‘Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats To Match-3 To’ Has So Many Hot Characters, Help
A truly good match-3 game is hard to find, but Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To isn’t just good—it’s great.
Developed by Soft Not Weak and initially funded through Kickstarter, Spirit Swap is a cozy, narrative puzzle game set in the magical city of Demashq with witches, demons, and tiny, colorful spirits that are obsessed with pop music. You play as Samar, a super talented spirit-swapper who has to figure out why hordes of spirits are breaking through the barrier between worlds, help your friends resolve their problems, and get ready for a concert from the biggest band in the world.
Spirit Swap has a core plot that ends with the concert, but you can continue playing after that to further develop relationships and even romance your favorite character(s). All of the characters in this game are hot, so it’s frankly hard to settle on just one potential partner, but don’t worry—there’s plenty of time to flirt before committing. You can even choose to join an existing polycule, which is frankly incredible.
As Samar swaps spirits to send them back to their realm, her friends swap with her—competitively. Each battle is played in rounds, and Samar has to win the majority for the story to continue. You can change the difficulty level from the main menu at any point, and you can also opt to skip battles if you just want to advance the narrative.
Samar picks up new skills along the way, which can be equipped from her home. These both provide advantages to Samar in a swapping battle and fire disadvantages at her opponents, while they can use their skills to bolster their moves and screw up yours in a genuine tit-for-tat. If you’ve ever played competitive Tetris, the vibe is similar, and the higher you set the difficulty, the faster and more intense the experience will be.
As you develop relationships and unveil story events, you’ll unlock new items to customize Samar’s room and discover more about how everyone in her friend group is connected. Big scenes are fully voiced, adding significant dimension to the game, and hovering over a character interaction on the map will indicate whether it includes a swapping battle, whether it’s voiced, and whether it’s considered a major event. You can choose how to progress, who to talk to when, and how far you want each relationship to go.
In addition to story mode, you have the option to play in endless or versus mode, allowing you to match-3 to your heart’s content without worrying about the plot, the characters, or the romance options. Depending on your preferred gameplay style or even your mood, Spirit Swap has you covered.
Given that the game is centered around music, it feels obvious to note that the lofi soundtrack in Spirit Swap is fantastic, but it truly is. The sound effects and mixing work beautifully and the characters each have a specific relationship to music, which enhances its importance to the story.
Spirit Swap is both aurally and visually stunning. The art is vibrant and energetic, with unique backgrounds for each setting, detailed furniture and items for Samar’s room, and fully realized characters with individual styles. The cast spans gender, race, and body size and type, with each character boasting a variety of facial expressions and reactions. Plus, they each have a magical animal companion (Familiarz), and these rainbow-colored critters are equally as detailed.
The team at Soft Not Weak has clearly poured a lot of love and labor into Spirit Swap: Lofi Sessions to Match-3 To, and it shows in every minute detail of the game. It took me just a couple of hours to complete the main story and a few more to romance my partner of choice, and I look forward to exploring romances with the other characters soon. Because the game is so soothing and offers so many modes, I can easily see myself turning to it when I need a mental health break or just a quiet afternoon.
Spirit Swap: Lofi Sessions to Match-3 To is available now for Xbox and PC via Itch.io and Steam. You can also check out the soundtrack through Bandcamp.
A review code was provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.
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