Review for Aspire: Ina’s Tale
Being the Chosen One is an incredible honour, but it's also a huge responsibility, especially for a child. While guiding a whole community, there's little freedom or time for play. So begins Aspire: Ina's Tale, the debut of Brazilian developer Wondernaut Studio. Mixing puzzle solving with a bit of light action-platforming, it chronicles Ina's literal and metaphorical journey as she throws off her destiny as her people's leader to become her own person. Despite occasionally frustrating mechanics, the result is a short but beautiful experience.
Ina started as the priestess of a nearby village, groomed by her Papa to be first their spiritual leader and latterly their Heart, living (or, more accurately, imprisoned) in the Tower. Perpetually sleeping, her dreams somehow shape reality for the surrounding lands, bringing them prosperity. As noble as that sounds, she's still just a girl and, as she starts to chafe against her destiny, she dreams of attacking the Tower. As the story begins, she has finally awoken to find the Tower breaking down around her, and her only way out blocked. Exploring this mysterious place, she meets the Tower's other residents, discovering more about how she came to be there and enlisting their help to escape. Like Ina, everyone she meets is defined by their role in the story, whether that's Joker, Thief, Architect, or Warden. They did have real lives and names, but the Tower has subsumed these; lost so they can take their place as part of the grand plan.
The Tower is also home to Spirits that will prove crucial in overcoming the challenges Ina faces. Early on, making progress involves dragging crates, pulling levers, and swinging from ropes, but before long the Spirits are helping her bring light, move platforms, and expand blocks. For example, the Spirit of Energy takes the form of glowing orbs that, once found, follow Ina around and can infuse blocks and lanterns with light, dispelling black gooey masses that block the way and activating switches to raise gates. Lanterns near a light source are also charged up by it, extending its reach and enabling her to activate multiple switches at once. Later, the Spirit of Motion can temporarily send platforms or blocks floating up or sideways, while the Spirit of Magnitude makes blocks expand or contract, bridging gaps or helping Ina reach otherwise inaccessible platforms. These are used in various inventive ways, but each puzzle zone is small (limited by electric barriers that allow Ina to pass while zapping Spirits) and the challenge never builds to hair-pulling levels. Indeed, at only three to four hours of playtime, it often felt like Ina was moving on to a new area just as things were getting interesting.
Unfortunately, the dark and broken Tower is also home to hulking monsters with an alarming number of claws and teeth. They're far too fast and aggressive to fight, but they can't stand the Spirit's light, enabling Ina to hold them at bay or even push them off ledges if she can find an orb in time. These action sequences are a startling change from the serene atmosphere that pervades the rest of the game, and while they shouldn't be too difficult for most, it often took me a few tries to work out what to do and then do it correctly. That said, dying isn't too painful, as it just returns you to the most recent checkpoint, generally just before the attack. Aspire is one for those who like to spice up their puzzling with a bit of action now and then, though it should be accessible for most: you won't need honed reflexes to get through the fast-paced sections, just a little persistence.
Aspire looks and sounds lovely, its stylised and simply shaded worlds glowing with life and artistic details as Ina runs fluidly through them, her long ginger ponytail streaming out behind her. Ranging from the dark browns and purples of the early Dungeon to the lush greenery of the Temple and its gardens, each area has its charm and hints at Ina's emotional journey. Lush environments redolent of magic and fantasy give way to a technological nightmare of sparking machinery and screens filled with glowing amber eyes. The music is mainly relaxed and soothing, with tinkling piano and soft strings only occasionally giving way to ominous chords and pounding drums when the action heats up. Curiously, Ina's occasional conversations pop up as text boxes that clack as if the responses are typewritten.
Aside from moving and jumping, Ina can drag boxes and add or remove Spirits from items she's standing next to, with both keyboard and controller support. The controls work well, at least once you work out that Spirits need a short button press to add them but a long press for removal. Things get a bit more confusing late in the game, though, when Ina can have multiple Spirits on hand simultaneously and has to cycle through them to select the right one. In the heat of some of the later action sequences, I found it all too easy to pick the wrong one and unnecessarily send Ina to her death. This was particularly true during the finale, where Ina must often dodge behind shields while pulling blocks into place, timing her movements to dash across gaps and scale ladders during temporary lulls between fierce attacks.
Even after meeting its Architect, it's never quite clear how or why the Tower came to exist or how everyone there was pulled into its orbit, but that's not really the point. Instead, it feels like a metaphor for how life draws us into seemingly preordained roles that can be either fulfilling or suffocating, but either way are hard to break out of, at least not without feeling you're letting others down. Aspire's storytelling is deliberately vague and leaves ample room for interpretation. However, you can learn a little more about people by seeking out their memories, which are hidden away as optional objectives. There are no clear-cut answers here, and it's to Aspire's credit that I still wasn't sure whether to cheer as Ina finally escaped the crumbling Tower or lament her loss to those who remained behind.
Aspire: Ina's Tale is a brief but diverse experience. Flitting from peaceful puzzling to action-platforming and from mystical metaphors to relatable teenage angst, it is beautiful, charming, and intriguing. It's not for those seeking easy answers or brain-bending challenges, but it's emotional and memorable while it lasts. If you're looking for an escape of your own, and possibly something to think about, it's well worth exploring the Tower.
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