Platform(s): PC (version reviewed), PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch
Genre: 2D, Action, Run-and-Gun

The prospects of a 2D action game similar to the Mega Man series are always intriguing. For how simple a concept they present -run left to right killing things and platforming while avoiding death- these games live and die by their level design and boss fights. And not to mention how precisely they control, and how spot-on the overall action has to be and feel.

Thailand developer Sunny Syrup Studio adds a spin to the formula -deck-building and creature-summoning in this case- with its latest release Spirit Mancer. Upon the first 30 minutes, the team has put a lot of great work on the art and spritework, as well as the animations. The game’s cutscenes help flesh out the tale of a bunch of special agents getting whisked into the world of Inferno that’s filled with demons, and dealing with the evil queen who plans to invade your Earth with her army. It has its twists and turns, and does its best to keep you invested while balancing its comedy and drama.

It’s a shame that the rest of the gameplay did not receive that same attention and care.

The Road To Hell…

Like I said, the first 30 minutes-or-hour of Spirit Mancer gives you the impression that you’ll be going through a fun action game in the spirit of Mega Man and its ilk. The game’s combat is fast, and your controls are pretty good. You can switch between melee weapons and blue tech ranged weapons, while also casting purple cards that either summon enemies, apply buffs to your character, and perform one-time super attacks. You can even evade and dodge attacks; a very useful skill in a game that waylays you with tons of enemies.

Enemies can be “broken” and stunned so you can press the trigger button to absorb them and use them as card summons. This requires you to empty their defense gauge which requires a combination of melee, ranged, and card attacks, all of them colour-coded so you know what weapon is required to stun them. For example, if an enemy’s defense bar is green, you use your melee; blue with ranged attacks and purple with card attacks. You can also acquire new cards by fishing and power up your character back at the village, or even send out pig villagers to collect resources for you while you’re away. Side quests let you revisit levels or go through a gauntlet of foes for the sake of leveling up and acquiring treasure. Later on, you can unlock the ability to upgrade your tech weapons or even buy new ones before a mission (so you can get that rocket launcher or shotgun early instead of relying on RNG) and even get new melee weapons like chain whip and greatswords. If anything, there’s plenty of things to do to boost your character, as well as tweak your playstyle as you see fit.

However, the rest of my 5 hours of the game is a mix of frustration and tedium. A few levels have a good mix of platforming and puzzle-solving, like the pearly gates level and the penultimate stage with simple gatekeeper brainteasers. However, the majority of them are just left-to-right open-expansive arenas with tons of enemies to fight. While not a bad thing since you do need to kill enemies to get resources to power up your character and deck, you’d just want to get to the platforming and exploration, thus skipping most mob fights easily, realizing that the levels don’t have much to offer.

The boss fights look good and are challenging, but a lot of them commit the cardinal sin of having too much health and also being invincible while still active and idle on screen. Better games that mimic Mega Man run-and-gun titles at least either have them teleport away using some sprite effect or have an obvious visual cue to show that they can’t be hit; Spirit Mancer does not attempt to do this, taunting players with a boss who looks vulnerable but really isn’t.

Furthermore, most of their attacks are telegraphed visually and not with audio, which means you can get hit by an attack because it’s missing an audio cue or signal. That’s usually a big no-no for an action game. I’d rather the developers work on that instead of giving your playable character footstep noises. Adding in further, some of these bosses come with their own technical glitches. One boss fight had no music playing, while the other just froze halfway, making the battle a cakewalk for me.

While the deckbuilding elements are a neat idea, they just become another combat tool than a unique feature to me. I don’t really need to use it much save to whittle down a boss’s purple defense gauge or just deal with mobs they summon. Yes, you can get a better rating by following the stage’s checklist like no gun kills or other stipulations, but it’s more for achievements-hunting than anything. There was never a need for me to use cards to bolster and improve my play (save for healing) and even that is mitigated with the generous checkpoints with life refill and extra lives-purchasing options.

Also, some melee weapons have a slight delay before their attack lands and they inadvertently move you forward, meaning you can accidentally get into an enemy’s strike range when you’re doing a counterattack in certain instances. It’s the little things like these that pile up and make Spirit Mancer a hellish experience at times, and not in a good way.

I do have to give credit to the developer for putting in a Mega Man X easter egg that pays tribute to part 4’s Split Mushroom staircase effect.

Faltering Spirit

Developer Sunny Syrup Studio had the best of intentions in combining two awesome genres: Capcom-style run-and-gun action and platforming with deckbuilding ala Slay The Spire. In this unfortunate case, ambitions exceed game design and technical know-how. Each part of the game -action platforming and deckbuilding- can’t stand on its own, and together they make for an average experience that isn’t going to replace the likes of 30XX or Nine Sols. It’s not the worst game I’ve played, but just going through hours of this indie title just made me want to shut this  off and instead play Mega Man X, a game made 31 years ago.

It’s a valiant attempt and is a looker, at the very least, so hopefully the developers are hungry enough to aim for bronze next time around instead of fizzling out just before a podium finish.

Pros

• Decent and colourful aesthetics
• Decent storyline.
• Combat and controls are fine.

Cons

• Weird audio issues & critical audio omissions needed for this genre.
• Overall level design is bland & standard.
• Deckbuilding and card attacks don’t feel completely necessary in the long run.
• Boss fights range from predictable to frustrating, and have technical issues.

Final Score: 50/100