Developer Red Blue Games has released Sparklite, its first major title after four years of development. The game offers a top-down action-adventure set in a procedurally generated world known as Geodia. Borrowing thematically from classic The Legend of Zelda titles in look and feel, players will find Sparklite to be enjoyable and accessible for all levels of skill.
Shinra, Is That You?
Sparklite, from which the game takes its name, is what ties the world of Geodia together. It is the life force that comes from the planet that the people channel for their own means. The greedy Baron of the world has decided that he wants to control the exploitation of this resource for himself to fuel powerful war machines. Yep, it does in many ways sound like the Shinra Corporation from Final Fantasy VII.
Players take control of a young female protagonist named Ada, who uses her weapons and inventions to explore and fight in Geodia. Right off the bat, readers should note that although Sparklite has some elements of a roguelike, such as procedurally generated levels and upgrading a character through the accumulation of resources, death in the game is not punishing compared to other games within the subgenre.
In many rougelikes, death is often harsh with severe penalties, and is often permanent with the only recourse available to play again, more carefully, and a little more wisely. In Sparklite, death does make a character drop what they have picked up recently along the way, including quest items. However, they maintain all Sparklite accumulated. This means that players can die, but still upgrade their skills to try again, only this time, stronger than before. In a way, this can trivialize the importance of staying alive, since players only lose a few items, but continue growing in power overall.
Compared to other roguelikes, Sparklite feels far more forgiving and may appeal to a broad audience who enjoys the overall look of the game, but is not interested in punishing mechanics. On the flip side, some players may want more of a pure challenge where death is meaningful.
With that said, the game is by no means a walk in the park. It is simply comparatively less severe when one fails.
Combat That Feels Familiar
Combat itself is simplistic by design, consisting of a basic attack, charged attack, and a dash. The difficulty comes in learning the moves of opponents, since dying comes quickly to those who charge in without a plan. Fighting bosses is straightforward, and sometimes involves dying in order to learn what patterns of attack they will use and where they are vulnerable.
Widgets mix things up a bit, but mainly in that they offer specific tools needed for certain situations and require energy to use. Much like in Zelda games where Link will have access to secondary weapons, often ranged, they can be exhausted and are usually needed for specific areas.
More than anything, combat and how one experiences a playthrough depends on what spawns in the procedurally generated world. Certain opponents are easier with certain items and widgets. However, as nothing appears to spawn with any predictability, this can be challenging.
Sparklite To Upgrade Your Character
The upgrades that can be purchased after accumulating Sparklite are varied, but can overall be categorized into upgrading your survivability, damage, and energy through your gear. Over time, this works to provide passive buffs that make the game easier, though they do little to change the gameplay or add personalization.
Beautiful Visuals In An Old-School Style
The developers describe their design as intricate pixel art aesthetic inspired by retro classics, and it is not hard to see why. The overall color scheme is inviting and, more than anything, invites the player to learn more about the world. There is a steampunk atmosphere in parts of the world, primarily in your base of operations, which is nice and blends beautifully with the overall aesthetic of the art design. All of this works together to showcase a world that is creative and a pleasure to explore.
The Steam page for the game clearly indicates that local co-op is a feature of the game, but this tag should be removed. A second player can take control of a secondary character, but their impact is marginal and does not feel like anything more than a simplistic sidekick. At best, the co-op in Sparklite feels like the multiplayer in Super Mario Galaxy for the Nintendo Wii, where the second player did not controller a character, but did collect Star Bits and fire at enemies if they so choose.
Not Bad, But Not A Spark Of Inspiration
Everything about the game is overall enjoyable. While there are no major problems, nothing really stands out after wrapping up the game. There is some replay value thanks to the unpredictability of procedurally generated content, but the game is largely forgettable.
Some innovation or an interesting take on combat, or something more meaningful in the progression of a character with Sparklite as a resource would have helped, but as it stands both are rather bland. It is a shame because, in terms of design, the art and level themes are lovely, but the gameplay looks and feels predictable. Sparklite is certainly a good game, but not great.
A PC review copy of Sparklite was provided to TheGamer for this review. Sparklite is now available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Macintosh OS.
