Back when it was reported that Sony had trademarked a new IP by the name of Destiny of Spirits, many clamored and hoped for a Demon’s Souls game for the Vita. Fast forward a year and we have a location-based strategy-card-dueling game with RPG elements tailored for the vita; a huge far cry from the many who hoped it was an action RPG in the same vein as the Souls games. But that’s not bad; it’s actually quite refreshing and has that sneak-up-on-you addictive quality to it that sucks you right in as soon as you collect your first spirit. Oh and it’s free to play.
Developed jointly by SCE Japan Studio and Q Entertainment, Destiny of Spirits allows you to trade spirits or monsters with other players and even combine them to create new spirits and it is also dependent on your physical location as the game uses the world to match you up with different spirits. There have also been really cool collaboration spirits like Kat from Gravity Rush and Sony mascot Toro, as well as contributions from Soul Sacrifice and more recently Patapon 3.
The Vita is the perfect platform for this delightfully social strategy game and the fact that it is free is a huge bonus. You can spend actual money on special items that you can use to then summon other spirits or level up your current roster of spirits. It can get very addicting extremely quickly as you start to get into the rhythm of discovering new spirits, losing them in battle, meeting new people, using their spirits to assist you in battle, fighting bosses, and the list goes on. It’s a pleasant surprise that deserves your attention as a Vita owner. Loading times are a bit annoying but the game moves at a relatively fast pace so it counterbalances the frequent loading. Do yourself a favor today and download Destiny of Spirits on PSN right now!