In Spindle you play as the newly appointed Grim Reaper.  But you soon discover that the souls of the nearly departed aren’t where they’re supposed to be, and a mysterious black substance has been appearing, making animals and monsters more aggressive.  So it’s up to you and your faithful talking pig to figure out what’s going on.  This game plays a lot like a 2D Zelda title.  Attack enemies with your sickle and solve puzzles in dungeons to regain your powers so you can explore more areas.  Spindle is available on Switch and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

As the Grim Reaper, you can move in all directions and attack by swinging your scythe.  As you play, you’ll earn new powers that can help you bypass obstacles and defeat enemies.  Some of these powers let you turn living things to stone, or switching to your talking pig companion who has specials skills of his own.  There are dungeon mazes to explore and bosses to defeat, and let me tell you, when Nintendo wants to make another 2D Zelda game, they need to hire the makers of this game to design the dungeons.  The puzzles here are just as clever and fun to solve as any Zelda title.  This is really one of the better indie games I’ve played in a long while.

I do have a couple of small problems with this game, though.  One is very minor and the other is more personal.  I don’t think they explain some gameplay elements very well, like how to heal yourself for instance.  The other, more personal problem I have with the game is that it deals a lot with death, seeing as though you play as, well, Death.  It can get pretty heavy handed and darn depressing at times, which is a weird juxtaposition as the rest of the game features whimsical retro visuals and themes.  But otherwise this is a great game from start to finish, with even more stuff to do after you complete it.

Kid Factor:

Spindle is rated E-10 with an ESRB descriptor of Fantasy Violence.  You can hit enemies with your sickle and they just disappear in a puff of smoke when defeated.  When you run out of hearts you just fall over.  But the best reason why I feel this game is better for older gamers is because it might spark an impromptu discussion about life and death with your kids, which you may or may not be prepared for.

Tags: Game Reviews