Check out our review of Spiritfall, a 2D platformer rougelike game that sees you take on several different dungeons full of enemies and mighty bosses that will test your skill.
Spiritfall is developed by Gentle Giant Games and is currently in early-access, so the game is not a finished product. This review will cover all of the early-access and we may update it as the game adds more content.
You can find Spiritfall on Steam!
Spiritfall Gameplay
Spiritfall is a game that revolves around beating up different enemies that get increasingly difficult as you get to the end of a dungeon, ending with a final fight against the Dungeon boss. It combines player choice and RNG to make each run feel unique, keeping the gameplay fresh, allowing you to figure out different strategies to taking down enemies.
You can choose from one of three weapons to take on a Dungeon, and then your abilities are decided by a bit of choice and RNG, as Spirit Blessings are randomly selected for you to use when you complete a level. These Spirit Blessings offer many bonuses that can make the dungeons a lot easier, especially if you some of your favorite skills that you know how to use.
Each weapon in Spiritfall makes you play differently; with the Battle-Hammer axe you can get up close and deal out hard-hitting damage by timing you hits right; with the Sisterhood Gauntlets you can get up close and personal with a fury of small hits that keeps enemies from performing their attacks. Then you have the Astral Cord Bow that allows you to play from safer distances whilst you line-up a powerful shot.
Whilst the Spirit Blessings are quite varied, they can make or break your dungeon runs. Some of them are just really powerful and allow you to cheese through enemies, whereas others don't quite hit the same and force you to play more carefully. This RNG adds to the difficulty of completing the game, because right now there are only 3 dungeons to complete and once you find the right setup the game can feel quite easy.
Upon Death you return to the beginning of the game, having to fight your way through all the Dungeon levels all over again.
Spiritfall Gameplay is very good; the movement of the main character, Omenforged, feels smooth and intuitive; we found no stuttering or frame drops even when we had five or more enemies on the screen. The game feels very satisfying when you smash your Launcher ability into several mobs at once, or pick a safe spot to fire down your Bolt onto enemies to help conserve your precious health points.
At the end of each Dungeon is a boss; the bosses are not simply high-HP hitting mobs; they have a plethora of attacks that you'll need to figure out how to dodge and avoid, whilst trying to get in a few attacks of your own without losing HP. We're exciting for upcoming dungeons that will have us scratching our heads on how to defeat them.
Spiritfall Design
Spiritfall is an indie game designed by a small studio and we are really impressed with how vibrant the game is. Built using Unity, it feels professionally made and hopefully Spiritfall is a success that allows more great games to come out of this studio.
Each of the three dungeons in the game have a different, but familiar, setup and design; there isn't an overabundance of particle affects, or huge explosions that blind your screen, everything has simple platforms and small to mid-sized maps to keep the action together.
Care and attention has been given to animations of attacks, enemies and characters to help make the game feel fluid and smooth. Enemies in each area don't have too much difference in their attacks; they usually have either projectiles you need to dodge or physical attacks that deal out fixed damage. Once you get a hang of the combat, you can find yourself tearing through enemies without much of a challenge.
The sounds of Spiritfall are great, especially for combat attacks and fighting moves. There's not too many areas in the game so we didn't get to hear too many background pieces but from what is currently there it gives off classic arcade vibes.
There is a storyline that tries to make sense of why you're fighting through these dungeons, with Spirits lending you their power to help fight the evil bosses. We find it a bit confusing to be honest, but it didn't detract too much from the final bosses, who provided a decent challenge of mechanics to get through.
Spiritfall Overall
The only real negative of Spiritfall is the lack of content. The game is in early-access, but you can honestly beat the game within less than an hour if you pick up the game mechanics without too much trouble. We've put in more than 15 hours, playing the various dungeons with the different weapons, but the average gamer might find that once they beat the dungeons there isn't much else to unlock.
We've seen the Spiritfall Development Roadmap and they plan to add new content throughout the next few months!
The combat is the best part of Spiritfall, which is perfect since that is the game's main focus. It's fluid, fast-paced and each dungeon run feels unique due to RNG.
DTQ SCORE
7
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