SpiritSphere Preview: Local Multiplayer Madness

PC gaming may be known for a lot of things, but local multiplayer isn’t one of them.  As PC generally uses mouse and keyboard, this is understandable, but now that many console games are doing away with local multiplayer, your options are growing more and more limited if you want to sit down with a group of friends and play some games.  

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.