Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To Review: There’s so Many Hot People
How am I supposed to help with these spirits when everyone here is so freaking hot?
This is a common feeling you’ll have when you pick up Developer Soft Not Weak’s relaxing new game Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To. If you’re familiar with games like Bejeweled or Pokemon Puzzle League then you’ll pick up on how Spirit Swap works pretty quickly. Outside of the puzzles there’s even more to enjoy like hanging with your friends, going on dates or taking some time to decorate your room with cute new accessories.
In Spirit Swap you play as Samar, a young witch who lives in the city of Demashq and works as a spirit swapper. Recently, there’s been a spike in spirits coming in from another dimension and they’re starting to show up all over town. Normally, this wouldn’t necessarily be cause for concern but it turns out that the biggest concert of the year is kicking off in Demashq so Samar has got to handle it quickly or there’s going to be a lot of freaking out from everyone. Thankfully, you’ve got a great group of friends who are ready to assist.
Spirit Swap’s match-3 mechanics are easy to learn and so much fun when you get the hang of it. When you’re in a spirit swap match you’ll have a board that you control that looks similar to the classic puzzle game Tetris, but instead of blocks falling from the top of the board, you have spirits of different shapes rising from the bottom of the board. Your goal is to match as many spirits together as you can trying to stop them from reaching the top. In story mode, you’ll compete against (or team up with) Samar’s friends and you’ll lose if your board reaches the top before theirs. To stop your board from rising you’ll have to be clever and strategic, swapping spirits around and matching them as fast as you can. Not into swapping? Spirit Swap allows you to skip this part of the game altogether so you can quickly get back into the story.
The more you progress the more spells that Samar will pick up or be gifted that will give you an advantage while you’re swapping. Samar can use her spells when she forms a particular shape with the spirits on the board. The first spell you learn is used when a square of four of the same spirits are together on the board. The more people you meet and compete with, the more spirits you’ll unlock. You can equip your favorites or rotate them around and experiment to see what works best for you. Along with spells, your friends will also give you items and furniture that can be placed in Samar’s room. Equip a new rug, try out a new side table or hang up a cool new poster, it’s up to you how your awesome room will look.
Story Mode only takes about one or two hours to complete, but once you do the world will open up and you’ll be free to continue to hang around. You can even try to go on dates with some of the amazing cast of characters you’ll meet as you play through the story. Spirit Swap’s characters are drop dead gorgeous, unique and wonderfully queer so if you’re looking to get some smooches, you won’t have to look far for someone that’s your type. And romancing them isn’t difficult either. After story mode, Samar’s computer will unlock and you will be able to chat with anyone that’s available and ask to hang out. The more you hang out, the more hearts you’ll gain with that person, increasing your chances of going out on a date.
Once you’ve finished Story Mode and smooched a few hotties, if you’re still looking for more swapping, you can jump into endless or versus mode. Endless mode allows you to choose the difficulty, speed and which spells you’d like to use, then lets you play endlessly until you lose. Versus Mode lets you play against another player locally or against a CPU to see who is the best of the best at swapping. In this mode you can choose which character you’d like to play as and each of those characters has their own specific spell to utilize.
Loading into Spirit Swap is like reuniting with your beautiful queer family. They’re sexy, they love you for who you are and they’re always ready to have a good time. From the relaxing soundtrack to the variety of ways to play, the inclusive characters and even its number of accessibility options, Soft Not Weak has created something really special. I only encountered a few weird sound moments where the music was much louder than the voices, and one bit of inconsistency with the story but these are things that can easily be fixed with a simple patch. Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To is a complete joy to play and the perfect game for unwinding at the end of a difficult day.
Breakdown
Game: Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To
Developer: Soft Not Weak LLC
Publisher: Soft Not Weak LLC
Availability: PC, Xbox Series X/S
Game Length: Main story 1-2 hours, All content 3-6 hours
Accessibility Options:
Visual saturation adjustments
Change spirit Display style (change the look of the spirits during gameplay)
Win this round choice (allows players to skip spirit swapping to quickly get back into the story)
Dialogue BG opacity
Animated text adjustments
Keep versus music chill
Reviewed on PC
Final Thoughts
Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To is one of the loveliest games you’ll play this year, I guarantee. It has a fantastic soundtrack, beautiful, inclusive characters, thoughtful dialogue and fun gameplay. It ticks all the boxes. It’s easy to say that you’ll likely find yourself going back to it long after the credits roll on its story mode. And with more content updates (including fashion!!) on the way, I can’t wait to see what’s next.
Review by Becca Smith