Spirits (PC) Review

The goal in Lemmings? Help the titular, pixel-y animals reach the exit of the stage. The problem? Once they started walking, these suicidal morons could not stop on their own volition. The only way to change direction? Have another lemming block their path, build a staircase, dig a hole in the ground, and many, many, many more. Spirits is pretty much the same deal, with the difference that the eponymous beings aren't that skilled.

These bright fellows only have a handful of abilities, which revolve around creating stairs, digging through obstacles, and manipulating wind. This makes the gameplay less complicated, but it also oversimplifies everything by not leaving much room for experimentation, which was one of the best elements of the aforementioned classic puzzler. Yes, this time around the player can also choose the direction that abilities will be used towards, but in the end that doesn't really help much.

Ok, so this is a lot simpler than Lemmings. Is that really such a big deal? After all, great level design can make even the simplest of games shine. Does that happen here? Sadly, the answer is no. In all honesty, though, the mediocre level design isn't the biggest issue here - the challenge is, or, more specifically, the way challenge is handled. You see, Spirits mostly revolves around physics, namely wind... and wind is everything but a predictable element.

Lemmings could be unbelievably tough at times - but it was fair. It required insane accuracy from the player, but its game mechanics were trustworthy. In here you are a slave to gusts of wind that are very hard to "read," a problem that essentially turns this into an annoying trial-and-error experience, with luck being quite the strong factor, something that rarely goes well in a puzzle game, especially one such as this. Just stick to Lemmings... it even looks better despite its age.