![]() Now, bear in mind that this is supposed to be a feel-good game, not one in which you’re supposed to ever worry about the weight of failure - and that can clearly be a very welcome contrast to the vast majority of games out there. There’s no penalty in letting a passenger go hungry, except for the temporary loss of those perks. It’s very nearly a perfect mechanic, but the edge is taken off ever so slightly by the lack of any real downsides. Resource gathering is often ‘gamified’ too, although the challenge is set at an absolute minimum. Such benefits include resource-gathering, the playing of musical instruments to, in turn, increase the happiness of others, and the bestowing of occasional valuable gifts. On one hand, there’s some brilliant innovation at play here: characters can be hugged to increase their wellbeing, they have personal preferences when it comes to the food you’ll need to supply, and their overall happiness rewards with various perks. More of an issue is the nature of how each character is required to be managed on the boat. Some of the land-based resource gathering can get a little repetitive towards the end of the game, but since things have generally sped up by that point, it’s not much of a problem. Cleverly, these abilities can also be used to get about the ship, vital as it expands in size during your journey. These locations provide a modicum of platforming challenge, some of which in turn requires a handful of abilities such as a double-jump or a bounce upgrade which allows Stella to reach extra heights. The ship can be enlarged over the course of the game and will contain a vast number of individual ‘rooms’ by the time you’re done.Īside from the action on-ship, various destinations dotted around a gradually revealed map provide additional elements: resources, side-missions, and the all-important souls seeking refuge. However, to provide some small amount of direction, Spiritfarer locks certain content behind the act of bidding farewell to increasing numbers of souls, so it’s likely you’ll progress in a more linear way than you might at first imagine. At first, it might seem as if the player has complete control, in an open world with endless possibilities. ![]() ![]() The extra space allows you to accomodate more passengers, but the game also entrusts the player with deciding just how long they wish each of their friends to remain on-board - to an extent. Progression means crafting more and more buildings atop your ever-growing ship upgrades increase the size available as you go. Aside from its storyline, Spiritfarer is all about discovery through experimentation. All these elements combine to produce a huge amount of variation when it comes to crafting: there are over 90 food recipes alone. Other activities include fishing - off the back of the boat - tending to crops in your gardens and orchards, working with fibres and threads to create cloth, and raising sheep, chickens, and cows for the raw materials they provide. Cooking in the kitchen involves a huge number of raw ingredients, and a satisfyingly large number of resulting meals. Whilst the skill involved is minimal, it’s a brilliant innovation that means there’s rarely a dull moment at sea. For example, the sawmill tasks you with moving a blade up and down, in order to follow a wavy ‘cutting line’ alongside the length of each log that passed through. Many of the rooms you build provide a ‘mini-game’ to add a small amount of challenge to the standard crafting mechanic, and also to provide a very welcome element of additional entertainment. ![]() It’s a setup that provides for plenty of plot development and moments of deep emotion. The overarching task is to care for those souls as you accompany them on their journey into the afterlife. Typical early-game structures include a kitchen, in which you can conjure up all manner of dishes, and a sawmill which converts logs into planks for further crafting. Set primarily on board a boat, your initial task is to populate this vessel with both the souls of main character Stella’s past acquaintances, and buildings that will support the voyage. Much of my early time with the game was taken up simply sitting back, enjoying the spectacular visuals. The 2D hand-drawn, cartoon style is reminiscent - to my eye, at least - of Japanese animation studios such as Nippon Animation or Studio Ghibli. I’d been following this game’s development for some time, so I was delighted when it announced during Nintendo’s Indie World Showcase in August. Undoubtedly, it’s the visual style that initially attracted me to Spiritfarer. Spiritfarer is a captivating game with exploration, crafting, and platforming elements, woven around the moving stories of its characters. ![]()
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