When it comes to the titles that are the most eye-popping on the Switch you’d typically look in Nintendo’s direction. Usually working with a very custom art style, their ability to push the hardware to the limit, looking great while they do it, has always been phenomenal. When third parties manage to pull this sort of feat off, it tends to be all the more impressive. Whatever you may ultimately think of the core experience of El Shaddai, one thing nobody could ever accuse it of is being unambitious when it comes to its visuals.

While I’ve typically come to dread HD remasters on the Switch, since either they still have clunky and chunky old-school polygons, or their gameplay has aged poorly, in this case it actually works. It’s a testament to the art style and general visual design of the original that the years have been kind to it, which in itself is pretty impressive. Similarly, though I wish there were more ways to upgrade and customize your fighting techniques, the combat is fairly interesting and well-implemented. The key is that there are a variety of weapons you’ll encounter, which you’ll be able to steal from enemies as you go, that are varied and each have specific strengths and weaknesses. You may prefer a specific one, but in some situations knocking a weapon away from an enemy, grabbing it, and then tearing everyone in sight apart can absolutely be fun. There’s some technique to being effective, but I also like that in general it’s pretty forgiving rather than going for a challenging Souls-like feel.

Getting into some downsides, since trying to dig into the game’s pretty ponderous story would take more words than I spare for entire reviews, I’ll leave you to look it up elsewhere. We’ll settle on it being pretty odd… but if you can work through a weird mix of angels and religious themes without getting irked either way, you should be fine. What was more commonly a concern for me was that though I could appreciate the varied and often gorgeous environments I was moving through, they too often tended to waste a fair bit of time moving around without doing anything meaningful… making it feel like filler to extend the playtime rather than add value. Granted, they’d often try to do some story-telling in those same stretches, which helps, but I’d have rather kept the action going and had the option to skip the story and randomly running around if that was my inclination. Throw in the fact that there are sections where they insist on trying to make you do some platforming, when the camera angle and general setup are so poorly equipped for it, and there are some fair areas of criticism for the experience outside of the action.

In the end, there’s no real mistaking that this is a game from the past, though more due to its style of play than how it looks. When you’re in the thick of combat, it can be an absolute blast, not just looking good but generally feeling good as well. You can really get into a flow at times, moving between enemies, and periodically switching up weapons just for kicks if nothing else, because each can be fun in their own right. Yes, I do wish the pacing didn’t skew quite so much to wasting time running around and even trying to do some platforming in places, as when you’re not fighting the experience simply isn’t as exciting or engrossing. Still, outside of the boss rushes of Furi, I can’t say there’s anything that comes to mind on the Switch that is quite in this same vein, so that helps make it feel worth giving a positive shout out.