The Sundew | Nintendo Switch Review
The Sundew, developed and published by 2054, is a point-and-click, sci-fi-adventure game set in a cyberpunk dystopia. It is currently available on Windows PC, and Nintendo Switch. For the purpose of my review I was playing the Nintendo Switch version, primarily in handheld mode, but I did spend a little bit of time in docked mode.
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Set in Japan, the year is 2054. You take on the role of Anna Isobe who has a cybernetically enhanced police officer who starts off her day which much to her distaste is only set to go downhill more as the game progresses. The world has barely recovered from a horrendous war waged with cyborgs that mankind once regarded as the future of the world. With The Sundew being a fairly short game I’m very cautious to not say too much in fear of providing spoilers.
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With The Sundew being a point-and-click game you need to spend lots of time interacting with every object in a room to try and solve the required puzzles. The puzzles were relatively self explanatory once I had ensured that I’d properly investigated everything around the room. In some areas I struggled to properly focus in and click things using the Switch in handheld mode as the controls were quite sensitive and would often miss objects. With the screen being so small it could get difficult to see all the intricate details in some areas although very quickly I learned what the game needed me to look for which made all the difference for me. The first initial puzzle takes place in an apartment where you have to get the intercom working and this acts as a tutorial on how to interact with everything and how to answer what the game is asking of you. After this you then move onto the police station where you get your first chance to get to know Anna’s colleagues.
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Considering its length being fairly short, The Sundew really managed to produce a great story that felt like it made excellent use of its time. Despite being short I never felt like I had any loose ends that weren’t tied up story wise. I felt pretty satisfied with my time spent rather than being left wanting for more because things haven’t been wrapped up or explained properly. In saying that though, I do believe with a few extra hours more could have been developed giving the story some more grit and weight.
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The Sundew will take constant twists and turns depending on your choices which certainly leaves scope for a second playthrough and the puzzles were good enough that it certainly wouldn’t feel like a chore. There are some puzzles that stumped me for a while but usually the answer was that I hadn’t looked properly and hadn’t investigated properly but I’m not terribly experienced with point and click games so these sorts of things very easily can go amiss for me sometimes.
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I really enjoyed the plot to The Sundew and had a great afternoon lost in the cyberpunk dystopia that was given to us and I did begin to become quite invested in the story and was slightly disappointed when it ended. You don’t need to be a point-and-click enthusiast to appreciate The Sundew and whilst it isn’t attempting to re-invent the genre, The Sundew certainly offers a few things that feel unique and fresh in terms of the puzzling which I really appreciated.
Lj’s Rating: 3.5 cyborgs out of 5.
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For more information on The Sundew please use the following links...
2054 - Developer | Publisher | Facebook | Twitter | Website
Many thanks to Player Two PR for the Review Key.
The Sundew | Windows PC | Nintendo
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