IGTAP: an incremental game that is also a platformer, and the title does not lie

The game's full title is: IGTAP, an incremental game that's also a platformer. The studio notes on its store page that it is in the name.

I appreciate being spared the suspense.

The principle

You complete short platforming challenges to earn currency. You spend that currency on upgrades that let you generate even more.

So far, a classic incremental with a coat of paint. What makes it interesting is what the upgrades unlock.

You unlock new movement abilities. And they open two things at once: new, higher-income courses, and faster routes within old courses.

That second part is what makes the difference. In most incrementals, old content becomes obsolete. Here it becomes optimisation ground: a course that took you forty seconds gets cleared in twelve once you can jump further.

In other words, progression is not only about raising numbers, it is about rereading what you have already played.

What that produces

The game offers three activities that alternate naturally: platform, upgrade, then watch the power roll in. Or explore the world to find hidden bonuses. Or optimise your path.

That is the right structure for this crossbreed, because it gives the player something to do while the numbers climb, which is the structural problem of every incremental.

And it solves the inverse problem too, the platformer one: here, missing a jump does not send you back to the start of a punishing level, it costs you a few seconds of output.

What to know

The game launches today, developed by Pepper Tango Games and published by Gamersky Games, with no price displayed and no reviews as I write. It is single-player, with full controller support.

My reservation belongs to both genres combined. An incremental is judged on making you want to start again, and a platformer on the quality of its feel. If the jump is not pleasant, no progression curve will save the game, because jumping is what you will spend your time doing.

So that is the first thing to check for yourself, and a demo exists for exactly that.

But the idea of making movement abilities the central reward is excellent and far subtler than it looks. This is a game where the upgrade is not read on a counter, it is felt under your fingers.

Your best time on the first course after three upgrades? We compare stopwatches on the InsertCoins Discord.