Many action games let you play as Death or let you utilize Death’s powers in various ways. However, very few games make you sit down and think about what being the Grim Reaper would actually be like. Spindle is a game that made me cry no less than twice and is something I’ll be thinking about for a while.

In Spindle, you play a young boy named Dengel, who becomes the new embodiment of Death. Except…something is wrong. Death is missing his power, and a mysterious darkness is plaguing the various towns around “The Town,” a central hub. Dengel must work with his trusty pig ally to figure out the mysterious darkness, why people no longer die as they should, and restore his power all before something awful happens.

The brilliance of Spindle is that it is a Zelda-like game that makes you confront not only the concept of death, but what happens after. Each chapter involves you collecting a soul (or more) and following the story of how that person died. This usually involves a boss fight in which you free the soul.

In Zelda-esque fashion, the world is full of secrets and puzzles to solve, which you manage by restoring more of Death’s power. As time progresses, not only do you get to interact with townspeople and the people affected by the evil you face, but you also see the aftermath. Spindle’s storytelling is both deeply effective and heartbreaking in how it uses subtlety to get you to feel for the characters and slowly fills out its world through the lens of grief.

The puzzles are interesting, though a lot of the progression involves exploration and fetch quests. However, it isn’t a huge deterrent if you can just lose yourself in the story. I’ll admit I cried a few times while playing Spindle, because of how emotional certain elements were.

If you’re looking for something a little different, or reflective of classic Zelda gameplay, Spindle is perfect. There are a few points where it gets to be a bit frustrating to play, through a lack of guideposting of where to go, but it isn’t really that hard. If you want 20 hours (for completionists) of good adventure and emotional storytelling, give Spindle a look.

A PC Review Copy of Spindle was provided by Deck13 for the purposes of this review.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

Spindle

$19.99 USD

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• Emotional Storyline
• Fun Puzzle and Zelda-esque gameplay
• Fun, fleshed-out characters
• Beautiful pixel visuals

Cons

• Most side quests are fetch quests