The Spirit Engine

[Chroelle]

I must say that this game looks good. Haven't tried it yet, but I will.

Download: http://curlysworldoffreeware.com/game_i ... ?gameid=58

More infos: http://thespiritengine.com/tse1.html

Site description by developer:
The Spirit Engine is a 2D, sidescrolling adventure/RPG game with a simple story and a straightforward, innovative real-time combat system. Written as an experimental reaction to old 16bit console RPGs, it took a little under two years to complete and was released in November 2003 as freeware under Natomic.

Although TSE-1 suffers from amateurish scripting and graphics, poor coding, a cumbersome menu system and a slow and unrefined combat engine, I am still proud of what the game achieved. Most importantly I enjoyed playing it and, although it split opinions, I am happy to say that many others did too.

License: Freeware but we need permission to host.

Interesting fact: The spirit engine II is in the making

[Chroelle]

Ok I am now trying it out, and I must say that this game is a reak true GEM! I love it. I have been playing it for God knows how many hours now, and I am only in world 2 (finishing up though).

I am playing with three different chars, and about now I start regretting that I didn't go with two priests and no mage. Simply loving it, and just now stumbled into the first challenge that seems a bit too hard. Some have said that the game is too easy, but I wouldn't go there. I think it demands the right amount of strategy from you, so that you don't die all the time, and you still have to keep on your toes.

I just ran into a demon spitting suicide explosive imps at me, while the mad young preacher is holding the village magician captured. I am having somewhat of a hard time getting that completed...

Love this game. If you haven't tried it yet, then go do so immediately! Now that is a direct order from your admin!

[Pater Alf]

I couldn't have said it better .

I love this game as well and it's probably one of the best we discussed on this site so far...

It's a great mix between action, sidescroller and role playing game. You can choose from various characters in the beginning of the game (gets more important during later levels) and have the opportunity to upgrade these characters by buying new amor, weapons and amulets.
You can also learn a great variety of spells which you can use during fights. Sometimes it's really hard to find the right spell combination to win a hard fight and you will die several times before you succeed. But you don't have to worry; there are several savepoints and you don't have to start from the beginning after dying.

Graphics are fine (even if you can not play in fullscreen mode) and the music and sounds are atmospheric and won't get on your nerves after a while (I would be glad if I could say this from every freeware game). The story is interesting enough to keep you playing for several hours. (copy from my vote in the game hunters forum)

I nearly completed world three by now (had to spend most of my freetime last week on that) and it's really hard by now). I tried several times to kill the last opponent but fail every time. So I think I have to change my strategy...


So please hear what your admin said and start playing this game! You won't regret it.

[Chroelle]

Got an email from the developer yesterday, and we now have permission from him to host the game. He also gave us a good pad on the back for our work here. Nice guy!

I hope to see him in here, and he did say he would drop in.

[Scythe]

I love this game very much, and I go back to it every few months, only to find the same problem: It crashes on me... I can play for about half an hour (sometimes less) and then I get an error message and the game crashes. *sigh* Why couldn't this have happened to some no good sucky game instead...

P.S. It's one of those "unexpected something something" errors. I report it and there's apparently no solution on file.

[Chroelle]

HAve you tried contacting the developer? He might know something about this problem.

I have reached what seems to be middle of 3rd world. The game has so far taken all of my freetime, and this means 8 hours+ of gameplay.
Its great as you can also read from P.A's post.
Only problem for me is that I got stuck for a while in the game, and I turned to validating some games and all of a sudden I was pulled out of my era of gaming The Spirit Engine. This game is a deserving topscorer, and if you haven't played it yet, then it i definently your own loss, since this is propably my favourite game on here.
I truelly hope that I get to return to it at some point.

[Scythe]

I deleted my save game in frustration - the only way to make sure I didn't set myself up for disappointment again.

[Chroelle]

On some exciting and yet annoying news:
July 30th 2008 will be the deadline for The Spirit Engine 2. The newest trailer looks and sounds amazing.
http://www.vimeo.com/1215927
Unfortunately as mentioned some times before the game will not be freeware as its predecessor. You will have to pay for the sequel though we do not know how much yet.

[Drasir-Vel]

On some exciting and yet annoying news:
July 30th 2008 will be the deadline for The Spirit Engine 2. The newest trailer looks and sounds amazing.
http://www.vimeo.com/1215927
Unfortunately as mentioned some times before the game will not be freeware as its predecessor. You will have to pay for the sequel though we do not know how much yet.

It will cost 15$. Too bad it's not free, but some of its music will be You can find a part of the soundtrack for the game here for free.
http://www.syntesis.org/tse2-selections

Along with 4 albums inspired by The Spirit Engine, also free.
http://www.syntesis.org/tse2/premonitions

And most on-topic, the soundtrack for The Spirit Engine (1)
http://tse.syntesis.org/

[Drasir-Vel]

Among the thousands of freeware games, there's a lot of good ones. But i've experienced that there's only a few you can get back to and want to play again after some time. Games where the developer really has laid a soul into the game and given it meaning, above the basic terms of 'great gameplay', 'good graphics' and 'nice music'. That's a thought i got when i tried playing The Spirit Engine again. I really must credit Mark Pay, and Josh Whelchel for the game that i think is one of the best examples of quality freeware games. It's one of the few you can actually call a "gem".

Art is not what you see, but the thoughts you get by seeing it. Art is not what a picture looks like, but the thoughts you get by looking at it. A picture where all is obvious and all thoughts has been defined isn't as much art. It is pictures that, when you look at them, make you think yourself and inspires new thoughts.

If a game has that factor, the thing that gives the feeling of something on a higher level, and is able to make you think. Then i believe it can be called art.

Just a thought.

[Pater Alf]

Just to cut down Drasir Vel's thoughts: Yep, "The Spirit Engine" is one of the best freeware titles of all times!!! Well done Mark Pay!

[Chroelle]

I ahve actually considered taking up a game of this again. I have started a new thing where I try to play some of the games that I already validated ages ago again to see what I think of them now, and also to get a better game out of it. I tend to be very focused on validation when I validate, and so dont always simply sink into the game and dwell in it. This one was my next project. As soon as I get bored with Freecol.

[Scythe]

Maybe I'll give it another go now that I have a new comp and may not have the game crash unexpectedly all the time...

[Chroelle]

Just wanted to let people know about:
http://forum.curlysworldoffreeware.com/ ... php?t=2777
The Spirit Engine 2.

[Drasir-Vel]

hah! finally finished this game using a certain speed guide. Awesome game.
But it's also really hard. If you don't choose your skills wisely from the beginning, it will be impossible for you to complete the game in the end. That's also why i needed to use a guide. The first time i tried, i got stuck.

[Scythe]

While browsing RPGs on CWF, I noticed that this game isn't listed with the "RPG" genre. Surely this is an oversight.

[Pater Alf]

Fixed!

[eMTe]

Considering that people find our site googling game's name this wasn't serious omission. And there are probably many more like this one.

[Scythe]

Well, if you find more omissions, they should be fixed.