Sparklite Guide – Beginners Tips & Tricks

Gotta get that sweet, sweet sparklite.

Sparklite’s rogue-lite and combat elements have been crafted with accessibility in mind – this doesn’t mean it’s short on challenges, though. Equip yourself for adventure with our handy Sparklite guide.

Choose your own difficulty

Sparklite wears its Legend of Zelda inspiration on its sleeve. The art style and soundtrack ooze the calming Minish Cap vibe but the difficulty plays more like a mix between Breath of the Wild and older Zelda titles. In Breath of the Wild, you can jump straight to the final boss if you choose; similarly, in Sparklite you can rush through the bosses to the end of the game if you choose. Every upgrade necessary for world progression comes from defeating bosses so you can theoretically beat the game in one run.

It should be easy for you to find your own pace that lets you enjoy both the upgrade systems and difficulty curve of Sparklite, because…

Death isn’t very punishing

You can push as far as you want in Sparklite and all you will lose is your map. The devs don’t like calling the game a rogue-lite, as the only element of the genre is the map randomising after being defeated. This means that any locations you find will also be marked on the map on your next attempt. Oh, and if you miss a secret or chest because you didn’t have the right item or ability, don’t fret; it is almost guaranteed to appear again in a different location.

Explore everywhere… at least once

The first time you step foot in any of Geodia’s five regions you’ll want to do a full scan of the area to open up any easily accessible, one-off chests and collect as many Beats as possible. 

The main reasons to explore everywhere before diving into the boss battles is to find each area’s respective NPCs and Vault. Each Vault contains a gadget puzzle, which will grant you a new gadget to research once completed. Some NPC’s are just for flavour, but others will give you useful rewards like patches. Once you find an NPC, they can be found in The Refuge during your next run.

Keep in mind that whenever you defeat a boss you’ll be sent to town, but when returning to Geodia the map will be the same as when you left it.

New skills for your robot buddy

Wingnut is your flying robot companion and co-op partner throughout the game. It can be found after beating the first Titan boss and brings a new set of utilities for exploration. If you want to play local co-op, the second player can take control of Wingnut. There are three abilities you can unlock for Wingnut by defeating bosses:

Claw Digger – The standard Wingnut ability lets you grab items buried in the ground indicated by discoloured spots on the ground. It’s worth digging these up for sparklite, chests and Beats.

Flare Bang – Obtained after the second boss, the Flare Bang gives Wingnut a light aura, allowing you to explore dark caves.

Muck Buster – The final upgrade after the third boss, the Muck Buster lets you suck up slime and poop out sparklite! Other secrets and puzzles can also be found so make sure to clean up any muck you see.

Where to find Beats

Beats are little singing creatures found in bushes, under rocks and buried in the ground that can be collected for useful health-boosting patch rewards. They can be tricky to find if you’re rushing through each zone, so take your time after clearing a screen and listen out for any chirps that give away their location. If you have to leave one behind because you lack the item necessary to get them, don’t fret, they can be found during your next run in the same location. They’re also conveniently colour coded and organised in The Refuge so you can see which zones still have Beats to find.

Break some of the things

Not every rock will have something juicy under it, but once you find the Boom Balloon, you can break open any rock flecked with gold to find some extra sparklite or secret caves.

Also, keep an eye out for mutated bulbs on trees as they will often contain useful items for your supply or sparklite.

What should you upgrade?

It can be hard to choose where to invest that sweet, sweet sparklite. Spreading your rewards evenly is still a safe option, but there are a few key upgrades that are more impactful than others. 

Upgrade your medical facility early – Your medical facility is where you can assign patches to your build. You’ll very quickly find a large number of patches but only start with nine slots to place them in. Upgrading your medical facility to level two gives you 16 slots, capping out at 25 slots at level three. This provides a significant power boost as long as you have the patches to fill it.

Upgrade the workshop only as needed – the workshop hosts your gadget upgrades, increasing the number of gadgets obtained from vaults that you can take on a run. Because there is no benefit to upgrading the workshop without first finding schematics, it’s only recommended that you upgrade it once all gadget slots are full.

Which patches are the best to use?

Upgrading patches becomes an essential option when venturing into the later zones in the game. Due to the low damage output of gadgets, energy boosts and gadget damage can be left out for more important patches like health, wrench damage and map markers.

Hearts can’t easily be replenished in Sparklite so boosting your max health and defence patches is vital. Defence patches become especially useful as they provide a significant damage reduction down to a quarter heart.

Wrench damage patches are almost essential as most of your damage will come from close combat. 

Map marker patches like the Vault, Titan and Furnace patches are more useful for planning your path than the Map patches that reveal a zone area.

Combat tips

Most of your time on Geodia will be spent smacking enemies with your wrench; here are a few tips that make combat a little smoother. 

You can dash in any direction while swinging your hammer. If you’re charging up a hammer smash and a boss is about to hit, you can make a quick getaway using the dash. This becomes less of an issue with hammer speed patches but is a useful cautious movement to get the hang of.

You can use enemies to kill each other. Some enemies have charge or area attacks that can be punishing but with the right positioning, you can leverage enemy attacks to your advantage.

If you plan to use gadgets in combat and play with a controller, aiming is far easier with the D-pad than an analogue stick. They’re not overly useful in most combat but can be used to chip away at bosses if necessary.

Be prepared

Like any adventure game worth its salt, Sparklite can take you by surprise if you go in unprepared. New zones and boss fights can be especially difficult if you’re not prepared. There are a few simple things to keep in mind when venturing into new areas.

Boss dungeons have hearts in the barrels before the fight, but you have to fight the boss. It’s something to consider if you’re in a new zone getting thrashed by unfamiliar enemies; sometimes an attempt on the boss is safer than exploring the rest of the map if it means collecting hearts. 

The Widget Shop in The Refuge lets you choose one item to add to your supply for the next run. The Founder’s Ankh is by far the most useful, granting you a second life on defeat with five hearts.

Take your time in boss fights

Bosses in Sparklite can be quite intimidating, but they all have set patterns and movements that can be easily learnt. Take your time in every boss battle to see how they move and attack. None of the bosses changes their movements based on their health so once you figure out their patterns, they can be easily taken down.

Take a break

Sparklite has been designed with long breaks between gameplay in mind. The devs mentioned the difficulty in returning to a game like Hollow Knight after a few months and not knowing what was going on. If you find yourself getting frustrated or bored, come back to it later – it will feel like a new adventure.