When it comes to horror survival games the Switch eShop is absolutely a mixed bag, at least where indie offerings are concerned. More often than not they’re pretty threadbare walking simulators with jump scares peppered in or they simply lack anything memorable to help them stand out. I’d unfortunately say that Unlife falls pretty easily into this uninspired category, though at least its format helps it to be a little different, just not in a way that helps it climb out of the cellar.

Set with your character at sea, hoping to help save a world overcome by a terrible disease of some kind, you’ll spend your time in darkened corridors, mostly in search of the means to help you survive. Pretty quickly you’ll find some basics including a knife and a flashlight to help you, but the majority of play is general puzzle platforming of some kind, with you trying to find keys or the means to unlock doors and progress while trying to avoid some odd horrors. Honestly, the majority of the time whenever you’re able to avoid fighting any of the things you encounter, you should do so. Whether finding a way to close them behind a door or luring them into the water, you’re simply under-equipped and not terribly good at any form of combat, so evasion is usually your friend.

The problem is that there’s not much here to get excited about. Visually, everything is quite dark and muddy, no doubt helping to conceal what sometimes look like pretty ridiculous monster designs. I’m sure the official line would be that it helps the experience be more atmospheric, but that seems convenient as an excuse. Granted, looks aren’t everything, but unfortunately the gameplay doesn’t help make you forget about the look either. In general, the controls feel pretty sloppy, which is perfectly illustrated by the times you do either have to or choose to engage enemies you’ll encounter. You can work out some basic techniques to help have more success, but whenever possible you really are better off turning tail and hoping for the best… which is fine, but it also detracts from generating much excitement. Also, while I normally don’t note the odd misspellings, or weird grammatical choices that can come with translations on the whole, the text for the story really should have had someone check it over, as there are more errors than usual and it again chips away at how you perceive the overall experience.

In the end, I had a hard time finding bright spots to enjoy in Unlife, most often moving between feeling a little aggravated and simply being bored. Even if it looked a bit better or its mechanics were improved the core experience, I fear, would still be underwhelming at best. There’s just not a spark of creativity or inspiration to be seen here, and it all feels quite by the numbers in its flow and overall design, making it difficult to recommend.