YMMV / Ikenfell

• Awesome Ego: Fans love Gilda's hyperactive showmanship.
• Awesome Music: The game's music is catchy and great to listen to. It helps that most of it was made by the same people behind the Steven Universe soundtrack.
  • Fire Witch, which first plays when Maritte gains her fire powers, representing the fact that it’s new not just to her but to other people as well.
  • Save Cat, a foreboding tune that tells you that you might want to save your game because a boss fight’s about to happen.
  • Toil & Trouble, the music used for most boss fights, and sounds more serious than the regular battle themes.
  • It’s Showtime!, Gilda’s theme song in which there are lyrics about how she wants to be the best, but also hints at her insecurities.
  • To the Library!, The Nocturnal Bookkeeper and Cracked Spines, the themes for the three parts of the library, which fits the unfolding mysteries as you investigate more about the game’s events.
  • Once Upon A Universe, one of the soundtrack’s longer songs, which plays as you learn about the lore of the world while you travel through the Astronomy Tower.
  • Paint the Future, Ima’s theme song that plays while you fight Ibn, Bax & Gilda at Chapter 4’s climax. As well as being fairly fast-paced, it also has catchy lyrics.
  • Face My Fears, the second boss theme that sounds even more serious than the first theme, and has a fitting title when it comes to the fights against Agony and the Unseen.
  • Sorceress’ Tower, the theme of the final dungeon, the Spelltower. Parts of the song create a sense of urgency not just at trying to avoid being seen by certain entities, but also at reaching the end while more and more earthquakes happen.
  • Rose Thorns, a climatic song that plays when you fight Aeldra, and makes use of her Leitmotif.
• Breather Level:
  • The Lockup is very short and only has a few enemy encounters, and doesn't have many hidden items so you don't need to backtrack there. This comes after the Southern Dorms, which while not particularly difficult can be easy to get lost in.
  • Similarly, the Roost only has a few puzzles, most of the encounters can be avoided, and there isn't a boss fight once you reach the end of it. This comes after the Spirit Oval, which has several difficult puzzles, and before the Ruins, where there are many difficult enemy encounters.
  • While the Duelling Hall does have several enemies that can take a while to defeat, it's a small area with no puzzles aside from the one that leads to the Allcat's clan, which you don't have to do to progress. This comes after the aforementioned Ruins.
• Fridge Brilliance:
  • Pertisia's left eye is slightly asymmetrical on her sprite, which is an early clue that it isn't there anymore.
  • During one specific Optional Boss, you'll notice the sound effects are more echo-y than usual. Well, you are fighting against the Echoes after all.
• LGBT Fanbase: The cast contains multiple gay, bi, and non cisgender characters, all of whom are delightful and fun, garnering quite a lot of love from gamers in the LGBT community. Jim Sterling called Ikenfell one of their favorite games of the year not just because of the gameplay, but because the game does gay and trans rep so well.
• That One Attack: The chapter 8 midboss, the Unseen, possesses one of the only instakill attacks in the game. It's polite enough to give you a three turn countdown to your imminent demise, at least. No wonder Pertisia is so terrified of it. Slightly mitigated in that you can use status effect recovery items to get rid of it. The Allcat also has this as one of its attacks, but at least that boss is optional.
• That One Level:
  • The Ruins are easy to get lost in, and there are many encounters and only one save point at the beginning of the area. The boss fight at the end also doesn't give you an opportunity to save beforehand, so many first time players will find themselves thrown into it unprepared.
  • The Stacks can be quite difficult - not because of the Nightmare Fuel, but because of some of the puzzles, epecially the ones where you have to avoid being seen by the ghosts. There's also one puzzle where you have to pick out a ghost after they've shuffled around, with another ghost being added each time, and it can be hard to keep an eye on the right one. You also have to keep looking around the bookshelves to open passages, and one hidden room contains an Optional Boss that you can end up fighting without warning. The lack of save points doesn't help.
  • The Spelltower is also rather difficult, because it also involves puzzles where you must avoid getting caught - not helped by the fact that running is disabled in some rooms. One puzzle near the end involves having to push a block around a revolving laser whilst trying not to get touched by it because it not only takes you back to the beginning but also resets the block.
• Viewer Gender Confusion:
  • Many people miss that Petronella and Ima are gender non-binary characters; the two characters use they/them and ze/zir pronouns respectively, though people often mistake them for girls. In one flashback, Safina refers to the former as "she", but that could be before they started using different pronouns, or just a mistake.
  • Rook can easily be mistaken as male because he uses he/him pronouns; it isn't until Chapter 4 that it's explicitly stated he's non-binary, and that scene is also optional.

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