One of my most anticipated Indie games for 2023 is Spirit Swap: Lo-Fi Beats to Match-3 To. Yes, the title is a mouthful, but Spirit Swap is a feast for the senses. It has a chill vibe and inclusive cast that makes it an absolute blast. Ahead of this week’s Steam Next Fest (starting today) I went ahead and downloaded the latest demo, and it exceeded my expectations.

Before we get into my thoughts, here is what the Steam Page details as the story/premise of Spirit Swap: “Samar is a young witch working the spirit-swapping night shift in the eastern outskirts of Demashq. A recent spike in spirits crossing over from another dimension breaks the chill atmosphere of their night shift. With her trusty familiarZ by her side, she sets off into the city to find out what’s happened. With a popular band scheduled to kick off their big comeback tour in Demashq, Samar needs to work quickly before the city is overrun with stans and spirits alike!”

Spirit Swap features a cast of colorful characters across the LGBTQ+ spectrum, including witches, demons, and more. The artwork is beautiful, with colorful, detailed visuals in a variety of scenes and locations, all with an inclusive and chill vibe. The gameplay alternates between Visual-Novel style narrative scenes, and fun “Action Match-3” gameplay.

Now, the type of gameplay in Spirit Swap isn’t that common anymore, but if you’ve played games like Puzzle Fighter or Puyo Puyo Tetris, then you’ll get the sort of vibe. Most of the time you’ll be matching 3 (or more) colored spirits at the same time as your opponent. The more (and bigger) matches you make, the more “trash” gets put on the enemy board, and vice versa.

However, to mix this up, each character has their own magic abilities that can be utilized by filling a bar as you make matches. Once you fulfill the requirements, like putting spirits into a matching square (for example), you’ll be able to unleash your spell and do a variety of things to your board or your opponent. You have to defeat your opponent 3 times in order to fully win though, and if they beat you 3 times you lose.

For this Demo, there was a short piece of the story mode available, as well as a limited versus mode. While the Story Mode only allows you to play as Samar, the versus mode lets you try other characters and experience their unique abilities. While I like Samar, and while I’m excited about her story, I hope the other (gorgeously drawn) characters get some playable time in the spotlight during the story as well. I didn’t try out the versus mode, but the Story mode plays well and is an absolute blast.

Personally, I think the “Beat your opponent 3 times” concept is a bit excessive. I hope for some Match-3 puzzles thrown in at some point, if not in the main game, then in some DLC. Regardless, I’m very excited about Spirit Swap. The characters are cute and fun, the story is interesting, and there’s something about the music that makes even the most hectic matches seem less stressful and more relaxing. This is a perfect demo to check out for Pride Month.

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