Seed of Life is an action-adventure puzzle game that sees you exploring a dying world with a beautiful but toxic environment. You will have to navigate this world to find the Seed of Life, which is the only way that Cora, the protagonist, will survive and heal her world. Along the way, you will acquire a Talisman—an alien artifact— and capsules that grant you special abilities as well as lumium, the life source of the planet and fuel for Cora's Talisman. Lumium is an important resource as it will allow Cora to continue on her adventure and use her abilities.
As you collect lumium and capsules, your ability to explore the world will increase. These abilities range include giving you increased vision to spot hidden items of interest and lumium plants, a light to protect you from darkness, a sprint ability, and more. Using a combination of these abilities is key to making your way to the Seed of Life.
The world of Seed of Life is the primary draw in this game. It is both beautiful and haunting and features a unique design that stands out. Exploring the world allows you to bizarre alien creatures and plants that will either hinder or help you through your journey. The game offers a semi-open world and features an almost Metroidvania-like system of collecting new abilities to progress.
The game features a heavy emphasis on exploration—it's a shame that it feels punishing to do so. Cora often takes damage due to the world's toxic environment, combined with the fact that you are not given much information as to how to proceed, means that you will be facing death frequently until you unlock more abilities. Fortunately, there isn't much penalty for dying besides being brought back to a previous checkpoint, which is fairly instantaneously. There is also a fair amount of jank in Cora's movement and how she interacts with the world. As the primary character, you will hear a lot from Cora, which is unfortunate because both voice acting and dialogue are lacking. The story also leaves you wanting more due to being rather short.
| Pros | Cons |
| The world is beautiful and unique. | It can be easy to feel lost and not know where to go. |
| Features a semi-Metroidvania feel as you collect abilities that allow you to progress to new areas and solve puzzles. | The voice acting and dialogue come across as stilted and flat. |
| Once you uncover the sprint ability, movement becomes much more fun. | Throughout the game, the player can move past objectives using jank, go through walls, or have cut scenes play out of time or at the same time. |
| Respawning is swift. No waiting around. | The story in Seed of Life sways from making no sense to leaving the player in disbelief. |
Verdict - We Don't Recommend
Seed of Life is an ambitious project and the first game from developer MadLight. Some qualities are praiseworthy, but overall it feels like this game wasn't quite ready. Seed of Life takes two steps forward only to take one step back. Between the voice acting, jank, and some questionable design decisions, add in the fact that Seed of Life is relatively short, only lasting between four to six hours. It might be better to hold off or wait for a sale.
Published: Aug 12, 2021 04:34 am