Inspirit

Cooperative video games are great if you often have friends over and you like to work together on puzzles or defeat thick enemy waves in action flicks. However, platformers can be just as fun in the right conditions, especially if the mechanics are fun. In fact, the genre can be easily combined with other ideas, depending on what you have in mind.

Inspirit is a two-player cooperative puzzle game with platformer elements and a colorful world for you to explore in a linear fashion. The goal is to solve riddles by making use of special abilities, as well as work together in order to overcome various obstacles. Don’t expect too much complexity, on the other hand, given the fact that this is still an indie project designed by students.

The two characters are actually two girls named Mai and Kula, who have been chosen to serve as guardians of a mystical forest and the Tree of Life itself. In order to do so, they must rejuvenate the world and take care of various plants, which is quite challenging. Naturally, both Mai and Kula have unique abilities that make it imperative for them to work together.

Hence, one of the characters is able to swim and explore the watery parts of the levels, while the other one has an easier time dealing with physical obstacles. The ultimate goal of each stage is to reach the pink mushroom at the end, but the journey is never simple. There is no AI included with the game, so you can either play with a friend or control both characters yourself.

As far as the visual presentation is concerned, the game actually looks very nice, especially when it comes to world design and character animations. Granted, the levels get a tad repetitive after a while, given the fact that not much changes when it comes to the environment. The music is not bad either, but it’s not exactly worthy of remembering either.

Inspirit is fairly polished and enjoyable for an indie project, especially thanks to the interesting platforming puzzles that slow you down along the way. However, there’s obviously not enough content to keep you busy for too long.