Luckily, indie developers such as Eendhoorn games are making up the difference with games like SpiritSphere, coming to Steam on July 27.
SpiritSphere is best described as a mixture of air hockey and the Game Boy Color The Legend of Zelda games, a sentence I never thought I’d write. Bizarre concept aside, SpiritSphere calls to mind a similar experience to playing against your friends at an arcade; mechanically, it’s very simple, but easy to get lost in when you’re with your buddies. Matches are tense and quick, and the simple moveset, two attacks and a dash for each character, means that anyone can learn to play it but winning will still take a lot of skill. Basically, it’s the definition of “easy to learn, hard to master.”
SpiritSphere is the perfect game to play if you’ve got a group of friends over. The controls are simple but natural, the art is a perfect callback to the best of the Game Boy era. While there are a few balance issues at this point, including a wizard character who feels like he could be the new Oddjob, it’s a game I can definitely recommend checking out.
