Spirit Swap is an action-puzzle meets narrative game set in a lush world of witchy demons. You play as Samar, a young witch who works the spirit-swapping night shift in the eastern outskirts of Demashq — until out of nowhere, spirits begin popping up around the city.
Developed by: Soft Not Weak
Played on: Steam
Length: 2 hours (6 hours for completionists)
A review key was provided by Soft Not Weak.
Spirit Swap is everything I love mixed into one witchy cauldron: magic, puzzles, and unabashedly emotional character writing. Developed by Soft Not Weak, a worker-owned game cooperative, the game instantly radiates with infectious positivity from the moment you hit start, but there’s so much more to enjoy than just cozy lofi vibes.
The core of the game centers around its Story mode, in which you play as Samar, a young witch and spirit-swapper who enlists the help of her friends when spirits begin popping up around the city. Its two-hour main story serves as a taste test of its colourful cast of characters and match-3 gameplay, but the real game begins in the four hours after the first round of credits roll.
In the post-game, this match-3 game allows you to meet your match — whether you’re looking to deepen platonic friendships, or let it develop into something more. Amidst all the smooching is a heartfelt tale about friendship, romance, and caring for others. The writing is lighthearted and had me chuckling at many points, but also touches on real worries in a tender and thoughtful way.
While the game is not fully voiced, the main story and all major story events are voice acted which is a nice touch. Jay Taylor as Samar, NJ Agwuma as Mo, and Anjali Kunapaneni as Lulu were standout performances for me, breathing life into these already loveable characters. This is further amplified by excellent art direction and character design, and not forgetting, plenty of Meltycanon‘s catchy lofi beats to match-3 to.
Each part of the game seems more charming than the last. The match-3 gameplay is a delightful riff on the age-old genre, infusing a roster of spells (a.k.a. special skills) that you can customise based on your playstyle. The fact that you can only swap horizontally and not vertically adds to the challenge, resulting in a surprisingly competitive gameplay experience even when playing against NPCs. Those who are looking for a tougher challenge can also up the difficulty to “Spicy” or “Sheesh”, although I found “Chill” to be a good balance between relaxation with a hint of challenge.
While I found that the Story mode doesn’t contain quite enough match-3 gameplay for my tastes, there are the Endless and local Versus modes for those who prefer to immerse themselves in the puzzle gameplay. As for those who prefer to focus on the story, the game also includes a nifty accessibility feature allowing players to skip past the gameplay to get to the story bits.
There are a couple more tiny touches to the game that I love. Being able to “chat online” with the cast of characters is a cute way to get to know them better, and being able to decorate your bedroom is always a fun time for me.
But beyond its addictive gameplay and loveable characters, Spirit Swap is a great reminder that love and care from the development team does radiate through to the final product; from its accessible game design to tender character writing. I sincerely look forward to supporting whatever Soft Not Weak works on next.
Verdict: Match-3 For The New Generation
Spirit Swap is everything I love mixed into one witchy cauldron: magic, puzzles, and unabashedly emotional character writing. Its core gameplay is a delightfully fun and surprisingly competitive riff on the match-3 genre, mixed up with a heartfelt story about friendship, romance, and caring for others. Bonus points for letting us romance everyone in the post-game!
Wishlist Spirit Swap on Steam, and top up your Steam Wallet on Codashop for bonus rewards.
