Nintendo Switch User Reviews

I normally don't like metroidvanias, but the balance toward exploration and away from combat made this one really fun for me. The game isn't perfect, the framerate can get quite choppy on the Switch 1, and the map could use a legend (I spent almost an hour looking for ore to upgrade my suit when it turns out it has a special icon on the map), but it's a beautiful world that is fun to traverse, and the idea of oxygen tanks doubling as the health bar is genius.

Loved the exploration, super satifying, and the level up system connected to it, did not enjoy as much the submarine, but whatever. I also very appreciated the low number of bosses, so there are no pace breakers for your explorations.

This is one of those ‘hidden gem’ games that people miss out on because nobody talks about them. It is a beautiful game with a beautiful sound design and visuals. While there are some limitations due to the systems available, they really try to push what the can do with a platformer. It is basically the beautiful underwater level of game expanded into a full length game and darker (but in a realistic way not in a cheap gore slasher way). It is a simple game so it is hard to go into depth about it, but consider giving it a shot.

I've played exactly one underwater Metroidvania before, and that was Aquaria, which was fun but it was basically 'Ecco the Dolphin, but make it metroidvania'. Shinsekai is... not that. You are not native to the underwater world. It is a hostile environment with unknown rules to you, and one misstep can have catastrophic consequences. I'd actually compare it to the movie Gravity, in the sense of your being pitifully human in an environment seemingly designed to eat humans alive. I normally hate physics in platformers, but it works wonders here -- it's not a cheap puzzle element, instead you have to take into account things like landing softly when you leap to avoid damaging your oxygen tanks or breaking your suit open. You emerge into the game not knowing how to do any of this, and routinely meet pitiless death as a result in your first few baby steps, but after the first hour you really start to get the hang of it. Even as you get a better sense of things, though, you always respect that the game has you dancing on top of a knife edge. The atmosphere and pacing is incredible; this doesn't feel like a phone game, it feels like a proper Switch title. Hats off to the team that put this together.

An absolutely fantastic game from Capcom of all places. Not known for indies, this game ends up epitomizing what it means to be a “hidden gem”. As of March 30th, 2020, this fits into my top 3 games of the year to this point. There’s a story here if you’re looking for it...kind of along the lines of how you unearthed the story of Hyper Light Drifter as you played...with no actual dialogue. No handholding here, it tosses you in straight away as soon as you start a new game. Gameplay is fun, with unique and very well thought out mechanics. The visuals are quite good for a lower budget, and the audio is utterly mind blowing with its crazy good sound effects and hauntingly beautiful soundtrack. Headphones highly recommended. Apparently the sound effects were actually recorded under water to catch the realism to the sounds. So glad I took a chance on this after watching the Nintendo Direct. I could go on about how it doesn’t just check the boxes that great games need to, but it goes beyond checking boxes, it nails them, creating a game that’s hard to put down and leaves me contemplating it when playing anything else. What I can’t seem to do is put my finger on just what it is that Shinsekai does so incredibly well. It’s a kind of intangible charm that I find myself unable to **** sort of thing that the best games have that make them unforgettable long after watching the end credits. Buy the game, in my opinion you won’t regret it. It raises the bar for indies on the Nintendo Switch.

Very original and creative game. Love the music and atmosphere. I downloaded this game after the direct mini and was not sure about the quality but it is excellent.