Play this new early access game from Steven Spielberg’s son

Lynked: Banner of the Spark starts with a prison break. Players meet a friendly Unibot named Buddy and set off on an adventure to restore the Banner of the Spark, a group of helpful Unibots that helped restore the world after an apocalypse. To do so, players have to fight a lot of robots that aren’t as friendly toward humanity. That means Lynked is an isometric action game where players go on missions that all boil down to beating up hordes of evil robots called Combots.

Lynked gives players plenty of weapons with which to do so. Some are more generic swords and spears, but others feel more distinct. My favorite is the guitar-like Resonator, which deals damage or pushes enemies backward in the area around me. Players can also grab enemies or objects in the environment with their “Wyre” arm. This enables players to pull enemies toward themselves to extend combos, pick up and throw objects, or perform a finisher on enemies with low health.

Combat is exhilarating, hitting the same high notes as great isometric action games like Hades. It does get repetitive after a while, but Lynked puts some systems in place to help pave over that problem. Most obviously, you can change which weapon or mighty Spark Powers your character has at the start of a mission and go through it with a different build. Lynked also has roguelite elements that make each run feel unique.

Within a few missions, you’ll have rescued other bots that add depth to each mission playthrough, like a weaponsmith who can offer players upgrades at the end of each area that makes up a mission. This means you’ll have a slightly different experience even if you play the same mission over and over again, which works to alleviate some of the repetition.

There’s a whole other part of the game between those action-focused missions that may appeal to players. Every player has a hub area where they can move buildings around and customize it to their liking. It’s not quite as intricate as something like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but it is a great way to break up the pace between tenser action moments.

It’s a smart way to complement co-op gameplay, another big draw of Lynked. We all know the logistics of playing multiplayer games together can sometimes be frustrating. Up to eight players can join the same lobby, but missions only support teams of three, so there may be some downtime once bigger groups are gathered as well. Instead of forcing players to sit in a menu or static hub area, Lynked essentially gives players another entertaining style of game to mess around with while they’re waiting.