Since the dawn of human societies, people have constructed tools and structures in order to aid them in surviving the harsh environments and creatures that perused this world. The human race’s greatest strength just might be their ability to utilize the resources readily available and sculpt the terrain around them to suit their needs. Once the terrain has been altered to support life, then the human race turned to inventing new types of technologies and advance society. These phases in history may be the pinnacle of human ingenuity, and Growtopia plays into the creative capacity of players and links them together.
Published and developed by Ubisoft and Robinson Technologies, Growtopia on Nintendo Switch is a sandbox MMO that has made its way from mobile phones to console. Players load into worlds, either of their own creation or someone else’s, where they can build, chat, trade, farm, and connect with other players. All building blocks grow on trees, adding double meaning to farming. There is also a relatively complicated, in depth crafting system dubbed splicing, where the player has to mix seeds of different varieties in order to create new materials to use in the world. The lock system that Robinson Technologies and Hamumu Software developed and implemented into the game add another layer of nuance, allowing the owner of the world to prohibit or allow building by other players in certain areas.
While the game boasts a decent amount of depth with the seed making system, Growtopia also boasts a few hitches that take away from enjoying the game. The first thing a player runs into is the navigation and menu layout. It is vague and difficult to navigate using the controllers and doesn’t show clear world selection options. Most of the time, the only selectable worlds are ones put up by other random players. Entering these worlds often ends fruitless, as they place barriers around the entrance in order to protect their own creations. And there is the main road bump. The idea behind the MMO nature and ability to enter others’ worlds was so that players can chat, trade and interact. However, because resources are rather difficult to farm, players enter and raid other worlds, robbing and stealing what they can. Other players entering your world and destroying your structures becomes increasingly frustrating.
Growtopia offers an open online experience of building and creating within your own personal worlds, where you can trade and interact with other players. The game does become rather grind-centric, and it is quite easy for others to destroy all of your hard work. It definitely does feel like a game that was ported from mobile, and while it does have bright spots, has a few things that take away from the playing experience.
Score: 6.9
Check Out the Growtopia Trailer:
Growtopia is available on PlayStation 4 computer entertainment system including PlayStation 4 Pro, the Xbox One family of devices including Xbox One X, and the Nintendo Switch system.
For more information about Growtopia, please visit https://hd.growtopiagame.com/.
Nintendo Switch Review
Having spent my entire life gaming, my interests have expanded over to how the gaming industry has grown and developed into a globalized market over the course of my life time, as well as how games can build community and create a sense of belonging for people. I'm also trying to climb ranked in Overwatch so if you want to queue together, let me know
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