NUTS

NUTS has managed to capture us with a surprising and thorough approach to investigation in its unique world. It’s heartwarmingly tedious, and all its parts work incredibly well together.

Even with so many great indie games on Switch, Nuts stands out from the crowd. Its story concludes in a way that’ll stick with you after the credits. It also offers a quirky, mostly satisfying experience that answers the question: what have these squirrels been up to?

A beautiful world, begging to be explored, with captivating tasks. The interface can be cumbersome, and the instructions vague, but that’s peanuts compared to the sense of exploration and intrigue that NUTS cultivates. Don’t let me cashew ignoring this one!

A pleasant journey into an inspired forest through a fun and mysterious videogame.

The overarching story within NUTS is probably worth experiencing on its own, despite the repetitive gameplay. It’s reasonably well written and is just about compelling enough to hold your attention for its 2-3 hour duration. There’s nothing here that you’ll connect with on an emotional level, but the voiceover work really helps drive the mystery. Unfortunately, there also a number of framerate dips throughout the experience that will really hamper your enjoyment; hopefully, this will be ironed out in the future.

Overall I really would recommend NUTS if you are into narrative-driven games with a solid and interesting game mechanic. However, I cannot in good conscience recommend the Switch version. The UI is very hard to manage without any touch controls. The visual design harms the experience, and there are frequent framerate stutters and hiccups while playing the later levels. I enjoyed the premise and the ideas the game presents, but within this context the Switch version does not do the game justice. There is nut much to be gained here.

The core ideas are full of promise, but there's no follow-through. What ought to be a cheeky, charming celebration of a delightfully furry woodland creature is instead too rote, too dry, a neat idea undone by a lack of imagination. The only thing left to say is, well… nuts to that.

Graphic Artwork: 9/10. Story is starting well but flattens down: 7/10. UI is hard to play the first minutes but with the possibility to adapt settings its playable 6/10. Gaming experience is unique and quite addicting, but way to short. 2 hours and you're done. Overall 7/10.