Rare is the game that comes along and perfectly marries its thematic elements with its gameplay systems. For as unsubtle and wacky as Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding is, one cannot claim that its gameplay doesn't evoke the exact theme Kojima was trying to get across. At times it can be boring and feel like a bloated mess, but all of those weird quirks work in tandem with the precise story Kojima wanted to tell. In some ways, that's exactly what I feel about Spiritfarer.

On the one hand, you have an expertly written cast of characters that are dealing with personal problems and existential crises. On the other hand, you have often rote and monotonous gameplay that can feel like little more than killing time. Sometimes these characters ask for mundane tasks that will make you roll your eyes in agony, but then the time comes for their departure and you start crying.

Spiritfarer may not redefine what's possible in this interactive medium or even be the best work from indie developer Thunder Lotus Games. It most assuredly is my favorite title from the studio and a game that I'll likely not be able to forget about for years to come.

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Get Ready for Weight

The overall plot in Spiritfarer is hard to explain without spoiling things, but I'll try my best. Waking up on a strange boat, a young woman named Stella comes face to face with a deity known as Charon. Known as a Spiritfarer, Charon's task is to help ferry people into the afterlife by fulfilling their final wishes. His time is now up, though, and Stella has been chosen as his replacement. She must assume his duties and help wandering souls find peace in their lives.

It's a heavy opening scene that doesn’t necessarily prepare you for what's in store. Once Charon is off and you're left with the open seas, Spiritfarer falls into a rhythm of traveling to different areas, meeting spirits, and performing menial tasks that has a seriously lackadaisical pacing to it. You're never in a hurry to do anything here and can even delay performing specific objectives for as long as you want.

The first spirit you'll encounter is a woman named Gwen. In a symbolistic move, she takes the form of a doe and animates with something of a hoity-toity attitude. It should be mentioned that Spiritfarer employs a similar art style to Thunder Lotus' previous games, which is hand-drawn HD art that looks absolutely phenomenal on the right monitor. This may just be the best looking game I've ever played.

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Anyway, Gwen will begin to introduce some of the mini-games you'll be interacting with throughout your journeys. Her specific tutorial is for the garden, but each character you'll encounter will quickly go over how these timing-based games play out. It can be daunting to those that don't have the best reaction time, but there's one thing Spiritfarer doesn't have: fail states.

Hop Aboard!

Taking a look through Thunder Lotus' history, you might assume that this game about death would be loaded with opportunities to die, but that isn't the case. Spiritfarer may be a sidescrolling platformer, but it's more in line with the side-questing and sailing aspects of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker than any action game. You'll be cruising along, fulfilling tasks and making spirits happy, but you're never in any danger. If you miss a jump or screw up a button press during these games, you only lose a little bit of time.

As you find other spirits, they'll board your boat and ask for some quarters. This leads to a very lite-management styled system. I suppose Sim City isn't an accurate comparison, but think along the lines of placing tiles on a grid and you'll get the picture. There's no right or wrong way to do this, but gathering more spirits will eventually necessitate upgrading the size of your boat.

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To facilitate that upgrade (and the building of basically everything in Spiritfarer), you'll need to travel this flooded land and gather materials. These take the form of ores, stones, food, tchotchkes, etc. There's a ton of stuff to "collect," but it usually has a purpose beyond being annoying.

Once you fulfilled a spirit's tasks and they are ready to depart, you're given a special item in the form of a "Spirit Flower" that then unlocks a special boat upgrade. This will enable you to travel further beyond certain chokepoints, which acts sort of like progression gating. Spiritfarer is a mostly open-ended game, but there's still a semi-clear path you're traveling on. Don't expect total freedom like most open-world games offer.

It's more that traveling the seas and completing these tasks can feel like busywork. I understand the pacing is to help you build a relationship with each of its characters, but I do feel the pacing could be snappier. You don't need to help each character (of which there are 11) to finish the game, but even beelining the critical path will take you around 20 hours to conclude things. This is a long game, no doubt about it, but I can't imagine changing a thing.

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Without the monotony and downtime between story beats, I wouldn't give a toss about these characters. Without their constant requests and yammering, I'd likely forget them as soon as they departed. I'm so conflicted because I was often bored while waiting for specific items to grow/cook/smelt, but then I didn't want to see things end.

Always Here

There's almost a sense that Spiritfarer perfectly understands how most people aren't quite ready to accept the end. We do everything in our power to rush through specific goals, but then begin to slow down just as things are wrapping up. Hammering this home further, the houses you build for spirits cannot ever be removed, acting as a constant reminder of their presence.

As I said, it perfectly marries gameplay and story in a way that isn't seen often. By the end, I had come to love Spiritfarer and am happy I stuck with it. Still, I can't readily recommend this to everyone. If you fancy story more than gameplay, then, by all means, go for it. If you're more of the type that likes being constantly engaged with challenging systems, Spiritfarer probably won’t get its hooks in you.

Either way, Thunder Lotus has created a beautiful, thoughtful, and emotional journey that won't soon be forgotten.

A PC version of Spiritfarer was provided to TheGamer for this review. Spiritfarer is available now for PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and Stadia.

spiritfarer-game
Spiritfarer

Spiritfarer is an acclaimed sandbox simulation game from Thunder Lotus Games, in which you must transport the spirits of the deceased to the next life. You manage all aspects of the ship, taking over from the mythical Charon in this duty.

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