Preview: I played Spirit Lucky’s Big Adventure for an Hour – Here’s what to Expect

After getting in touch with Outright Games for my developer interview, I was invited to be part of their “OG Unwrapped” Showcase Event, where I could try the upcoming Spirit Lucky’s Big Adventure for the first time. Read on to learn my first impressions, what I already love about it, and what to expect from the title. 

The game will be released in June this year, in time with the movie Spirit Untamed. 

Note: I did not record or take screenshots during my play session. The images in this article are captured from a video provided by Outright Games.

Gameplay

I am invited to play over Parsec, the game running on an Outright Games computer and getting streamed to me. The version is not a limited demo, but the full game, which is as good as ready for the upcoming release. 

The opening cutscene introduces me to Lucky, but doesn’t spend a lot of time on establishing any other characters or relationships. The mustang Spirit is already my trusted steed, as has been established in the TV series early on. 

My first mission is doing chores at the stable, which are simple “press A to interact” tasks. Before long, I get to give Spirit a hug, mount up and take my first ride through Miradero. 

I steer my mustang using a joystick, which makes it difficult to maintain a walk or trot. My initial confusion over how sprinting works makes the game feel incredibly slow at first, but I eventually figure out that I actually have to hold the sprint button to make proper use of it. The sprinting lasts for a few seconds, and I will be able to eventually recharge my Sprinting capacity (in the form of horseshoe icons) by grooming Spirit. I haven’t reached that mechanic yet during my playtime however. 

Lucky meets up with her father at their home and is given a camera, which introduces us to my favorite mechanic so far: To take a successful photograph, you need an animal – Spirit, in this first case – to be close to the camera but not too close, centered in the image, facing you, and standing still. I’m immediately reminded of the Pokémon Snap games, which I absolutely adore.

Due to the long exposure time of old-timey cameras, moving animals are a no-go for photo mode

The story is told through a mix of animated cutscenes and text boxes.

My next mission takes me out into the wilderness at night to observe the shady-looking villain and his illegal horse-catching activities. I yearningly gaze after a deer that walks past me, wanting to capture it on camera, but knowing I’m on a mission. Here I get an introduction to Lucky’s climbing abilities, which let me pull from ledge to ledge in an Uncharted fashion. 

Once I get back to Miradero, I need to help my friends Pru and Abigail with their chores before we can continue going after the horse thief. I call it a day at this point, knowing I’d otherwise get to replay these same fetch quests for my full review. 

Impressions

Since I did not want to spend all my playtime over-analyzing Spirit’s movements, I will have to wait until the game is out for an in depth look at the riding feel and animations. My first impression is that the horse animation is serviceable, but nothing to write home about. I was slightly irritated at the joystick behavior essentially limiting me to a canter or gallop, and the lack of a stop/brake button to slow down faster than simply letting go of the stick.

The quest design that I’ve seen so far is very basic, with the mechanics mostly boiling down to going where the quest marker tells you to, getting a bit of dialogue there and then getting a new marker. I was glad to see that the game has fast travel options though, which can definitely cut down on the tedium. 
These are all minor complaints however. I’d wager that for the actual target audience of 6-9 year old kids, the controls and quests will be perfectly enjoyable. As a game with a narrative and characters, animated cutscenes and a hundred animals to find and photograph, Spirit Lucky’s Big Adventure is already miles ahead of much of the competition.

Following NPCs at a distance is also among your tasks.

There might well be more varied quest mechanics later in the game.

New Learnings

While I play, the game’s product manager Irina Ovary Dalmau answers some of my questions: The game will release on different dates in different regions due to varying release dates of the movie, she says. Most of the EU will be able to buy Spirit Lucky’s Big Adventure on June 11th, whereas the US can already download it on the first day of the month. The UK, Nordics and rest of Europe will have to wait until the 25th. 

Irina tells me that the game’s main story is about eight hours long, with side missions and exploration offering additional quite some content on the side. The game has no in-app purchases and no further downloadable content is currently planned. 

I ask her about the almost concurrent release of Wild River’s Horse Club Adventure, which is a direct competitor in being another open world horse game for kids with a focus on narrative and discovery. Although the simultaneous release was unintentional, Outright Games is not overly worried about it, Irina lets me know. They believe in the strength of the Spirit brand and its renewed relevance in light of the movie’s release. 

While the characters of Lucky and her friends are familiar to viewers of the Spirit: Riding Free tv series, the game is based on the movie, not the show. In the game, human main character Lucky is voiced by Peruvian-American actress Isabela Merced, who also plays the role in the movie. 

Expectations

After an hour of playing the game, I can’t say that I am incredibly excited for the game to come out, but I definitely intend to give it a more in-depth look and a proper review. I am clearly not the target audience age-wise, and yet I can see that there is fun and love put into this. Spirit Lucky’s Big Adventure is a horse game of an entirely different calibre than other examples of horse-focused movie tie-ins. Its scope is more comparable to Windstorm: Ari’s Arrival than to the Bibi & Tina games.

And I have to be honest: If I weren’t already playing New Pokémon Snap and loving every second of it, I would probably want to play Spirit Lucky’s Big Adventure for the photo mode alone.

DreamWorks’ Spirit Lucky’s Big Adventure will be released in June 2021 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.