Everything in the world is tied together by Sparklite... it's the life force of the planet, and the inhabitants have learned how to channel it for their own gain. It can be harnessed, or it can be consumed for a surge of power with grave consequences.
The "Baron" has devised a plot to mine the world’s Sparklite core. He mines Sparklite and burns/consumes it to fuel his powerful war machines, but the pollution from the consumed Sparklite is corrupting the world. Animals have turned to violent monsters, and the environment is rotting away. But the world has a natural defense in its Sparklite core. Periodically, the core causes a Disruption which rearranges the world, setting back the Baron’s efforts. If the Baron can obtain the core, he will gain the power to create a new world where he has ultimate power.
Our hero, Ada, must travel to each zone of the world to shut down its Digsite, lowering the Baron’s defenses so that she can stop him before it’s too late...
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Verfasst: 05.03.21 01:38
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Verfasst: 12.10.20 16:43
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536 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 22.07.20 16:34
Grafik wer wie ich pixel mag sehr schön.
Bosskämpfe sind bis auf den letzten alle ganz gut.
Der Anspruch ist aber relativ gering.
Die Story ist auch sehr knapp gehalten.
Nach 8 Stunden komplett fertig daher erkennt man den geringen Umfang.
Ich kann es eigentlich nur im Angebot empfehlen da ich 25 € für so ein kurzes Spiel für zuviel empfinde.
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237 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 14.11.19 17:09
https://youtu.be/3e-teRMjrJw
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254 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 09.11.21 00:58
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Verfasst: 23.08.21 17:25
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1085 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 19.07.21 06:52
The whole game is just a junior developer rehash of better games you've already played. Case in point: You _constantly_ have to check the map to see where you need to go. So clearly they'd assign one button to the map right? Nope. They take you to a general inventory, then move two pages to see the map. A minor inconvenience... multiplied by the hundreds of times you'll need to check the map becomes a major annoyance that is so fundamental, it never should have made it into a released game. There are dozens upon dozens of issues just like that.
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536 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 04.07.21 17:36
I did however love finding all of the beats, little music peeps that collectively make a pretty cool song!
Personally I think my enjoyment for the game would have been a lot better had I not spent a lot money on the game. 24 dollars for the full price for this little content is ridiculous. The game being 6 dollars on sale is a lot better, but honestly. I would say this game is more so worth 3 dollars than 6 given the amount of playtime it really has.
Overall, it is a good game, it's just a bit too expensive.
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1056 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 21.06.21 21:48
First of all, grinding is fun in this game. I mean finding the currency to get upgrades was easy and fun. But then grinding stoped to be a fun matter instantly. Cause I noticed that after a very short grinding you can get all the upgrades in the game. And these upgrades does not make you much powerfull. You upgrade your weapon by adding patches to it and there is a limit to the number of patches your weapon can get. This limit can be expanded to a degree but not much appearenty. So even after you collect the strongest patches and upgrade your patch limit to the max. You cannot get much strong. And the enemies get stronger with you. So making upgrades and grinding money or collecting all the collectibles to acquire stronger patches and all that work doesn't really pay off. Even after you waste hours grinding you cannot be op and that kills the fun of grinding. Grinding should be something that you do because you wanna be strong, it should not be a must. If it is a must its just a boring way to make your game longer. And for my last complaint. The final boss... I am stuck on this guy. The boss is just a weirdo with 4 different attacks. You dodge them and you hit to boss a several times before he teleports and does another attack. This stage is fine. But after that there is stage 2, which I call as 5 levels of arena mode. They just spawn some strong dudes that attack you, and you try to kill them while dodging the attacks of the boss. The attacks of the boss are the same with the stage 1 but in all the bombing, rocketing and big chonkers jumping at you, You die. Thats just.. not a cool design. And not a cool boss. As a guy who did almost everything in game, I should not waste 3 hours trying to kill the final boss. Also, I think the music is very tiring. But that could just be my taste.
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Verfasst: 18.06.21 08:50
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463 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 27.04.21 20:50
Not too hard yet not too easy unless you want it to be. You can make it easier by finding and adding patches acting like stat upgrades to help you get around more. Either it be more damage, more defence or even a map revealing the layout of a certain area. You can change them anytime in the hub world so you never feel you messed up. You want it to be difficult? don't use the patches and start crying in the corner of that one room at your mistake.
This also goes for unlocks/weapons. It was encouraging to keep finding them and also exploring longer and longer for more money to get them quicker (or even more stronger patches). Heck exploring is encouraged to find items to help you in battles you may be having issues with.
The bosses are ok, not something you will get frustrated with but not something you can do in 3 hits. Each defeat you generally learn from your mistake next time and will get them next time.
The world changes each run-end/defeat so you can go back and find more set pieces or that puzzle you may not have had the item for before. I never felt like it was tedious even near end of the game when I was just zooming through each zone just to get more money and smash enemies. I just got sucked into the whacking and exploring to not care.
The game is not too long however, if you focus on the boss finding you can complete it in around 4-6 hours but the fun of the game comes from purposely taking your time to explore each run, find stuff to help you or find little creatures. It is not a game to be rushed to get most out of it so take it as you will but best to take your time.
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Verfasst: 26.04.21 20:45
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Verfasst: 17.10.20 10:29
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334 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 06.10.20 10:09
Visually the game is great and it generally has a charming quality to it. Bad sadly the balance is really bad and that ruins the game.
The Roguelike element of this game is like if you had to cross a giant empty void to the final boss. There are normal enemies before that but all of them are trivial and you heal to full before the boss anyway so there is no point in bothering to kill enemies. It really does feel like you have to cross a giant empty map each time for no reason.
In fact you can just run from screen to screen to get to the boss as fast as possible. The only rooms you care about are the ones that give you blueprints and the large chests that have patches. Everything else gives you money. And you get power so quickly money is not that important anymore.
The patch system at first looks interesting until you find the one and only patch that is useful: the one that increases your main attack damage. It takes up 4 slots. So the inventory feels like a joke when it is almost full by just 1 item. The rest is 2 golden hearts and defense.
The utility patches that reveal the map or similar seem like a good idea so you can skip more of the giant overworld before the boss, but they take up 2 slots and as such don't ever fit.
The gadgets take energy so while you have a ranged attack you still need to go melee to refill kinda rendering it useless. And the Widget are literally useless cause they take half a century to deploy. You use them early to destroy rocks and then never again.
The bosses are really badly designed. The first is the hardest but only because you have no equipment yet. The 2nd is more annoying to deal with. His body obscures his own weakpoints so you have to blindly flail and hope you actually hit them. And once he's vunerable you have to run around to the front as you can't attack him from behind. The 3rd boss is a total pushover as he as a very short invunerable phase as such you can just take the damage at that point and beat him down in 10 seconds.
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382 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 04.10.20 23:22
its easy... way too easy... if you have played any top-down action games ever, you are going to find this game an absolute breeze to play through. all of the bosses especially are really lacking in any form of tension, which is a damn shame...
so if you are not familier with top-down action games, then this is a perfect game for you! the graphics are stunning, music is very fun, controls feel good, attacks are satisfying and there is plenty of charming content to discover, but the lack of difficulty makes it difficult for me to recommend...
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1057 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 21.07.20 20:05
When I was a kid, I like those maze-like games, where you move from screen to screen, killing enemies, solving puzzles, accessing new and harder areas...
This game reminds me one of such games and it's very good for a 2020.
+ sweet graphics/animations;
+ casual rogue-like: constant grow up of difficulty, but character also become stronger and death is really painless;
+ randomized maps with many different puzzles to solves, secrets to discover and events to experience;
+ 5 different biomes: each with different enemies, environments and bosses at the end;
+ required playtime feels just about right;
- hardcoded controls;
- UI could be better (pressing constantly TAB+Q to switch power-up is annoying);
- limited and generic character customization: some upgrades are unique, others can be stacked resulting in character with more health/armor or more damage/energy;
- hardest difficulty is locked (have to finish normal);
- combat could be more challenging;
- last boss fight is imbalanced (boss abilities are extremely harder to dodge than anything else in the game);
Get it with discount and enjoy. You won't regret!
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1571 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 03.07.20 14:19
200 character summary
Sparklite is a very colorful action adventure game with a few rogue elements, a nice story and some amazing pixel art. Explore the 5 different areas in a changing world together with your pet Wingnut.
Story & Characters 8/10
In Sparklite you play as Ada and you have a flying robot who accompanies you at all time hir name is Wingnut. You live on a planet named Geodia which is held together by Sparklite. Sparklite is a fluid substance that has a lot of power, It can be harnessed and the inhabitants of the planet have mastered it powering all their machines, weapons, It is such a wonderfluid that it is being used as a currency. Sparklite can also be consumed, Which releases an incredible amount of energy, but it will be gone forever.
The self proclaimed Baron of Geodia is planning to consume the Sparklite to take over the world and released 4 mining titans to gather every bit of Sparklite there is. This causes an inbalance with devastating results, The planet is breaking up, animals are going crazy. One of these titans is Adas first encounter with the evil and when they take your Wingnut it is personal, You get rescued by some friendly folk in a flying airship also called the Refuge. With the help from some of the people there it is up to you to save Wingnut and the world of Geodia.
The story plays out trough dialogue mostly, There are some very nice slideshows with some amazing pixel art tho, These are sadly pretty rare. I like the characters, And they are useful with the things they offer but I did not really bond with them, It is mostly just you and your robot Wingnut. I do like some of the references that the characters have, Like Monty is a pirate with a gameshow; Monty's Haul, The gameshow is exactly the Monty Hall problem. Then there are the explorers Margo and Pogo, Probably more I missed.
Gamemodes & Gameplay 8/10
The game is marketed as a Roguelite, which is true, But it does not feel like a roguelite. Dying will not set you back or make you lose anything important really, You do lose your Widgets, and they can be very handy but you surely don't need them. The map will change a little but all the areas will still be in the same general place, They might shrink or grow have some extra furnaces or chests. What you encounter will be pretty random, but it all feels very familiar. I would say it feels more like an action adventure game. I also have to add that the local coop is not really fair, Player 2 will control Wingnut.
You start every run on the airship, Here you can do a lot, you can talk to some people and find some little secrets but it is not very big, You can unlock some things using Sparklite like a Widget shop where you can grab a free widget for every run, A Workshop where you can transform found blueprints into weapons for a small fee. Then there is Harmony which will try to compose a song using beats which are singing birds you have to collect. There are 55 of them and they are hidden reasonably well. But not hard to find.
On the Airship you also have the medical bay, Which is very handy, Here you can equip patches you found, and you can even fuse 2 bronze patches into a silver patch and do the same with the silver ones to get gold patches. These gold patches take up the same amount of space but are much more powerful. Upgrading your medical bay also allows you to carry more patches, You start with a square of 3 x 3 and you end up with a square of 5 x 5. Which is a lot of patches. Some patches do take up more space that 1 slot tho. Eventually you will also unlock a research center where you can weaken 1 enemy type you have defeated before, You can also see a nice overview of all the enemy types here.
You start a run by talking to a guy who will take you down to the planet, It is like your average top down adventure game, You can attack, or hold it to do a charged attack with your hammer, You can also control Wingnut He can pull things out of the ground, Light things and suck up muck. Which will enable you to progress further in the game. You also have room for your weapons, but you need to unlock some blueprints first. You get these blueprints from specific buildings you can find one in each area, They give you a weapon you have to use trough the little puzzle like level and at the end you have to give it back and you will reverse engineer it into a blueprint. Then you can unlock the weapon or tool in the workshop on the airship.
Further there are Chests to open, Small ones appear randomly, Big ones only appear on certain map tiles and they remain opened once you opened them once. Then there are Widgets which are like little abilities you can consume, some heal you, attack around you, light the room, or even revive you when you die. These widgets are the only things you lose when you die, You will keep all Sparklite, Patches, and even all progress you made. There are also little side quests like a guy who wants to race you, some twins who seem to lose eachother every time and then there are the furnaces which are like little dungeons which contain some extra enemies to kill.
Graphics & Soundtrack 10/10
The game has a very nice and calm Soundtrack that really fits the area you are in, And Harmony surely knows how to put on a show together with the beats. The game also has beautiful graphics and each area manages to capture a unique atmosphere each with its own enemies and obstacles. I am not sure how they could have done better.
Performance & Support 9/10
The game runs perfectly, No stutters, crashes or anything of the sort. It ran at a very stable 120 fps the whole time. The devs are very down to earth people and willing to fix any bug you can throw at them. It should even run fine on a potato.
Endgame & Replayability 7/10
For a Roguelite it scores pretty low on replayability. Finishing the game will unlock Champion mode, But you won't be able to revisit bosses after you have beat them. With the final boss as the exception. Completing the game will leave a save just before the final boss, You won't even be able to open the bigger chests after you did this once already. There is a new game plus mode, the Champion mode, it will make enemies and especially bosses tougher and it will remove temples from the game. It will take all items you have except for your blueprints, And the rest of the game will be mostly the same. The map is not linear, Which is nice, But this also makes it easy to go anywhere within a minute.
Conclusion 8/10
The game is extremely polished, But for the price I would say it is lacking a bit in content, The store description is a bit off since it is not a roguelite, maybe I expected more because of this but it certainly is a wonderful game that offers a short casual experience with amazing pixel art suitable for all ages.
Zitat:
Game Info
| # of players | Single player with semi coop | [/tr]
| Steam Cloud Save | Working fine | [/tr]
| Controller Support | Yes, Xbox One Bluetooth Working | [/tr]
| Achievements | Very easy | [/tr]
| FPS on Ultra 1080P | Locked to framerate | [/tr]
| Ram Usage | 1.1GB | [/tr]
| Installed Size | 1159MB | [/tr]
| Launch Command | gamemoderun %command% | [/tr]
| Issues | None | [/tr]
Operating System & Hardware
| OS | Arch Linux | [/tr]
| Kernel | 5.6.13 | [/tr]
| DE | Gnome 3.36.2 | [/tr]
| CPU | Intel I7-6800K Hexa Core @ 4.2 Ghz | [/tr]
| GPU | Nvidia Geforce GTX 1080 (Nvidia 440.82 Drivers) | [/tr]
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340 Produkte im Account
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628 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 02.07.20 23:31
The BAD: The length, uneven difficulty, and lack of storyline development.
The Bottom Line: Sparklite is a fun, but short game that rewards exploration more than it does grinding. The game could almost be completed in 1 life it wasn't for the high difficulty spike at the very end. I'd rather have the bosses tweaked to be slightly more difficult from the beginning so that progression flows more smoothly. My only major complaint is the story has almost no development. For instance, the villain is properly introduced in the final battle. That said, the plot also doesn't get in the way of the gameplay or pacing, so it's easily ignored. In the end, I would recommend to anyone interested by the trailer at sale price.
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5 Reviews
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565 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 30.06.20 01:41
Pros:
Short, fun game.
Cute pixel art graphics.
The robot is fun to use and adds a little depth to the game.
You can pet a dog. (This is why I recommend it.)
Cons:
The story is meh. Some dumb corporation exploits the world and you have to stop the evil man before he destroys everything.
After the first boss, everything gets very easy very fast. About 6 hours in, I was done with it.
The world resets and some enemies spawn again after you clear out a cave. This lets you farm crystals faster. Takes the fun away.
Biomes are too small. Enemies are basically the same with more health.
Co-op mode is a real disappointment. Why would someone want to play the robot? It just extracts some crystals from the ground. What's the point?
Some characters are unnecessary and they add nothing to the game. I don't even remember their names.
The gadgets that you invent are basically the same thing and no point in using them to kill enemies. They are just fancy gadgets that you carry around to open up some secret loot boxes or caves after you're done with the puzzles.
There is no reason to play it again.
Expensive for the current state.
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125 Reviews
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129 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 31.05.20 19:18
The (PC) controls work well, but it does seem like one of those games made for a controller and then ported to PC
Other than that, it's fun
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12 Reviews
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1527 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 18.05.20 11:37
A few down sides is that it can be a bit slow when you are trying to get to 1 side of the map to the other, and after you learn each areas new thing it might not be as exciting as when you first went in it.
But overall it is quite good, I was a linux beta tester and everything worked great so expect to see linux support soon.
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249 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 27.04.20 18:22
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678 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 19.04.20 14:05
????Introduction
Sparklite undoubtedly had a lot of potential to be an amazing game and although the concept of this title might seem interesting at first, the more I played it, the more it fell apart. It lacks in a lot of areas, variety being the most concerning one considering Sparklite is a rogue-like. The pixel art can be extremely detailed at times but graphics can’t make up for repetitive gameplay.
✔️Pros
• Simplistic story
• Your always making progression
• Combat is satisfying
• Gadgets are unique and interesting
• Soundtrack is calm and relaxing
• Cute and detailed pixel art
❌Cons
• Game has a lot of potential but fails to deliver satisfying and addictive gameplay
• First few runs don’t show much variety in each area
• Patch upgrades need to be more varied
• Gadgets you find aren’t used very often
• Bosses were promising to begin with, but they started to show there wasn’t much substance to them
• Way too expensive for the amount of content you are receiving
????Story
You play as Ada, after your steampunk-like ship was damaged by a thunderstorm you are forced to abandon it and find yourself on an island you haven’t visited before. After wandering around you come across some kinda titan that’s controlled by a man. Despite your best efforts to defeat him, you are defeated and are taken up to a small floating island. You meet a small group of people who ask you for help with defeating the man known as Baron who has created these titans to keep the world hostile. With their aid, you will defeat each of Barons’ titans to bring light back to the Sparklite that Baron has made dormant.
The story in Sparklite is a simple one that only seems to serve as a purpose to hold the game together. There is very little detail about the currency (Which is called Sparklite) and it’s other uses which were only mentioned once or twice during the entire game and never expanded upon again after that. It would’ve been nice to have more detail about why these people are on this floating island or just give more details about the world in general.
????Gameplay
The gameplay loop of Sparklite was interesting to begin with but quickly became overly repetitive due to how small each biome was and due to the lack of variety of each randomly generated area you explore. Once you arrive in the world, you need to find the boss lair and defeat the boss of this biome to unlock an ability that’ll allow you to progress to the next biome. These biomes aren’t very big at all, it might take you 10-ish minutes to explore before your forced to go and defeat the boss. Sometimes you’ll come across an identical area that you’ve already explored on the same run and this just confirms the lack of variety. You’ll be doing the same for the next four biomes and although each one is distinctively different there’s still a clear lack of variety in these randomly generated areas to encourage the player to explore more instead of beelining to the boss.
As mentioned previously, variety is vital to any rogue-like to encourage the player to try again after failing. However, Sparklite doesn’t have nearly enough variety in the randomly generated areas to encourage you to try again, and even if you do you can be certain that you’ll see a repeat of the same area from your previous run. There needs to be way more hand-crafted areas for each biome to make each run feel unique and different from the last, otherwise there isn’t much point of the procedurally generated mechanic in the first place.
Progression is another key aspect of any rogue-like in order to encourage players to try again when they fail. Sparklites progression relies on purchasing patches with Sparklite which is this games currency that you’ll carry over upon death. These patches provide permanent upgrades that you can equip, from health, armour, gadget damage and points of interest on your map though there’s only a few that you can choose from. Although this is a guaranteed way to make progress even if you die early, it would’ve been nice if there were more patches to choose from.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2065497309
On the bright side, gadgets that you acquire along the way are all unique and different from one another that can be used as both a secondary weapon and as a means to solve puzzles. However, the problem is that these gadgets are rarely used again after leaving the biome that you’ve acquired them from. The game needs to utilise these gadgets further, either using them to defeat bosses or to solve more complicated puzzles that require one or more of the gadgets. It almost feels like the devs forgot that you had a bunch of gadgets at your disposal and rarely put them to use for anything significant.
Combat in this game isn’t all that bad, with the gadgets you obtain and your trusty wrench there are a few options to take out enemies. However, through the majority of the game I only used my wrench to take out enemies and never really thought much about the other gadgets I had acquired. There was however, a level of satisfaction when you hit an enemy with your wrench, a decent amount of feedback with the sound and visual effect.
The game also has a problem with pacing its difficulty, more specifically the bosses that you encounter. The first two bosses you face are somewhat challenging, and I thought that the game was only going to get tougher from then on. It took me a couple of tries to defeat both of these bosses, but after that the game got too easy. Defeating the third and fourth boss was a breeze, despite showing little variety in their attack patterns it felt like the developers didn’t take into account the patch upgrades that you could acquire up to that point and therefore I felt overpowered. The final boss however was a lot more challenging, so much so that I was pretty much forced to grind for Sparklite to upgrade my patches further.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2065497367
????Music & Sound
The soundtrack throughout the course of this title is very calm as you wander around the world. Depending on which biome you are exploring, the music will change accordingly to suit the environment that you are currently in. The boss battle music was intense enough for the first few bosses, but by the time I got to the final boss the music just didn’t have the impact or atmosphere that this was the epic final battle.
????Graphics
The pixel art is probably the highlight of this game, the complexity and detail of each of the bosses are beautifully designed especially the final boss. The biomes that you explore are varied enough to keep the game interesting as you progress and the enemies that you encounter suit the environment accurately. Characters that you interact with are detailed and show that a level of care went into each and every one of them, though the animations for these characters seem to lack it makes up for it with a high level of detail.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2065497242
????Closing Thoughts
Sparklite isn’t necessarily a bad game, the concept seemed rather promising to begin with. Its just the game isn’t varied enough or expands on its mechanics enough to compensate for the high price tag, even with the detailed pixel art I can’t justify purchasing this game for full price as there just isn’t enough content. Maybe if this was a more linear and story-driven experience with hand-crafted levels and cleverly designed puzzles it would’ve been better, but as a rogue-like it’s not that enjoyable or addictive.
This product was reviewed using a free key provided by the Developers
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Verfasst: 09.03.20 07:02
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Verfasst: 22.02.20 05:53
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57 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 15.02.20 19:28
The lack of variety is immediate. It only takes two attempts to encounter multiple of the same rooms in the first area again. There apparently is not enough room variety to actually make up a completely unique biome more than once without luck. Hardly any enemies within said area it seems too. Enemies that barely even put up a fight, this is supposed to be the first level not the tutorial. In general wandering around the maps feels padded, or at least it doesn't feel like there's enough substance to each map. It feels like all the rooms between points of interest are just there to waste time.
Combat is okay but not especially engaging, players only have one main attack plus a charged attack. Maybe some day developers will figure out that charged attacks are boring and tedious to use, and only serve to break up the flow of combat by forcing the player to stop playing the game and hold down a button just to trigger a single limited attack. Like the area progression, the combat just feels sparse of substance or meaning. The game does not feel especially challenging or engaging, as said because of the fundamental lack of substance or flesh to it. There's apparently a more challenging mode but you have to beat the game on normal to unlock it, so the existence of a more challenging mode is nearly useless since players who want more challenge can't access it until trudging through the game an entire first time. In a game this easy a more challenging mode is generally supposed to exist to give players a more challenging experience the first time around. If they aren't engaged by the lack of difficulty in the normal mode than they may just very well quit out of boredom before ever finishing the game to unlock the harder mode.
Small glitches here and there, trying to access the map and inventory is tedious being all connected to a single menu. Not being able to swap gadgets with just a button press is also tedious, having to go into the inventory just to change it. Story is generic and feels rushed at the start, makes no sense why the protagonist just suddenly gets given a bunch of stuff by tutorial strangers either. I don't see how this world is 'whimsical' at all, it for the most part is a relatively generic fantasyish world with a villain, an inworld explanation for the rogue-lite phenomenon, and the protagonist is of course the chosen one. And of course the chosen one can only save the world by defeating X amount of specific villains inconveniently spread across the world.
Beat the first boss in less than an hour. It had two attacks. There are apparently only four or five bosses in the game.
This just really appears to be a relatively shallow and indistinguishable rogue-lite which fundamentally lacks content or a sense of overall depth. If this was ten dollars that'd be fine, but it's almost thirty dollars. Fifty percent to more than double the price of the typical rogue-lite yet there's not even enough room variety to compose two unique runs of the first area.
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Verfasst: 28.12.19 02:33
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263 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 25.12.19 22:07
If you're hoping for a long adventure, the game is on the short side if you know what you're doing. I found the charge attack to just beat everything. There is some grinding when it comes to finding and equipping badges that give you more health/defense, but you can get those at the home base shop or finding them in the world.
Overall I liked the game, but I was hoping for more to do in the world.
More thoughts on the game can be found on my video: https://youtu.be/6XVWRsP2wyg
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253 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 09.12.19 03:08
The random generation is poorly done- each area quickly overstays their welcome, ultimately feeling bland and repetitive. I see no reason for this game to have even had random generation in the first place. I could only imagine how good the game could have been if it genuinely had a handcrafted world for you to explore. Instead it presents you with areas that have a mere handful of bland, unchallenging layouts and copy+paste dungeons full of non-puzzles.
There are no real stakes for dying, in fact the game originally required you to die in order to return to your base where you can purchase upgrades and create tools. I think this speaks volumes about the game's core design and the flaws it has.
The upgrades the game offers you are boring. Most are just simple health, damage and energy buffs. And the gadgets have such limited use that you might as well not bother with them. Widgets even moreso...
Stacking armor buffs makes the game laughably trivial.
On top of it all, it's also short. And despite its randomly generated nature it lacks any sort of replayability.
The potential is there, but unfortunately I can't recommend this game in its current state- even on sale.
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238 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 02.12.19 22:11
https://youtu.be/J5z_gY9o8DI
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468 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 02.12.19 14:05
Zitat:
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Sparklite is a charming game that leaves you wanting more
Sparklite is polished and whimsical above all else. As the goggle-strapped Ada, players will bash foes with wrench, gamble with a pirate, defeat giant bosses, and meet a wholesome cast of characters like a giant lumberjack. The colors are vibrant and the world of the game feels right: the different biomes have their own enemies and environmental hazards. It’s an easy game to like from the get-go, it just seems to be missing something.
Brandish Your Wrench and Join the Fray
Opening up on a doomed airship, players are guided through the combat of Sparklite. Pressing the attack button swings Ada’s wrench, which is quick and easy to combo, while holding down the attack button charges up a more powerful AOE hammer strike. While charging up the hammer Ada moves significantly slower.
Hitting enemies with melee attacks also builds energy so Ada can use her weaponized gadgets. Unlocking these gadgets requires Ada to go through a neat little trial that introduces the mechanics of it, then reverse engineering it so it can be built later. The arsenal of gadgets give players some ranged options like a crossbow or a remote controlled zeppelin rigged to explode.
Though, some gadgets are purely for exploring purposes, like the shrink ray. To spice things up, players can also use a variety of pickups called widgets that range from cluster bombs to speed boosts, but using widgets makes the player vulnerable because they have to stand still while the widget loads. These different aspects are all paired together with a very quick and forgivable dash. This combat system is straightforward and easy to master. Thee enemy patterns are also easy to understand and telegraphed well: there are bigger enemies that charge up an attack, there are ranged enemies that lob explosives, some enemies that chase, and and so on.
Upgrade complete
Fight long enough and players will soon find themselves defeated and underpowered. After death all widgets are dropped and Ada is safely transported to the hubworld airship. Once on board, players can upgrade their character with patches. The patches are mostly just stat boosts or a few hammer power ups (the latter being the best investment for destroying enemies), but patches come in different sizes that take up space on Ada’s patch board.
Along with upgrading her patches, players will also meet other citizens here that offer a variety of things. Ada can upgrade various buildings around the town to get benefits such as a bigger patch board or more free widgets. As players explore Geodia they will stumble upon various characters who, save Monty the traveling game show pirate, will all become residents of the airship. This is where players can mark an enemy to be weaker, build their reverse engineered gadgets, grab some widgets, find where Margo and Pogo (the easily lost explorers) have gone to, and so on. This is also where players can see their marching band of Beats grow, (Beats being these little creatures that hide throughout the world of Geodia), and so on. It’s quite a colorful cast.
Smooth pixels with a style that pops
The cast isn’t the only thing that’s vivid, as the pixels also help bring Sparklite’s world to life. The different hues are vibrant and help bring out the mood of each biome. The animations are all very polished: Ada’s widget fiddling, swirling sandstorm enemies sending torrents of sand, firing off the menagerie of gadgets, or watching a musical performance, all of these actions feel satisfying because of the animation. The first game that sprang to mind was not the Legend of Zelda of old, but actually Secret of Mana, at least visually. The gameplay also houses some exploring and light puzzle solving in the form of pressing switches hidden around an area.
Exploration is also where Ada’s robotic side-kick Wingnut helps out: he can do a few non-combat things like pull up things buried in the ground, or vacuuming up the muck. It’s a neat change of pace every now and then, but there are few instances where he comes in handy. If you have an extra controller, you can have a friend join as Wingnut. It actually felt cool to have a second player act as more of a secondary helper, but I wish there was more for him to do.
Hungry and wanting more
Just as everything starts getting good, it dwindles down. The game offers a limited amount of exploring with the trials to unlock the exploring gadgets being the most intense (read: not that intense). That leaves combat as the main entree, and it is lacking in areas. The wrench/hammer melee is the only main attack and it doesn’t change. The gadgets all feel the same and don’t necessarily add anything to combat, least of all damage or safety given how slow and weak they are. The remote controlled bomb balloon is probably the most interesting, but also the least useful because of the amount of maneuvering it takes. Every kind of widget can probably be encountered within the hour or so. There are also only a few enemies per biome, with only one boss in each.
There are certainly rogue elements in place. Worlds will change on death, and for maybe the first few hours this game can feel tough, but it quickly loses its edge. It’s easy to plow through the world’s bosses, and they don’t have to all be defeated in one go. Even though the world changes, it mostly stays familiar. Fans of roguelites with lots of secrets, unlocks, synergies etc. will likely be disappointed. It’s a fun game, but it feels too short and small to compete with games more dedicated to that genre. Instead this should be thought as an action-adventure game.
Speaking of small, the world and lore also feel like they have more to say but never quite reach the potential. There are some environmental themes throughout and the idea of corruption. There are also some neat bits of lore regarding the creators of the world and such, but it is only ever teased, even until the very end.
Verdict
Sparklite is incredibly charming and loveable. It’s accessible, polished, and fun. It is also maybe too accessible and easy, which, coupled with a smaller world, makes it a rather brief trip. The game is fun and enjoyable in many ways, and I wish there was more of it. It is full of nice details and captures a great slice of handheld Legend of Zelda. For someone new to video games, this might be a great entry point. Sparklite is great little game that leaves you wanting more.
Here's the same review with better formatting and images
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201 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 15.11.19 04:10
As far as the upgrades, they are boring, no questions asked. They provide no changes to how your character plays, instead giving flat hp, damage, or tankiness. There isn't even any benefits to movement available. Also not all upgrades are created equal as flat damage reduction is king.
The randomly generated world functions but doesn't provide much value other than to explain why you can revisit a zones dungeon to get more random loot. There's little reason to explore, as you'll very quickly get radar so it's simply walking from point A to point B and the map tries to get in your way. Any upgrades you pick up in the world are unusable until you die and aside from consumables there is no weapons to find (that you don't need to return to town for). Any weapon you do find is mediocre. Your melee weapon will remain unchanged the entire game and your ranged weapon is remain mainly unused as an efficient option.
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Release:14.11.2019
Genre:
Action-Adventure
Entwickler:keine Infos
Vertrieb:keine Infos
Engine:keine Infos
Kopierschutz:keine Infos
Franchise:keine Infos
Einzelspieler
Mehrspieler
Koop
Kein Prisoner hat oder wartet auf das Spiel
