The Sacred Acorn is a deceptively cute top-down action adventure game about a small squirrel on a perilous journey with stunning hand drawn art and a bespoke, atmospheric soundtrack. In it, you play as an adorable squirrel named Ima and embark on a quest across a vast world filled with puzzles, enemies, secrets and huge boss battles. If this sounds like your kind of game, keep reading, as we’re here to talk about how abilities work and how you can use them to customise your gameplay experience. As you play your way through The Sacred Acorn, you will unlock four main abilities as you play your way through the story: Dash, Swipe, Projection, and Blast. These abilities form the foundation of your powers, allowing you to navigate treacherous terrains, vanquish formidable foes, and ultimately save the world from impending doom, and we’re enhancing that with an ability upgrade mechanism that empowers you to find and build on the gameplay style that works best for you. [img]https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6428025d46d13434a1b6ac66/bf7f3ce4-b8d3-40c0-90f9-d6c21d39341a/abilitytreewip.png[/img] As you progress through the game, you’ll be able to unlock various ability upgrades. The upgrades will evolve in a hierarchical tree structure, requiring you to unlock lower-level upgrades before accessing higher ones. Our aim with this design is to give you a sense of progression and strategic decision-making, as you’ll need to carefully choose which upgrades to pursue based on your playstyle and preferences. We want to let you experiment a bit, and work out which abilities work best with each of the companions in the game as well (more details on those coming soon…) For now, let's delve a little deeper into the four main abilities and the upgrades available for each of them. [img]https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6428025d46d13434a1b6ac66/1e2108f0-4974-4fdd-b9e8-1d9474284739/TSA+Swipe.gif[/img] [h2]Swipe[/h2] This is the ability you start with; a basic but essential attacking move used in combat to damage enemies and to break barriers found throughout the world. Since you have it right from the beginning it has the most upgrade options to be unlocked. [i][b]Extra Combo[/b][/i] - Unlocking this upgrade grants you a third magical attack within the combo sequence, empowering Ima with a devastating flurry of strikes that can overwhelm foes. [i][b]Big Hit[/b][/i] - By holding down the swipe button, you’ll be able to unleash a powerful, wide swing, inflicting massive damage on enemies caught within its path. [i][b]Martial Artist[/b][/i] - This upgrade enables Ima to skillfully hit projectiles back toward where they came from, granting you the ability to neutralize ranged attacks and turn your enemies' weapons against them. [h2]Dash[/h2] The first ability you’ll get to unlock is Dash, which allows you to move fast in short bursts to better dodge enemy attacks, cross barriers and avoid environmental dangers. It’s a must for accessing some areas within the game and finding hidden secrets. [i][b]Dashflection[/b][/i] - This upgrade lets you reflect incoming projectiles while dashing, turning your dash maneuver into a defensive tool. No longer will you have to evade projectiles; you can simply dash through them, turning the tables on your adversaries. [i][b]Quick Dash[/b][/i] - With this upgrade, you can reduce the cooldown time of the dash ability, granting you more frequent opportunities to swiftly maneuver through the battlefield or dodge oncoming dangers. [img]https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6428025d46d13434a1b6ac66/2a979145-3d54-43a2-8103-9cd649af5608/TSA+Projection.gif[/img] [h2]Projection[/h2] This is one of the tricker abilities to master, but arguably one of the coolest. It allows Ima to astral project a spirit copy of herself that can move around while her corporeal body stands still in a trance, and then drag her body instantly to where her spirit has moved to. The upgrade options only make this more powerful. [i][b]Explovise[/b][/i] - When you project yourself to a new location, this upgrade leaves behind an explosion where your body was, damaging nearby enemies and creating opportunities for tactical advantage. [i][b]True Spirit[/b][/i] - With this upgrade, you can ethereally pass through enemies and obstacles while in projection, making you untouchable and enabling you to traverse hazardous environments unimpeded. [h2]Blast[/h2] Finally, the Blast ability is your ranged attack, firing off a blast of essence energy to damage both enemies and terrain. [i][b]Bounce[/b][/i] - This upgrade allows blast projectiles to bounce off walls, increasing their range and enabling you to hit enemies around corners or attack foes from unexpected angles. Unlocking these upgrades in The Sacred Acorn is no easy task. You’ll need to explore the game world meticulously, uncovering secrets or defeating powerful bosses to obtain the necessary unlock items. Each upgrade also comes with a cost, meaning you’ll have to make strategic choices about which abilities to invest in. But experimenting to find your perfect ability combo is part of the fun. Can’t wait to give our squirrely action adventure game a whirl? We have a free playable demo for The Sacred Acorn available now.