game resumes, months later, Iji awakens to find that she has been modified by a team of researchers using alien nanotechnology, making her a cyborg soldier. Via a loudspeaker, her brother Dan explains that the area was struck by a space-to-ground weapon called an "Alpha Strike" wielded by aliens called "Tasen".

This, and an ensuing ground invasion, killed nearly every human in the facility, including their father and sister. Dan advises Iji to try to convince the Tasen "Elite" leader, known as Krotera, to leave.

Development

Development of Iji began in 2004, after Remar learned about and began to use Game Maker. Inspired by the animations of Alien 3 and Another World, he created a 3D model of the character Iji and started to build a basic platform game around it. Remar has stated that the name "Iji" has no special meaning, but that the character and name is a combination of his previous characters, and that he wanted the main characters' names to be "short and easily recognizable".

The soundtrack for Iji is credited in the game manual to Chris Geehan and Dan Byrne McCullough, with additional music from Tom Mauritzon, Captain Goodnight and LifeForce.

Reception

Iji has received a mostly positive response from commentators, particularly for its replay value. PopMatters' L.B. Jeffries stated that the player's choice in guiding Iji to the end of the game as either a pacifist or an aggressor, along with the outcomes of those paths, sets Iji apart from other games.

Anthony Burch of gaming website Destructoid was not as positive, highlighting the game's limitations in terms of abilities. Investing points in hand-to-hand combat, for instance, does not increase damage inflicted by a successful attack but instead dictates which enemy types can be physically attacked. He stated this system "makes leveling the player's individual stats feel less like you're actually improving your character and more like you're simply collecting keys to unlock doors."

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Windows1 September 2008Worldwide

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Licensing

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.