Iffermoon is a freeware RPG entirely created by a single developer, Scott Cawton and set in a fantasy steampunk universe. On the planet Dinostria it is said a mechanical device called Iffermoon was created by Darmdrema to provide life and peace to the planet. However it has crashed and the inhabitants of the planet have been at war with it since, with a manifestation by the name of Cosmose rumoured to have emerged from the crashed Iffermoon. A party of heroes defeats the threat at the battle of Machine Ruin and at the scene they discover a creature who was born mute and thus resisted the call of Cosmose.
The game takes place eight years later and the players control that creature, by the name of Silence. Starnest, an upper level of the Castle Dinost, is being closed down. It is the place where the young creatures are kept until they can return to their guardians. For the first time, Silence will be able to explore the kingdom and its surroundings. Most importantly he has to deal with Hollowmare, a shadow that has been secretly following him since his arrival at Starnest. Other people suspect it is in fact a manifestation of Cosmose that has to be dealt with once and for all.
Iffermoon is designed to have the mechanics and look of a 2D side-scrolling platformer game. Silence explores the surroundings by walking through scenes left or right. He can move between different levels through balloons, pipes, mirrors and elevators. In those areas he can talk to other characters, jump, duck and interact with the environment. Even though he is on his own all the time his party can consist of up to fifteen characters. New members are added by collecting their ifferstone, a trinket that allows Silence to summon them in battle. Not all party members can be used right away, Silence needs to win their favour first by performing a number of tasks and chores.
Characters have different levels, a number of HP, armor, strength, speed and defense. Some statistics are set by default, while others can be upgraded. This is done by collecting iffer, the game’s resource. Iffer can be used to upgrade any of the five available skills (identical for each character): Light, Teleportation, Time, Elemental and Tech with eleven levels for each one of them. The player is free to upgrade any skills, but it is better to invest in the areas a character appears to have a talent for. There are also a number of abilities that apply to the party as a whole. They are gained by collecting purple coins and distributing them. Some of these skills drain damage, regenerate life, provide immunity or improve the chance of dodging an attack. Iffer, needed to level up the skills, is mostly gained through combat. Each upgrade costs significantly more than the previous one, so players need to strategically distribute skills among the part rather than levelling out all characters to the maximum. The base number of health and armor can be enhanced by collecting 100 red and blue coins respectively.
There are also game tokens scattered around. They can be used on any of three arcade machines that offer a different mini-games where abilities can be improved. Stellar Gun is a 2D shoot-em-up with different waves of enemies. They leave behind power-ups that improve the in-game weapons. Completing a level earns Silence a sign. The second mini-game is Taboli RPG. It’s an RPG within the game where players can explore environments, fight monsters in turn-based battles and collect treasure chests with items that help in the real game. The third mini-game is Joob’s Creek. Players control a character as he floats down a creek. It is the most important way to collect purple coins.
Battles are played out in separate screen in real-time. Only four characters can fight together and the player needs to select their order before starting the fight. All characters can be used however. When one is defeated, the next in line enters the fight. They will constantly do physical attacks automatically, the player can only change their stance from offensive (do lots of damage, take lots of damage) to neutral and defensive. Three status bars per character are used: Life, Charge and Speed. Most of the special attacks require the Charge status bar to fill. Each character has a unique attack that can be used only once per battle. For each time the Speed meter reaches the end, the Charge meter is given a boost. The meters can mostly be influenced through status ailments (drain, warp, stop, blind, ...). Based on the amount of Charge available, different levels of attacks are available, both offensive and defensive. Based on the assigned sign, gained through playing the Stellar Gun mini-game all characters have a powerful instant attack that can only be used once per fight.
Even though the game is available free of charge, players are encouraged to donate any amount to a fund-raiser for a playground in Afghanistan in exchange for in-game codes that unlock hidden features.
