Sparklite

Review by Badger Nimahson

Sparklite is a wonderful Zelda-esque rogue-lite title that just oozes nostalgia. Sparklite combines the early Legend of Zelda gameplay with rogue-lite game mechanics to make a great game.

Story

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 defence 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.

Armed with just your trusty Sparklite Wrench, Your robot companion and your ancestors necklace can you unravel the mystery of the founders and save Geodia?

Gameplay

RedBlue Games have done a superb job of blending rogue-lite and classic Zelda gameplay together to create a fun, relaxed and highly enjoyable game.

Sparklite sees you explore five different biomes with a boss in each to save Geodia. From the Vineyards to the Golden Woods. Acid Bogs to the Shifting sands and finally the Twisted Tundra. Each comes with their own monsters, puzzles and secrets.

The gameplay is nice and simple. Each enemy can be easily despatched once you figure out the pattern of attack and the puzzles are not too taxing.

The rogue-lite features come in to play when you die. Every time you run out of health just at the point of death a claw will descend from the refuge and carry you to safety.

After every death, Geodia fractures and procedurally generates itself for your next adventure. This makes exploration just that little bit harder and yet maintains a decent amount of playability in Sparklite.

Once in the safety of the floating refuge, you can use the sparklite you earned to upgrade the gadget and widget stores or the Patch machine.

Gadgets are ancient weapons. the blueprints of which you will find in founders faults around the world of Geodia. Once you have found the blueprint you can then construct the gadget in the workshop. Gadgets are required to solve puzzles and unlock the biomes of Geodia.

Next up is widgets. These can be found all over Geodia and range from refilling your energy or health to bombs and gaining temporary light or damage/defence buffs. Be careful of stockpiling widgets though. Once you die you will lose any widgets you are carrying.

Finally and probably most important is patches. These will give all sorts of helpful additions like unveiling the entire map, Showing the location of vaults or increasing health, damage and energy.

Patches can be merged together to save space on your limited patch board and you will soon have more patches than you have space. This can lead to a pretty extended grind as you try to earn sparklite to upgrade stalls as well as buy and merge patches as you try to become strong enough to defeat the Baron’s Titans.

Final Thoughts

Sparklite is a wonderful nostalgic game that does an excellent job of combing rogue-lite elements with classic Legend of Zelda Gameplay. Sparklite is a great title but can become somewhat of a grind towards the end.

Boss battles are easy once you figure out the pattern although the final boss fight in the game is more of a test of endurance, skill and timing. The final battle is a real challenge whilst the earlier titans are over all too quickly.

All in all, Sparklite is a true gem of an indie game and is a great buy for any fan of the classic Zelda games.

Overall Score – 8/10