While there are a plentitude of platformers in the general gaming market, and especially in the Switch eShop, ones that are played in a first-person perspective are more rare. The developers behind The Confinement at least deserve some credit for trying to tackle this much more tricky path, adding on critical problems like helping people know where both the ground and their feet are, and other challenges. Unfortunately, the controls, and their very touchy nature, quickly and clearly become a tremendous obstacle to enjoyment.

Starting from the other end of the spectrum on what the game is trying to do as well as it can, for the most part the game seems to be trying to translate pretty traditional side-scrolling platforming concepts into a 3D space. While you will need to shift to the right or left, or even make a turn, most of the platforming can practically be done in a linear fashion, moving between platforms, and involving challenges to be dealt with like ones that are moving or that will fall away. Throw in a jump, a dash, and a sliding move, and the game has numerous opportunities to test your will and ability to navigate these courses as quickly as you’re able.

The biggest problem though, and it’s honestly quite crippling, is that the movement controls are far too sensitive. Whether that’s complicating your ability to jump accurately, or even simply to reliably come to a stop on smaller platforms, and be able to make adjustments to your placement, there’s just zero subtlety here and it’s incredibly aggravating. What in most games would be pretty run-of-the-mill or even trivial jumps here are anxiety-inducing because even if you make it to the platform it’s so easy to fall off with any small twitch of the joystick. The problem is, games like Neon White and Cyberhook specifically have demonstrated that you can conquer these challenges, and make first-person platforming far more approachable. Unfortunately, The Confinement falls short in that critical area, and the entire experience suffers for it, even before acknowledging the pretty rudimentary level design you’ll encounter as well along the way.