LifeisXbox’s Imp of the Sun review | A hand-crafted art style, platforming, adventure, Peruvian culture? Well, you caught my attention, alright! Let me introduce Imp of the Sun, a 2D fast-paced action platformer inspired by Peruvian cultures. Developed by Sunwolf Entertainment and published by Fireshine Games, is now available on all major platforms so, of course, I had to try it out on my good old computer. In Imp of the Sun, you take on the role of Nin, an imp created from the final spark of the sun. You set out on a journey to defeat the Four Keepers and restore the Sun’s power. Can you prevent the world from plunging into darkness and end the Eternal Eclipse? Let’s see if this little title is worth your time and hard-earned money, shall we?
ℹ️ Reviewed on PC | Review code provided by PR/publisher, this review is the personal opinion of the writer.
What we Liked!
- Art style | What initially drew me to this game was its art style. I’m very fond of the hand-drawn, Peruvian-inspired theme that the developers went with. The four areas all feel like they fit into this one team, yet they are distinct enough to feel like you’re seeing the right amount of variety during your journey. I loved the very vibrant landscapes and the just as lively characters that you meet along the way. There’s plenty of detail to feast your eyes upon and I feel like you could go through this game various times just to take in all that the graphics have to offer.
- Flexible boss fights | Imp of the Sun has four bosses, scattered over four different areas, plus one final boss to beat. If you want to get to the final boss, you have to defeat all four bosses first. Now, when defeating a boss, you gain a new power that will help you explore and fight even better. Now, what is interesting about Imp of the Sun is that you can tackle each of the four bosses as you please. Sure, some bosses are harder to defeat, but then you can just go back to another area, explore through it and try and fight another boss. Basically, this means that you can make the game easier or more difficult for yourself. Personally, I was stuck on a certain boss for way longer than I’d like to admit, so I had to eventually face defeat and move on to another boss first. No worries though, Imp of the Sun offers fast travel so it’s not that much of a pain to travel to another area!
- Gather orbs and upgrade | Now, when you’re going around defeating enemies, you will earn orbs that you can then use to increase your health, attack, and Inner Fire Bar (which you will need in combat to shoot arrows, heal, and so on). This aspect of the game really makes the overall gameplay more interesting, especially since losing against an enemy and dying makes you lose orbs too. Besides these upgrades, you’ll also improve your combat skills by unlocking new combo attacks, regular attacks, and skills.
- Replay value | Since this game offers flexible gameplay, it’s perfectly suited to be replayed multiple times. The Steam page even says ‘Imp of the Sun is built to be played and then re-played, players may even find shortcuts along the journey’ which basically confirms this. On top of that, an extra game mode called Eclipse Mode unlocks after you beat all five bosses. In this particular mode, you get an ‘authentic experience in a darkened kingdom’ which basically means that all areas are shrouded in darkness! Plus, enemies are more difficult to defeat and some puzzles are a little different. Of course, it’s not all bad because you start this NG+ mode with all your powers, right from the start!
Mixed Feelings
- Average overall experience | While I listed a couple of positive things about Imp of the Sun, and I’ve been quite positive about the overall experience so far, I still feel like it’s just an average game? Sure, I adored the art style, the inspiration and the idea of the game, but in all honesty, it doesn’t really feel like Imp of the Sun really introduces something new and groundbreaking. I don’t want to say it’s one of the many in its genre, but in a way, it just is. Add to this that every area may look different but kind of plays the same (find two keys to unlock the path to the boss), it feels even less original.
- Controls | I wasn’t too fond of the control scheme in Imp of the Sun, to be honest. I played with the keyboard and I felt like the controls weren’t placed logically and I had a difficult time navigating the controls. Also, there is no option to rebind keys so I was kind of forced to play with the ones that the developer picked. You can also play with a controller, which felt a lot more comfortable, so my suggestion is to go with this too. Luckily, I did feel like I was in control of my little imp so controlling my character wasn’t as much an issue.
What we Disliked
- I have no strong dislikes about Imp of the Sun 🙂
How long to beat the story | 3 to 4 hours
How long to achieve 1000G | 10+ hours
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Head of PC team. PC, Switch, and Xbox game reviewer. Also a marketeer, concert and animal lover, and photographer in training 🙂
Steam: Mauitje
Xbox: Mauitjexo
