Outbuddies DX Review for Nintendo Switch

Before I get started with this review, I have a confession to make: I’ve never played the Metroid franchise. I know, I know, I’ll get there. I feel the need to say this because I’ve seen so many reviews compare Outbuddies DX to Metroid, and while it’s definitely important to consider how the game measures up to its biggest inspiration, I also think it should be considered on its own, for its individual merits and flaws, and that’s exactly what I intend to do. With that said, let’s dive in.

Headup’s Outbuddies DX is a new-and-improved version of Outbuddies with several quality of life changes and some new content. It centers on Nikolay Bernstein, an eccentric adventurer shipwrecked by a horrible storm only to wake up 36,000 feet below sea level. Upon regaining consciousness, he is attached to a Buddy-unit that serves as a helpful tool throughout the title (I can’t really call it a “partner”, something I’ll get to later). With the help of this Buddy-unit, you explore the mysterious world of Bahlam, discovering secrets, fighting a wide range of creatures and bosses, and attempting to free the Wozan, a civilization of creatures long enslaved by the Old Gods.

Let’s start with some of the many things the game does right. Firstly, and most importantly, it’s fun! There are always things to shoot, with new enemies being introduced at a fairly steady rate, and there’s plenty of map to explore. The weapon progression feels fair, keeping the game plenty challenging while still giving you new tools as the baddies get badder and the parkour gets… parkour-ier? The level design is solid, allowing significant freedom to explore while stopping you from leaping ahead. Also, while this isn’t strictly about the game itself, it’s almost impossible to believe that this massive project was developed over 7+ years by just one man, Julian Laufer, in his free time. Oh, and did I mention he’s a doctor?

I thought the boss fights were great. I loved seeing the scale of bosses like Razoth (pictured below) and Buluc next to Bernstein and the music and sounds accompanying each fight (dying to Razoth results in a particularly shudder-inducing slurp-crunch). Each encounter is different, but they all require quick thinking and intense focus, and each one gives a huge feeling of accomplishment when they finally go down. I also really appreciate how forgiving the game is when you die, because I died a lot. When you get whooped, you’re returned to whatever door you entered the room through with +1 health each time until you’re fully healed.

One thing Outbuddies DX won’t do much is hold your hand, and most of the time, I liked that, too. While the game gives occasional clues about specific strategies in the boss fights, the bosses were still challenging enough to kill me oh-so many times. Game mechanics are introduced pretty quickly, with enemies in most of the “tutorial” stages, and after the cursory initial instruction there are plenty of nifty tricks you’re left to figure out on your own, which I enjoyed discovering.

Even though I generally liked the freedom the game grants the player, there were times when it could have helped the player a little more. For example, I struggled pointlessly with the section shown below for a good five or ten minutes before finally realizing I was meant to get 3 Corridium protocols to upgrade my Buddy-unit when I only had two (after playing through the entire game, I had my brother play through a small chunk, and he had the same issue with this area). I knew I was supposed to turn the enemy into a platform, but I figured I was hitting the wrong buttons. In hindsight, I feel a little dumb, but if there had just been a few words like “Insufficient hacking level” instead of the graphic, I would have instantly gone to look for another Corridium protocol instead of feeling stuck and annoyed for several minutes.

My biggest frustration with this game was the map. Upon calling up the map screen, the player is presented with a pretty small chunk of the entire thing. There’s no ability to zoom in or out, which would create a much better understanding of the game’s structure and where to explore next, and you can’t set waypoints, leading to a frustrating, time-intensive process of backtracking through the labyrinth just to find that one door you couldn’t open yet. Add to those missing features a lack of fast travel until fairly late game (and even then, only a few portals) and revisiting earlier zones for new passageways becomes an arduous task rather than a fun part of the game. Also, the doors and passages to new rooms often have little demarcation on the map, making some of the less obvious connections unnecessarily hard to find.

There were a few other small issues I noticed. First, while I generally think the aesthetics of the game are great, a few tweaks could be made to improve gameplay. One inconvenience I found was that important items/elements were sometimes textured in a way that blended in with the background. Also, the game made use of moveable blocks for your Buddy-unit to place on scales and kill enemies; however, immovable blocks throughout the levels often had the same texture, a somewhat confusing design choice. Related to the Buddy-unit, monsters and items it could affect were usually surrounded by a blue circle; however, a similar design was infrequently used in elements that it couldn’t affect. Secondly, I appreciate Laufer’s attempt to add a co-op feature by allowing one person to control Bernstein and the other to control the Buddy-unit, but whoever is stuck with the little droid has a fairly uninteresting experience (again, I recruited my brother for about half an hour so I could play the Buddy-unit, and it was a lot less fun than Bernstein). It also feels a little odd to use the Buddy-unit’s drag-and-release slingshot controls instead of a directional attack, but I didn’t mind it too much.

The last thing I would change about the game is the story. I don’t think Laufer’s story is bad; in fact, I really like the premise of learning about and fighting the Old Gods and helping the Wozan, but it’s pretty bare bones. I think this might be another way in which Outbuddies DX attempts to make the player “figure it out” themselves, but it feels like there isn’t much to figure out, and a fragment of story only comes around every few hours of playing. I loved the room below with four of these giant creatures, each with a small lore blurb, and I want more stuff like this. On the Outbuddies DX official website, Laufer describes the world as “Lovecraftian fantasy,” and I’d like to see him delve into that Lovecraftian influence more, with one easy method being a more in-depth plot. I also think it would be great if the Buddy-unit became more of a character, as it doesn’t say anything throughout the game aside from a few lines in the beginning. Some sort of interaction between Bernstein and the Buddy-unit throughout the story would add to the experience and make the player see the droid as a valuable companion they care about, rather than a tool to help them beat the game. It’s a pretty point-’n’-shoot game that doesn’t necessarily need a lot of story, and it’s definitely fun as is, but more story could certainly add to the experience.

I realize I just ticked off several things that bugged me about this game, and it might sound like I didn’t have fun playing it, but that’s not true! There’s a lot to like about Outbuddies DX, and after reading other reviews, it sounds like Laufer has made several strong improvements over the original Outbuddies. While it has a few shortcomings, with its biggest one being the map and travel time, almost every game does, and if you’re a fan of exploration, challenging boss fights, and platformers, I would certainly recommend Outbuddies DX.

Rating: 7.5/10

Check Out the Outbuddies DX Trailer:

For more information, please visit: https://www.outbuddies.com/

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