Given the fact that Nintendo systems have always been a solid option for playing with others (I still have great memories of my Multitap from the SNES days), and that the base Switch system is outright made for multiplayer fun, it’s no surprise that there have been loads of titles on the system to enjoy with friends. Speaking specifically of local co-op multiplayer it seems as though vocationally-oriented titles are the reigning champions overall, whether you’re displaying culinary speed and skill, relocating furniture, working in a pit crew, and more. What immediately impressed me with CTHULOOT is its determination to break out of that trend, instead focusing more on dungeon-crawling and puzzle-solving adventures.

Playable with between 1 and 4 players, though I’d argue it feels like the sweet spot is at 2, this is a pretty involved, sometimes challenging, and consistently surprising adventure waiting to be tackled. Your goal will be to work through multiple dungeons, trying to collect a variety of loot, avoid some tricky traps, and work out quite a variety of puzzles. What’s smart is that even when concepts are re-used, they’re remixed to a degree that keeps them feeling fresh and surprising, showing a level of effort and polish that you don’t always see. Even better, there are even boss battles that typically step up the required level of effort to defeat, demanding a mix of survival skill, the ability to see the big picture for how certain elements in the environment can be manipulated, and some savvy teamwork.

Now, the one caveat to all of this is that while, for the most part, you can struggle through a typical stage and complete it even with weaker team members, there are other times where they can really stymie your odds for success. So perhaps this won’t be a great game to play with younger or generally less capable gamers since not only will they get frustrated with their struggles, they’ll likely unintentionally continue to sink what everyone else on the team can accomplish as well. There are both time-sensitive and just plain one-shot rooms in certain dungeons that can be pretty challenging, and if you’re not working together and planning who will try to do what, you could end up stuck for a while with everyone getting irritated in the process.

This all makes for a wonderful deviation from the typical local co-op norm, and though perhaps some things like continually being shot by arrows can try your patience, it’s still a good time. You may not be given all that much introduction to certain concepts and obstacles you may face, but if you and your friends do some trial-and-error experimentation it typically doesn’t take too much effort to figure things out. It’s challenging but also critically not unforgiving, which is an important distinction. With all of that in mind, there really just isn’t anything else that plays quite like it out there in the eShop, at least among the many indie games I’ve played on the system.