Shin’en is known for their work on Nintendo systems, and have created some amazing titles such as Nano Assault Neo and Fast RMX. Now with the Touryst, they are taking things in a new direction in terms of gameplay. A puzzle focused action adventure game, The Touryst may be the biggest surprise of the year for this author and that is said in a good way.
The Touryst sees you as a bespectacled and mustached tourist travelling to different islands and recovering different monument cores. That is the main quest anyways, but the game offers much more as well. Not only are there side quests galore to find, but the game truly does let you explore to your heart’s content. This is Shin’en’s first take on open world gameplay, and they did a good job for a genre they haven’t really touched before.
The various islands are beautifully designed and have multiple things to do. They are all based off real world locations and Shin’en did an excellent job adapting locations for their own game. On these islands are various things to do, like play soccer. go scuba diving and even go to an arcade where you can play various minigames. In a nice touch, Shin’en included a retraux version of their own Fast RMX in the arcade, done in the vein of F-Zero.
The Touryst has a nice amount of puzzles, and while some are rather easy to solve, some will take a lot of time. There are certain platforming elements that will frustrate you but make you want to keep going at the same time. I have rarely encountered such polish in a game, where I have nothing to blame on the game design and solely on my own skill. I never felt disheartened though, when getting stuck, and instead just became more motivated to succeed.
There are boss fights of a sort, but these are puzzle based fights as well. This is both a game for those wanting an adventure, and those who want to think their way out of a problem. Once you get the hang of it, things become a lot simpler, but never boring. It is fun to play and that is the best part. The Touryst is a beautifully designed voxel based game and looks gorgeous on the TV or in docked mode and the worlds within are gorgeous. Shin’en knocked it out of the park here and I love the work they put into this.
In conclusion: I highly recommend The Touryst for any Nintendo Switch owner and highly urge you all to check this out.