A Smash-Like Action-Roguelite Worth Your Time
So, have you ever played Hades or Dead Cells and asked yourself “what if this was more like Super Smash Brothers?” No, you probably haven’t that’s a very specific thought but, regardless, SpiritFall is the answer to that question nobody asked. I’m happy to report that the result is probably one of the best action-roguelites I’ve EVER played. SpiritFall wastes almost no time getting you straight into the action. You are chosen by the Great Spirits to carry the perennial flame to unseal the “great gate” in order to restore their strength and that’s about it. It’s straightforward enough, but if you’re curious to take a deep dive, there’s more than enough to sink your teeth into if you’re so inclined, but that’s not why we’re here.
We’re here to wombs combo bad guys, and Spiritfall has that in spades. The combat in this game is utterly captivating, and successfully emulates the “easy to learn, difficult to master” gameplay of the platform fighters that inspired it. The tools at your disposal are simple enough: You have your regular attacks that have both aerial and grounded variants, ‘launchers’ which act as your heavy attacks, a quick-firing ranged bolt on a short cooldown, a powerful “assist” ability on a longer cooldown, and, of course, a dash that serves as a dodge and a mobility option.
It’s extremely intuitive and should come naturally to anyone who experiences PTSD after getting down by their little sibling playing Kirby in Smash Bros. The difference here though is that since this is a single player game, the fighting-game aspects are made even easier to execute.
Weapons That Redefine Versatility and Style
Hitboxes from your attacks are extremely generous making whiffs a rarity, hit stun on enemies is more than long enough to make almost anything combo into each other, and most animations and end lag from attacks can be canceled by utilizing your dash or bolt. Plus, unlockable mobility options such as Pounce, Wave dash, and Directional Influence further lend a surprising amount of depth to movement. All of these small touches work together to create an incredibly approachable learning curve where you’ll go from simply spamming normal attacks like a chump to darting around the arena juggling multiple enemies at once like it’s nothing.
The game even has these “rift battles” that sometimes pop-up that are your traditional fighting game 1v1. The weapons that make all of this possible kick so much ass. There are 5 “base” weapons, each having an alternate form with completely new move sets, effectively making 10 available weapons. Their move sets are all extremely unique from one another and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed using every single one. The Battle Hammer-axe is a slow but reliable weapon with CRAZY knockback on its launch attacks. The bow offers a mix of short and long ranged options that makes it incredibly versatile.
The Link-Blades have several multi-hit moves that make it effortless to lock down and juggle enemies across the stage as well as its launcher acting as a grapple to help close the distance which makes for some cool looking follow-ups. If I had to pick a favorite though, I’d have to pick the Equinox. At first, It’s a fairly unassuming scythe-weapon with a slow but hard-hitting move set.
Spiritual Blessings and Build Variety
You can even bat the scythe head around the arena and recall it back to do this sick slashing noises move and this is seriously one of the coolest weapons I’ve used in a video game. If you play SpiritFall, unlock this IMMEDIATELY and thank me later. During a run there are 7 different spirits offering their own blessings and augments. Each spirit has their own archetype such as not-Joleon being centered around attack speed and mobility or the gay wolf inside you being focused on burst damage and crits.
They all have their ups and downs blessings can take advantage of the weapons with faster attack speed by quickly stacking debuffs or benefit slower, harder-hitting weapons by buffing their knockback capability. After experimenting with all of them, I found the Spirits’ different abilities and bonuses to be pretty well balanced, lending to a good amount of build variety to compliment whatever weapon or playstyle suits you best. And of course, being a rogue-LITE there is a substantial amount of meta-progression where you’ll become decidedly stronger after getting some runs under your belt.
I always had enough resources to unlock a few upgrades after every run and it never really felt like a grind. One aspect of run progression that I think is really cool is the weapon enchantment system. During combat, you’ll acquire a resource called “Essence” from defeating enemies. How much of this essence you acquire is determined by a multiplier on the bottom right side of the screen which increases by landing hits and decreases when taking damage or not attacking. A higher multiplier means more essence gained from non-boss enemies.
Meta-Progression and Tactical Run Enhancements
The higher your multiplier, the more essence you receive, and the more essence you have, the more upgrades you can buy for that run. What’s great about these upgrades is that they’re potent without feeling mandatory, and you’ll still acquire a set amount of essence from rift encounters and boss battles meaning you’re not left out to dry if you’re getting hit a lot.
Genres/Tags: Arcade, Jump and run, Side, 2D
