I typically gravitate towards intense, heart-pounding, combat games that go in hard and never let up. But every once-in-a-while, a game comes across my radar that piques my interest without all the stress that I’m used to. Lynked: Banner of the Spark (which is an absolute mouthful and will furthermore simply be Lynked) is a straightforward game that combines base building mechanics with rougelite adventures and quests. It just opened up to early access this past week with a really solid amount of content. Most notably, though, it’s multiplayer – and not just for the combat rounds. You can build your base with friends too!
Fuzzybot and Dreamhaven kindly granted press the opportunity to hop in and check out Lynked as it was coming to early access on Steam, so over the last week, I gave it a spin – and actually played quite a bit more than I was expecting. I wasn’t sure if it would really hold my attention, since the gameplay wasn’t really my bread and butter. Yet Lynked managed to do just that and saw me walk away very pleased with the experience.
A somewhat generic story gets the game started, but then it picks up quickly
The game begins by telling you all about how humans created robots to save the planet, but ultimately we ruined everything and the world basically became a big wasteland, or something. It was very Nier Automata or even WALL-E. It doesn’t really matter a whole lot.
Fortunately the developers at Fuzzybot didn’t linger too long on drawing out this narrative, and after a few scenes they bring you into the important storyline: yours. You’re a human, and you’re in some sort of robot prison. There’s some kind of mystery as to why you’re here since humans peaced out some hundreds or years ago, but either way apparently some robots decided to be bad and others good – again, it doesn’t really matter.
Thus begins a steady tutorial that teaches you all about the game. It’s done extremely well, doling out information about combat one step at a time and then ultimately leading you down into the base-building part of the game.
As a non-housing enthusiast, I can’t comment authoritatively on the depth or breadth of these systems, but throughout play you do unlock new friends and houses. Doing so provides you with different benefits and ways to upgrade your character too. It’s not just buildings you can set down either; there were planters, furniture, and other décor that you’re able to add to your house and around the base area. If base-building is the part of cozy games you like, you’ll probably like this too.
I keep calling it base-building because I don’t think it’s a full on farm sim sort of game a la Stardew Valley but there are a lot of similarities in that you do get to place houses and build various structures. You also can run around and knock down rocks and trees to gather crafting mats. And of course, fishing is available – who doesn’t love a good fishing game?
Actually, at first I was really struggling with the fishing (and also at the end too). Fishing isn’t super easy in Lynked either! But it is fun. I quickly found myself spending nearly an hour fishing and wondering why my dang hook was so short. I kept thinking how I just need it to be longer so I don’t have to run circles around this lake, and then it hit me: Of course there’s going to be an upgrade at some point that unlocks a longer hook. I’m sure of it.
Combat was so much better than I expected, and the weapons and skills are seriously fun
Now, as fun as all the base building and fishing bits are, combat is where I’m really at. And honestly, it’s where I was the most surprised and a little bit impressed with Lynked. You only have a few actions to do while fighting, yet it’s just fun.
You have a dodge skill that isn’t on any sort of cooldown, so you can spam that roll all day long. And believe me, you will be doing just that. The enemies can move in quick on you, and if you aren’t mashing dodge, you’re in for a bad time. There are also several skills you can gain too. I really liked the AOE ground-pound that sends adjacent enemies flying. These are unlocked by completing the quests and spending the sparks you earned.
Starting a combat quest is essentially the same as in something like Minecraft Dungeons, where you walk up to a table and select the mission you’re going to attempt and then launch into it. These missions carry you through the game’s main story, but they also offer you some side quests as well. I actually had a bit of trouble with the first couple since I wasn’t giving the game my full attention and really didn’t expect it to require it. I was happily mistaken.
But truly the best part of the quest was unlocking the different weapons. The one I absolutely loved was a giant battering ram – it was amazing to use. Every game needs this weapon. Also in true roguelite fashion, if you fail the quest, you’ll drop the weapons and gear you picked up. The early runs go pretty quickly, so it isn’t extremely punishing, but it’s worth noting.
Finally, to put the game to the real test, I asked my kids if they wanted to try something new and let them have a hand at it. They absolutely loved it. “Awww the robots are sooo cute.” “Get over here and look at this one! Wow, I caught a rare!” That’s right, on top of all the other features, there’s even a mini collection game. Well, there are two: one for catching all the fish, which are actually called gillibots, and the other for catching all the bitibots roaming around your base.
See, when you knock down a tree or dig up some trash, these little robots sometimes pop out and run away from you. If you can catch them, you’ll get a cute little animation and some info about the bot. There’s a side quest to catch them all and even some game mechanics for them, I believe. I think they can be crafted into backpacks, but I didn’t get to that stage.
Now, I think the co-op gameplay is going to be the key that potentially makes this game a keeper. As much fun as I had with the missions and fishing, eventually that all begins to feel pretty same-y to me. But when you build out the base with your friends and go on the quest together, that’s pretty awesome.
I haven’t gotten far enough to explore all of the multiplayer aspects yet, but I can see how it’ll come together. It’ll be a lot of fun, and it’s a bummer we don’t have couch co-op, but it’s possible that wouldn’t work as well. The kids were already planning out how they want to build the base and asking when they can each get their own accounts already. Geez, I didn’t realize I was going to be picking up more copies of this. Maybe that’s why Fuzzybot went with online multiplayer over local!
Lynked also plays really well on the Steam Deck
The final point I want to note here is how well the game performed on my Steam Deck. The graphics were so-so, but everything played super smoothly. The game picked up the controller mappings immediately, and everything worked like a charm. There aren’t really any functions that require a mouse, so there isn’t any loss of love there either.
Overall, I was really impressed with the game and the fact that it’s still just in early access. Anyone who likes housing/base building, fishing, and a light story about good robots fighting against the bad ones should really check it out.
Every other week, Massively OP’s Sam Kash delivers Fight or Kite, our trip through the state of PvP across the MMORPG industry. Whether he’s sitting in a queue or rolling with the zerg, Sam’s all about the adrenaline rush of a good battle. Because when you boil it down, the whole reason we PvP (other than to pwn noobs) is to have fun fighting a new and unpredictable enemy!
