Spirits of Xanadu

⣿⣿⡻⠿⣳⠸⢿⡇⢇⣿⡧⢹⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⡐⣯⠁ ⠄⠄ ⠟⣛⣽⡳⠼⠄⠈⣷⡾⣥⣱⠃⠣⣿⣿⣿⣯⣭⠽⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⣟⢢⠏⠄ ⠄ ⢠⡿⠶⣮⣝⣿⠄⠄⠈⡥⢭⣥⠅⢌⣽⣿⣻⢶⣭⡿⠿⠜⢿⣿⣿⡿⠁⠄⠄ ⠄⣼⣧⠤⢌⣭⡇⠄⠄⠄⠭⠭⠭⠯⠴⣚⣉⣛⡢⠭⠵⢶⣾⣦⡍⠁⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⣿⣷⣯⣭⡷⠄⠄⢀⣀⠩⠍⢉⣛⣛⠫⢏⣈⣭⣥⣶⣶⣦⣭⣛⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⢀⣿⣿⣿⡿⠃⢀⣴⣿⣿⣿⣎⢩⠌⣡⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⠄⠄⠄ ⢸⡿⢟⣽⠎⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⠄⠄ ⣰⠯⣾⢅⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡄⠄ ⢰⣄⡉⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠄ ⢯⣌⢹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢸⣇⣽⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢸⣟⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⠈⢹⡧⣿⣸⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠗⣈⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⠄ ⠄⠘⢷⡳⣾⣷⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⢀⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄ ⠄⠄⠈⣵⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠘⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄⠄

This is too Cheap ! Grab this short and great game!

I'm usually not one for FPSs, it's probably among the genres where I suck the most compared to the standard set by Counter Strike, Call of Duty among other popular titles. Hence, when this game came up in my roulette and I looked it up it didn't come off as something I'd enjoy. Well, I was wrong. Spirits of Xanadu is an indie adventure shooter game set in a desolate spaceship (sound familiar?) with lore scattered throughout its vicinity and an objective one has to figure out as they go. Both pages and audio logs set the somber scene and are able to recreate in a somewhat accurate manner the events that transpired before your arrival. There are also multiple references to other literature pieces, especially Chinese ones, as well as other pop culture ones here and there. Regarding the gameplay, it was approachable enough to someone like me but it's understandable how one used to these titles wouldn't find it interesting. There are 3 types of guns around the ship, a small set of enemies to deal with and the game can be beaten in under 10 minutes. As a result, there's not much of a challenge provided you were looking for one in normal mode. However, this is compensated by various creative achievements that can make the experience more varied and let you interact with the environment in frivolous ways. While this can break the uneasy flow the narrative is going for, on reruns it ends up increasing its replayability while one is going for its other endings. In conclusion, I can safely recommend it as an accessible shooter from the indie landscape, just know beforehand what it offers so that you set your expectations accordingly.

I give the team credit for creating such an atmospheric title with such stark and bold visuals and technical/artistic design. A game where practically every enemy is just a different colour can shooting lasers at you has no business being at times creepy, unsettling, and/or otherwordly. Also tremendous praise to the script and voice actors. Phenomenal job at creating very human and grounded takes and performances which make it all the more unsettling when things go crazy in story. So what's the bad news? Well, frankly, the game is incredibly short and if I'm honest after you find about half the documents you sort of know what happened and getting them all/seeing the game to completion (spoiler alert) doesn't really add much more understanding, content, or context. What I'm trying to say is I got bored halfway through and didn't care enough to figure out the poorly explained and cryptic mechanics (on purpose, I know) to "fix" the ship, especially since on top of being confused I had a feeling the payoff wouldn't be there, and I was right. There's nothing inherently bad or wrong with the game. It ran well and has a neat vibe. I was into the setup and characters. But then it just feels like the game itself stops trying, and frankly, it just doesn't have enough mechanically, artistically, or narratively going on to keep you engaged and pushing to the end (imho). Still tho, I could see people into this if they are the kind of player who likes a game that shuts up and just lets you explore and figure ♥♥♥♥ out but also isn't 100 hours long. If you read this and are still curious grab it on sale and see what you think. But if not don't sweat it, you're not missing a lot more than the surface here,

I did some work for this game, but not too much. I should still be allowed to have an opinion on it: It's good! Highly interactive, and with an original story with great writing and acting. If you enjoy being blown up by the malfunctioning butler bots, those are the ones I made.

Eerie cosmic horror that meshes well with the retro/minimalist aesthetic.

If Dead Space is System Shock 2 meets RE4 then this is SS2 meets Echo Night. Too bad the graphics suck.

It good. It short.

1. The game has a lot more immersive sim elements compared to "horror FPS" or whatever; 2. Finished it while trying to explore as much of the ship as possible in an hour and a half. It is somewhat replayable / speedrunable; Overall I really do recommend this. Would I have paid 5 euros for it? maybe not (even though it's still really cheap), but at 1,24? it's a steal and I highly recommend it if you're a fan of immsims

4.4 It's an okay game, it has a fair amount of neat little interactables and it certainly doesn't overstay it's welcome. The 'best' ending is a little obtuse to get along with some of the achievements being secrets and also things nobody would likely do. The narratively (along with the game as a whole) is very small and rather limited. It's fine if you want to spend maybe an hour on a short little sci-fi im-sim super-lite.