I’ll be honest, I almost forgot about Lynked: Banner of the Spark after I previewed it last October. I really don’t mean that as a criticism, it’s kind of like when you put on a really nice pair of socks and they’re so warm and comfy that you forget they’re there. I would go so far as to say it did everything so well during the preview demo that a part of me honestly thought it had been released. So it was genuinely nice to dive back into Lynked: Banner of the Spark this time with a somewhat renewed perspective.
Like I mentioned in my Empyreal review, I’ve been revisiting the 2006 Dreamcast/Gamecube classic Phantasy Star Online: Chapters I & II, and it’s been causing me to re-evaluate how ARPGs approach their design, so I was curious if it would change my initial thoughts on Lynked: Banner of the Spark. Thankfully, everything I remember from the game holds up pretty well, and the game’s combination of dungeon-crawling and townbuilding still makes for a satisfying experience.
While I did cover a bit of it during my preview, I’ll go over it again for anyone who needs a refresher. Set in the year 3000, following a robot uprising that nearly devastated all human life on Earth. The player takes on the role of one of the last remaining humans being held captive in a robotic prison until a helpful robot named Buddy helps break you out.
“Lynked: Banner of the Spark remains as good as I remember it, or perhaps better now that a lot of the pre-release kinks have been ironed out.”
Buddy wants to reunite the titular Banner of the Spark—a group of heroic robots who wish to help humanity and the world thrive. In order to do that, Buddy and the player need to rescue a collection of craftbots to form a new community where humans and robots work together once more. Like I said in my preview, it’s a bit of your common AI destroys mankind story, but more of what the creators called an “aspirational apocalypse.”
And I gotta say, it is a refreshing change of pace to have a story like this take a more lighthearted tone. It’s got a cartoonish vibe that leans more positive and never really takes itself too seriously, and it’s rounded out by an eclectic cast of characters that each have a unique personality and add a lot of fun to the proceedings.
When I played Lynked: Banner of the Spark back in October, the majority of the experience was spent playing with a small group, so what really interested me this time around was how the game functioned as a single-player experience. And while it can seem a bit daunting at first, the game works really well as a bite-sized dungeon-crawler. Like I mentioned in my preview, there’s a really wide array of weapons to choose from, but what I didn’t really get into was how progression through each dungeon works.
Once players clear an area, before they progress to the next part of a dungeon, they’re greeted by Smithy the blacksmith robot, who will either upgrade their weapon’s level or apply a buff to it. Not only that, but if players find new weapons during a run, they can either swap them, scrap them, or take their elemental core and apply it to their current weapon. It creates an interesting dynamic where the challenge never really lets up, but it slowly eases up as players progress. And as players gather more Spark, they can use it to apply permanent buffs on themselves to further improve their success during a run.
Combat itself is fairly straightforward, and where the game can feel a bit uneven. There’s a good feeling of fluidity to attacking, however, enemies often teleport to your position at the end of their attack animation, which can make dodging feel a bit pointless. Given that there isn’t a wide variety of defensive options, it’s the one place where playing solo can feel a bit unfair and where having multiple teammates would make up the difference.
Thankfully, Lynked: Banner of the Spark has a really intuitive and pretty in-depth town builder gameplay as a companion to the action dungeon crawling. While the devs really wanted to make sure the game gave players enough options, should they want to battle bots or water pots, this kind of laidback gameplay certainly suits a single-player experience, as players have more time to take it easy and come up with creative designs for their towns. What works well is how crafting blueprints can be found in dungeons, so there’s a good gameplay loop where players are incentivized to do a bit of dungeon crawling and take small breaks to beautify their towns a bit.
“Visually, Lynked: Banner of the Spark is inspired—vibrant, colourful, and packed with robotic charm.”
Visually, Lynked: Banner of the Spark is inspired. It’s got a vibrant world with an excellent use of colour, both the characters and enemies have dynamic designs and, like ASTRO Bot, it makes fun use of a world where almost everything—from flora to fauna—has a kind of robotic element to it. I particularly love the animations that have a really fluid, almost rubberhose style to them, and everything looks and feels really satisfying.
Audio is equally as fun, particularly where the friendly bots are concerned. FuzzyBot put a lot of work into coming up with a fun gibberish to make up the robot’s language in a way that feels technical but incredibly silly. It brings the characters to life in a playful way and makes each of them feel unique. Music is just as fun, maintaining a serious but whimsical tone that complements battles and creates a sense of adventure.
Lynked: Banner of the Spark remains as good as I remember it, or perhaps better now that a lot of the pre-release kinks have been ironed out. Between its challenging but approachable dungeon-crawling and its laid-back town creation, it’s got a lot to offer that is sure to satisfy a wide variety of players.
