I can’t help but feel like we’ve been spoiled with games like Lynked: Banner of the Spark. It wasn’t too long ago that getting a game like Bastion or Rune Factory—farming or building sims with added gameplay mechanics—was incredibly rare. But it really seems like since the pandemic, we’ve been getting an influx of interesting and fun sim games.
And while some may say that you can have too much of a good thing, I maintain that so long as it has an interesting hook, it’s worth exploring. Lynked: Banner of the Spark caught my eye during Gamescom ONL 2024 for its cartoony visuals and combination of town-builder and dungeon-crawler gameplay. CGM was lucky enough to get a hands-on preview of the game, and initial impressions were intriguing!
Development on Lynked: Banner of the Spark began about three and a half years ago, and when you think about where we all were back then, the design direction makes a lot of sense. Creatively led by Max Speilburg—yes, son of Steven—the game is set in the year 3000 after a robot uprising has led to the decimation of the human race.
Well, not the complete decimation anyway, as the player takes on the role of one of the remaining humans who teams up with one of the good robots named Buddy, as they seek to reunite the titular Banner of the Spark—a group of heroic robots who wish to help humanity and the world thrive.
“Despite some hiccups—taking into account the pre-release build—it is both challenging and fun.”
So it’s your classic “AI goes sentient and determines man is a plague on the world” kind of story, but it’s definitely leaning on the fun side. As Art Directory Eric Kozlowski said, during initial talks for the game’s narrative, he was thinking about games like Mega Man Legends and Sonic the Hedgehog, saying, “these bright, colourful worlds…Like, even though this game is kind of a bit apocalyptic, we wanted it to be what we jokingly called: aspirational apocalypse.”
Kozlowski added to this idea, saying, “It was a cool challenge, because, you know, we have killer robots on one side, and we have this cozy town on the other side. So, how do we bridge this cool and cute kind of aesthetic?” But Lynked: Banner of the Spark certainly presents its world with an earnestness that makes the whole thing come together pretty seamlessly.
Much like Team ASOBI’s ASTRO BOT, the way the whole world feels robotic, from the buildings to the enemies, even the flora and fauna, does a good job of making it feel both hostile and hospitable at the same time. The aforementioned “colourful worlds” definitely show their inspiration here, and it’s a big part of what made Lynked: Banner of the Spark so immediately engaging.
“Lynked: Banner of the Spark is meant to be enjoyed—whether you’re playing solo or in a group.”
But this was a hands-on preview, so how does it play, I hear you ask. Despite some hiccups—taking into account the pre-release build—it is both challenging and fun. Fuzzybot really wanted to focus on keeping consistency between their world and gameplay, with Kozlowski saying, “A lot of roguelikes tend to be a little bit on the darker side, and we wanted our game to be the opposite of that.”
So it’s certainly an approachable game, but it can also be a bit unforgiving. Lynked: Banner of the Spark is meant to be enjoyed—whether you’re playing solo or in a group. However, that doesn’t mean it’s wholly forgiving. The challenge can ramp up pretty quickly and players definitely need to work together if they’re going to make it to the end.
With every successful run, players will unlock a new character to come live in their town, providing a unique upgrade or cosmetic options, so you can see where a really satisfying game loop already is. Furthermore, players can collect resources from combat that can be used in town-building, so there’s a decent incentive to participate—even though it’s not really mandatory for all players.
“The team really put player expression at the forefront of the design of Lynked: Banner of the Spark.”
And while the team didn’t explicitly mention it, you can see a lot of inspiration from a few things here. It feels a little bit like Hades, where at the end of every area, players are able to choose an upgrade. Not only that, but there are a plethora of interesting weapons for players to choose from. As Speilburg explained, “Weapons were a huge part of the game for us. We have ten different weapon classes, and early on, we were like, OK, we want to create kind of the bread and butter…But we also wanted to make sure we had a bunch of really wild weapons that you might have not seen before.”
And they certainly weren’t kidding. Of course, you have the “bread and butter” weapons—your sword and shield, axe, spears—but you also get really wild weapons like an attack guitar that’s pure AOR or a hoverboard where players kickflip enemies to death. The team really put player expression at the forefront of the design of Lynked: Banner of the Spark. Naturally, this bleeds over to the town-building, where players are given a pretty wide open space to customize as they see fit.
Like a lot of recent games, town customization is as easy as placing buildings, roads and cosmetics on a grid with a pretty seamless control method. Lynked: Banner of the Spark has a really unique vibe where if a player wants to hang back and work on the town while others go out to face enemies, they can. Whatever you want to prioritize at that moment, you have the freedom to do.
While it’s still a bit rough around the edges, Lynked: Banner of the Spark shows an immense amount of promise. Like I said at the top of this preview, it’s the combination of interesting gameplay ideas and a genuine sense of style that puts it among other excellent examples in the genre.
Lynked: Banner of the Spark will be released in Early Access on Oct. 22, 2024, although the full version release date is still unknown.
