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This creepy horror-leaning adventure delivers some scares and creeps, but can be frustrating at times
Even though there have been quite a number of horror-leaning games on the Switch over the years, I will say that none of them has been done in quite the same style as Desolatium, and I’d say that’s both a good and a bad thing. Your typical core choices are some variation on a first-person walking simulator or more of a classic adventure feel of some sort. Instead, here they’ve opted for a first-person view, but with you statically staying in place in a fixed spot and looking all around yourself to find elements to interact with in a variety of ways, giving it more of a hybrid feel in a way. What’s nice is that the visual quality of the more unnerving elements of what you’re able to see is a bit higher, not relegated to pixel art or to what are usually pretty low-quality models. What isn’t as great is that you lose some of that suspense of moving through a corridor, dreading the possibility of something popping out to surprise you. In general I’d say that there were times where it felt a little too onerous to scan environments for things you could actually do anything with. Sure, there are plenty of objects and things you’ll see that feel like they could be important, but most aren’t so as you get stuck in an area you’ll simply need to carefully sweep over anything you see that could be helpful. Other games have tried to minimize this sort of time-wasting with a button to highlight areas you can interact with, but in this case instead you’ll need to be a bit more patient. If you don’t mind its limitations the benefits are there for the visuals making the experience a bit more visceral when things get more bloody, overall making for a decent but imperfect experience.
Justin Nation, Score:Good [7.5]