Lynked: Banner of the Spark

Lynked: Banner of the Spark is a hot chocolate of a game. Sweet, sumptuous and oh, so cosy. It offers an intriguing and fresh experience thanks to combining roguelite dungeon crawling with town-building, and it keeps you engaged from beginning to end. It's just a shame that, on PS5 at least, it's a resolutely single-player experience rather than the multiplayer one that it's intended to be.

Fun action RPG with a dash of roguelite and life sim on Nintendo Switch 2

Lynked: Banner of the Spark is not a perfect game by any means, but it is juggling a lot of systems that come together to make a unique experience.

: Banner of the Spark is exactly the kind of genre experiment I like to see. By mixing roguelite missions with cosy life sim elements, it avoids feeling like “just another run-based game.” There’s always something new to do, whether that’s trying out a weapon build, customising your town, or just fishing because, well, fishing is great. Combat isn’t flawless, and some weapon handling could use a little polish, but none of that stopped me from enjoying the heck out of this game. Add in generous free Switch-to-Switch 2 upgrade support and a heap of content, and you’ve got something that feels both playful and generous.

Lynked: Banner of the Spark is an interisting and original work that blends intense combat with town building, and does a very good job at linking both experiences and making them feel part of a coherent whole. Lighthearted and fun, despite its premise, Lynked features a very friendly and colourful art style and gives its players a palpable feeling of progression that's always very welcome.

Lynked: Banner of the Spark is a totally fine attempt at blending an action RPG with a life sim foundation. The town building aspects are stronger than the action RPG component, but even if the combat left something to be desired, it's an enjoyable game. The online interaction is largely a disappointment, especially because it's an online structure that seems adversarial to the handheld half of the Switch. This won't go down as a memorable Nintendo Direct shadowdrop, but it's a game that has some heart, even if it gets lost in some of the repetition and online emptiness.

Lynked: Banner of the Spark doesn’t reinvent the roguelite genre; it just reinvigorates it.

All in all, Lynked: Banner of the Spark is a fun idea with a cute aesthetic and an addicting gameplay loop. Unfortunately, its implementation of Online Mode is incredibly frustrating.

Lynked: Banner of the Spark is an excellent game for co-op hack and slash action that features so many elements, it'll make your head spin. 🔗

Lynked: Banner of the Spark from developer FuzzyBot is a cornucopia of different types of gameplay experiences rolled into one title and balanced in ways that work well together. The story is good, the action is easy and fun, and the crafting/building helps to bring a juxtaposition to the game’s action component. While not all of it works, the game still brings what it needs to create a big, unique, and entertaining experience.