Game: Imp of the Sun
Genre: Action, Adventure
System: Steam (Windows & macOS)
Developer|Publisher: Sunwolf Entertainment | Fireshine Games
Controller Support: Yes
Price: UK £15.99 | US N/A | EU N/A
Release Date: March 24th, 2022
Review code provided with many thanks to Press Engine.
A Spark of Light
Imp of the Sun is a 2D non-linear action-adventure game. It may seem like just another Metroidvania but Imp of the Sun sparks a striking flame from the crowd thanks to its wondrous Peruvian-inspired world, beautiful soundtrack and tight gameplay which encourages one to play the game multiple times over. If you have space in your gaming life I highly recommend Imp of the Sun.
Bring Back The Sun
You play as an Imp called Nin created from the final spark of the Sun. The world has been enshrouded in darkness thanks to the Eternal Eclipse. So your task is to explore the world searching out the four keepers and restoring the Sun’s power, bringing sunshine back to the world. The game wastes absolutely no time jumping into the action and after a short cutscene and introduction to a few support characters, you quickly venture on your quest.
The most notable supporting character is Suyana, a young girl who might be giving Navi from Zelda Ocarina of Time a run for her money. She will commute with you as you explore the land commentating on the environment. This includes showing fear when you explore the darkness and giving you the odd hint in a boss fight. She’s kinda cute but sometimes gets a bit irritating when you die multiple times as she constantly reminds you to level up, when often that’s not what the problem is. I just clearly sucked at the boss fight. Despite this niggle it didn’t hamper my enjoyment of the game.
You Can Go Your Own Way
The gameplay is pretty familiar for a Metroidvania title. You explore the world and unlock abilities that will help you access new areas of the map. As you defeat enemies and grab orbs which you can use to increase your attack, health and special bar. The goal is to hunt down all four bosses in four distinct areas before taking on the final confrontation. When you visit each area there is a familiar repeated design, where you need to find two orbs or keys to unlock the boss fight. It’s a shame that each section follows the same template, but the good news is how you obtain these items in each area is distinct.
What stands out the most is the game allows you to tackle the four bosses in any order you fancy. This offers the player a lot of flexibility and gives a pretty good incentive to replay the game to try alternative routes. It also features a handy fast travel option which proved especially handy for me. When I started the game I seemed to walk into what was possibly the hardest boss fight first. After multiple failed attempts to fell him I went to explore another area of the world and found a different boss. This was much easier which gave me more orbs to upgrade allowing me to tackle the harder chap later. With this design in mind, you can kinda make the game as difficult or as easy as you want.
Mapped to The Controller
Controls are responsive and comfortable. Jumping around and combat are easy to use. For many of the enemies hacking away is not always the best option. Some can be taken out by hitting projectiles back at them or just waiting for that right moment to strike. Combat difficulty is mild to moderate for regular enemies but in the boss fights, it can get a bit tricky warranting a few retries.
A feature I liked a lot about the controls is that all the moves you unlock are mapped to the controller (I was using the Xbox one). Other than the special moves you unlock from the bosses which are accessed via a weapon wheel. I found this very handy as it encouraged me to actually make use of all the moves available in the game.
Beautifully Hand Crafted
Graphics are utterly gorgeous in this game. There are four distinct environments based around each of the four boss characters. These include a mountainside, a swamp, a dark dungeon and a desert area. The enemies featured in each area feel appropriately suited to the locations and are not repeated in other areas which are quite refreshing. All these are familiar places in video games but the hand-drawn Peruvian design is quite striking making each area feel lovingly handcrafted by the developers.
To bring this style to life even more, is the beautiful soundtrack. Mostly making good use of the Peruvian flutes/ it flows naturally from a relaxed tone when you’re exploring, to becoming tenser when you enter a battle or boss encounter. You can purchase the soundtrack on Steam but I’ve also noticed you can currently enjoy it in its entirety on the developers’ website at the time of writing.
Length and Extras
Your first playthrough of the game may only take around three hours which is pretty short and sweet for a title like this. However, there are many collectables that will require you to revisit areas again with your newly unlocked abilities. When you finish the game it unlocks a new game plus like mode, which ramps up the difficulty further and makes the game a lot darker unless you light the area up. There’s plenty of reason to replay and the short length may be especially appealing to those with busy lives.
Conclusion – Praise the Sun
Imp of the Sun is a shining beacon of light. The game feels like it has some limitations with its short length and repeated template to reach each boss. However, it feels like the developers took the budget they had and made sure not to waste any frame of this game. It plays well, sounds great and looks unique. Some gamers will expect more which is fine but to me, this title ticks all the right boxes for good game design. I very much look forward to the developers’ future work.
Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up
