TurnOn Review for PC

This is Gaming Cypher’s review for the PC version of TurnOn by developer Brainy Studio out of Perm, Russia.

For the past week or so I’ve been toying around with TurnOn – a couple hours here and a couple more there. My overall impressions of the game are mostly positive. I enjoyed playing and would definitely recommend it to anyone interested.

Upon initially loading the game I was unsure what to expect. The lab coated scientist in a dark room led me to believe that this was going to be somewhat of a thriller game, perhaps even somewhat scary. That was far from the truth. The premise of this game is that you are a little ball of electricity whose goal is to assist the scientist in turning power back on across the city. This is done by jumping and sliding along power lines, collecting mini lightning bolts along the way, which add to your score at the end of each level.

While TurnOn initially was rather easy, it became more difficult rather quickly with added pathways to embark on and various obstacles throughout each level.  It is possible to “die” in the game, if you were to miss a power line and fall to the ground or be struck by one of the games moving obstacles. Not to fear, however, because a death simply results in you being returned to the starting point for that particular section of the game.

Another aspect of TurnOn, and one that I found to be the most challenging, is the rapid-fire section at the end of each level. This section forces you to bounce back and forth between power lines in order to avoid a death but also gives you the opportunity to score many more lightning bolts and increase your score without having to hunt for them in the typical fashion. A nice change of pace.

As I said before, I enjoyed TurnOn very much. That being said there are a couple of things that I think could be improved. One of these points is that it is somewhat unclear where you are supposed to be going or what you are supposed to be doing. These questions are sometimes answered by images floating above people or objects within the game. For example a worried looking construction worker with a fountain of water floating above his head indicated that you were supposed to find a way to turn off the water. Pretty straight forward but can get a little bit confusing at times since there isn’t a map to reference. Along these same lines, it is sometimes difficult to tell if you’ve completed all objectives in a level and should move on. Even so, these were both more just minor inconveniences rather than negative aspects of the game, as the gameplay was still very entertaining.

To elaborate on some of my favorite parts of TurnOn, I would like to note the simplicity of the game. The minimal controls and ease of play for this game make it a great way to pass time without the frustrations of more complex games. Great for being stuck at the airport, long car rides, etc.… Additionally, the game features a pretty good soundtrack that is, for the most part, pretty relaxing. Not particularly a big deal but something not many games offer. All things considered I would highly recommend checking this game out if you have the chance and rate TurnOn a 7.5/10.

Here is the TurnOn Announcement Trailer:

TurnOn is now available for PC (Steam), Mac and Xbox One.

Related: TurnOn Launching on PC, Mac and Xbox One