Space Sprouts is an Adorable Game About the Power of Memory
| Game: | Space Sprouts |
| Developer: | Schleuder Games |
| Publisher: | Schleuder Games |
| Platform: | PC |
| Genre: | Cozy, puzzle |
| Price: | £9.29 / €9.71 / $9.89 |
Schleuder Games’ Space Sprouts is, in spirit, a roguelike, but instead of fighting, you spend your time exploring and playing in a gigantic spaceship by floating in zero gravity, throwing yourself into a black hole, locating items to help unlock different parts of the ship, and more.
You play as Oda, a space traveller recalling the first time she left home to her daughter through memories, which you must unlock by solving puzzles around the spaceship within timed runs. With each new run, everything is reset but you can extend your total time on the ship by unlocking more memories and hints.
I initially didn’t think that the combination of puzzle solving and roguelike runs meshed well together, but I fell in love with Space Sprouts within minutes of running around Oda’s spaceship and trying to solve puzzles (And setting myself and my surroundings on fire).
Where no developer has gone before
We’ve had our fair share of games set in space, but Space Sprouts is very different in its approach. Everything in the game is physically simulated but controls remain minimalistic; you move Oda with the A and D key binds, left mouse click to grab items, right mouse click to throw or drop items, and E to use them.
The result is a chaotic experience where you can interact with everything. That plant pot? You can throw it. The lighter you found in one section of the ship? It can be used to illuminate another section without light. And the vacuum you found? Well, that can be used to suck up everything.
The only minor frustration I had was trying to aim while using items. I occasionally had to use rockets to propel Oda to high or out-of-reach locations, and trying to aim rockets while using my MacBook’s trackpad was sometimes difficult and led me to waste several rockets and other items. Thankfully, there were always plenty of resources and items for me to use around me.
While exploring, you’ll need to pull switches to disable gravity and run around the ceiling to access new areas, utilise lasers to solve flick switches and solve other puzzles, and use items from different sections of the ship to solve additional puzzles.
Solving these puzzles and unlocking their corresponding memories provides you with more time on the ship in your next run, and although I found the lack of time stressful when I first began playing, I quickly fell into a groove by concentrating on a specific area within the ship and what it led to after.
I also found that I quickly began to memorise where sections of the ship held. If I started a run with a particular focus in mind, I knew I could find X object in Y room, and use that to help me. Occasionally, puzzle solutions only clicked as I ran out of time, which meant I had to rush through the ship again to finally solve that puzzle and unlock a new memory.
It’s fun, engaging, and rewarding, and it helps keep the repeating gameplay loop entertaining.
Memories retold again and again
One of the most touching aspects of Space Sprouts was the way Oda recounted each run as an experience to her daughter through animated cutscenes and complete sketches hung behind the pair.
These cutscenes, although short and similar between runs, immediately brought me back to my childhood, visiting my grandmother on a summer holiday in Portugal, and listening to stories of her childhood. This is something I feel most of you can relate to, and it helped foster a deep connection with the game that fuelled some of my love for it.
The memories you can unlock while playing mostly function as achievements, giving you things to work towards, and the game is friendly enough to provide you with small hints (Thank goodness for that, because I got stuck a fair few times!) to point you in the right direction and aid you in solving some puzzles.
All of this was presented in a gorgeous, pastel-coloured environment with a smooth and friendly UI that adds to the game’s wholesomeness and coziness. Paired with the art was beautifully composed music that never took away from the gameplay but added a lovely, homely touch that was relaxing. Combined, the two meshed to create a fantastic experience.
The final verdict
I found Space Sprouts to be a charming and adorable puzzle game filled with lovely moments that pulled me back to my childhood. The art direction is gorgeous, and the music meshes perfectly with the gameplay, wrapping to create a unique combination of heart, courage, and chaotic puzzle-solving.
A review copy was provided by Schleuder Games for Steam, played on macOS.