Seed of Life Review
Release Date: August 11, 2021
Developer: Madlight Studios
Platforms: PC (Reviewed)
Price: $24.99
Yggdrasil has long been a part of popular mythologies and the usage of it in contemporary media has always been a prominent one. Colloquially known as the Tree of Life, it always represented many ideologies and perspectives into how life carries on and what it means to be alive. Its metaphorical usage has made it such a strongpoint in conveying messages within narratives, and Seed of Life, while not explicitly being about Yggdrasil, certainly looks into a decaying planet that needs the help of Cora to collect Lumium and revitalize the world of Lumia.
After finding books belonging to her grandfather detailing the studies and acts of him going to help bring life back to the planet, Cora herself feels inspired to go and help rather than wait at home as the clock counts down to the final moments that's being accelerated by an alien invasion. Lumium, and by proxy Lumia, is an essential source that holds all life together, but with a dying sun and the numbers dwindling, life will cease to exist in due time. Cora is a likeable character that you'll find yourself in the shoes of as you traverse through the semi-open world in desolate environments that mimic the status of the planet, so you'll find yourself going through a lot of rocky areas before they diversify a bit more the deeper you get into the game. Being mainly a puzzle-platformer, there won't be much in the way of exciting action despite Seed of Life's description announcing so, and unfortunately the puzzle-platforming itself isn't engaging enough to keep the narrative captivating. There's a sense of wholesomeness that comes from an inexperienced explorer that all of a sudden is tasked something as extravagant as saving the world, and Cora's dialogue and her character mean well throughout the adventure, but thanks to poor voice acting, choppy animations, and janky platforming elements, the entire structure of Seed of Life can at times feel shallow. There's no denying that care and passion was put into Seed of Life, however, it's just that the inexperience shows a bit through the cracks of its unpolished nature.
Seed of Life is ambitious considering the size of the studio, though. Under the right circumstances and if given the opportunity to work alongside a large publisher, I do believe Seed of Life could have been a game that would have gotten a lot of attention and admiration. It's not bad by any means, but odd bugs and the way jumping works against slopes feels dated, and while the controls themselves are simple with a minimal UI to complement it, Seed of Life ends up feeling too empty to really feel like you're on any sort of planet to begin with. Instead, it feels more like a moon that just happened to have a few places colonized. Its art direction also tends to clash with each other, as its blend of sci-fi elements that include neon flora, Wall-E-esque aliens, humans with medieval hunter clothing, and ancient Mayan ruins and structures all feel like they were taken out of vastly different time periods, perspectives, and styles. It's not that the assets themselves *can't* blend well with each other, but it's akin to, say, Powerpuff Girls, Spongebob, and Adventure Time all in the same universe; they're all cartoons, sure, but there's a very clear difference between them given the immensely different art directions.
Even for its lack of polish in a lot of areas, Seed of Life does feel like a decent enough effort that it's worth sinking some time into if you're looking for a unique platformer to play regardless of the size and scale. Sometimes there's a sense of appreciation you have for those platformers and adventure games that tend to feel dated because it unintentionally gives a sense of nostalgia, and sometimes the jank itself can become part of its charm. While this isn't 100% the case with Seed of Life and shouldn't necessarily be used as a way to forgive some of the issues it suffers from, at the very least the game is clearly very proud of itself and what it has accomplished - and it should be. The story is simple, the gameplay semi-linear despite the larger areas, and the puzzles are fairly straight-forward and don't necessarily ask much of the player.
Overall, Seed of Life feels special enough that it's something that I'll likely remember for quite some time even if it's one of the less notable ones I've had as of late. Though it's not breaking any boundaries or introducing anything new, as an indie game it's one of the better looking ones and certainly isn't as buggy as one would expect for a game of this caliber. I tried many times to clip into things or find shortcuts that clearly weren't intentional, and while I do feel in some cases this was possible, it was well put together enough that my platforming and adventure background could guard most of what I was trying to do in any attempt to "break" the game, so at the very least Seed of Life is competent in this regard. I certainly think at the end of the day, however, that Seed of Life is a game that will be divisive amongst most folks, but it's worth looking into at one's discretion when they're bored enough and looking for something new to play whether it ends up impressing them or not. Seed of Life has its issues without a doubt, but I think there's enough of an enjoyment here for enthusiasts of the gene that they'll appreciate what the studio was attempting to offer. Seed of Life unfortunately just feels too much like a proof of concept for a bigger AAA game and a little disjointed and misguided because of the ambitions that were set in place. Seed of Life would have been a much more engaging and appreciative experience had they stayed grounded and worked within their limitations and to the best of their ability, rathe than trying to copy and reach for something that at this time just couldn't be attained.
PROS:
The setting of a decaying planet sets it apart from the usual high contrast and colorful nature of similar games
Exudes enough charm to keep the player engaged and wanting to save the planet
CONS:
Rather than feeling grounded and tuned to what it was capable of, the game feels like it aims too high to be a AAA experience despite being an indie production and hurts its overall presentation.
The voice acting is not good at all. Whatsoever.
After a while loses its excitement and tends to feel tedious and slow-going.
A big thank you to MadLight and Leonardo Interactive for providing us a copy of Seed of Life for the purposes of this review!