The Sacred Acorn
Somewhere along the line, somebody coined the phrase “cozy Soulslike,” which I would have called an oxymoron. Nobody actually asked me, though, so people have been running with it.
The Sacred Acorn is one of a handful of recent games (see also Whitethorn’s Slime Heroes, and arguably Another Crab’s Treasure) that mix the trademark Soulslike difficulty curve with slightly less relentlessly depressing themes. Granted, I’ve been to funerals that are more upbeat than the stereotypical Soulslike’s lore, but work with me here.
In The Sacred Acorn, a village of squirrels comes under attack when one of its guardian spirits suddenly goes berserk. At the same time, you’re endowed with a suite of new powers that you barely understand. That makes it your job to fight the corruption that’s spreading through the wilderness, in an adventure that comes off like a Legend of Zelda game as drawn by Maurice Sendak. It’s colorful, charming, and undeniably difficult, with bosses that give you no room for error.
