Spava is a bite-sized hidden object and glyph-based puzzle game I picked up earlier this week. It feels like a paid prelude to something much greater and more interesting, but it was interesting enough for me to be compelled to create a short review about it.
The main reason I was drawn to Spava was because of its wonderful and evocative artwork. Spava is split into two distinct gameplay types, with the hidden object portion taking up most of the gameplay time. Here, the player explores artistic impressions of dreams turned nightmares. Doors warp to sinister angles, trees look like triffids, gates have evil smiles and nothing is calm or relaxing at all. Woven into the artwork are a few pieces of the world that have survived like chess pieces, smiley faces or a jug. You are given hints with glyphs at the bottom of the screen to work out what to find and this speeds the hidden object portion of the game along. The art style is hand drawn but crosses over like a fantastical AI painting at times too. The artist has detailed all the concept drawings on their website which pulled me into buying Spava.
Sadly, Spava is incredibly short. I completed it in 21 minutes and I would have been faster if I hadn’t misunderstood the glyph-based puzzle in between the hidden object sections. All the objects you collect need to be slotted into stone grids by matching their glyphs with a related picture. The game doesn’t tell you that you’ll need to complete collections of hidden object puzzles to earn all the glyphs to solve the puzzle though, so I spent a few minutes thinking something was broken. It is an example of non-narrative gaming not being obvious enough to carry game design traits. Once I understood that, I powered through and since the game flips between these two puzzle types for its duration, I reached the end very quickly.
Despite its low price point, the runtime and lack of replayability or impact for returning back to Spava make it feel like a poor deal. The artwork is lovely, the music fitting, and the general Alice In Wonderland feel was spot on. I hope the developers decide to revisit and expand on this concept as there is plenty here to explore and build on. It is their first game and the team is clearly talented. Spava just feels like a proof of concept rather than a fully fledged experience.
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