Lynked: Banner of the Spark is perhaps the cosiest video game I can think of. It’s like a digital snoodie. One of the one’s that’s so soft it envelopes you entirely in a cloud of comfort. But don’t let Lynked’s 3D cartoon styled visuals fool you, this game is no pushover, offering an addictive and compelling dungeon-crawler experience.
The game begins with an AI apocalypse, though the despicable robot that caused this global catastrophe is so adorable you’d be forgiven for just wanting to give them a hug. You take on the role of one of the last remaining humans, trapped within a brightly coloured and rather pleasant looking prison. You get to customise your character before you begin, with a rather beguiling amount of option to give your hero a unique look – hands off the big blue Gandalf beard though, that’s mine. Once you look suitably spiffing, the game begins proper with a prison break. You team up with a cute little robo called Buddy who guides you to freedom, and handily explains how to play the game on your way.
Combat is simple but satisfying. Played from a top-down perspective, your little fella takes it to their cutesy Pixar-ish foes – consisting of big cyclops-eyed mechs, teeny drones, and anthropomorphic androids – with the standard variety of combo attacks, dashes, and special abilities. You’ve fought these fights a thousand times or more, but there’s something comforting about the familiarity of the combat mechanics, which I’m pretty sure is what the developer FuzzyBot was going for. Sometimes the sense of contact when you strike feels a little off, rather too lightweight, and dashes aren’t always effective, but otherwise these are reliably enjoyable fisticuffs.
Being a roguelite, you head out to a dungeon, get as far as you can before dying, then start all over again, albeit with some permanent upgrades that make you slightly more powerful than you were before. It’s nice and satisfying to make incremental progress, but the real incentive to battle through that dungeon is to receive new building types for your town. That’s right, Lynked: Banner of the Spark is a building sim too, and it’s in this aspect that the game really delivers.
There’s a huge variety of buildings to decorate your homestead with, each having a meaningful impact on the gameplay experience, providing players with new abilities or tools to take back into the dungeon. Placing buildings and customising their look is simple and accessible and utterly wonderful, thanks to how freaking gorgeous everything looks when you get it set up just right. There’s a ton of activities to entertain yourself with too; from fishing, to gathering resources, farming, and socialising with the town’s charming inhabitants.
It’s all rather lovely, but there’s just one problem: a vital part of Lynked: Banner of the Spark is multiplayer. You can explore fellow player’s towns, assist them in their construction, take part in social activities, and obviously go get some loot from a nearby dungeon together. At least, that’s the idea. On PS5 I struggled to find a single other person to play with. Perhaps on other formats with a higher player count this would be less of an issue, but it did mean that my time with Lynked: Banner of the Spark was strictly single player. A real shame that there are no local multiplayer options either, as the game would seem an ideal fit for some enjoyable couch co-op shenanigans.