[Review] Stonefly - Nintendo Switch

Developed By: Flight School Studio
Published By: MWM Interactive
Categories: Adventure
Release Date: 06.01.21

Stonefly is an odd game for me. It has so much that I adore, but then unfortunately stumbles in a really vital part, but we’ll get to that later in the review.

Stonefly is a gorgeous game first things first. That painting like artstyle, something you’d see in a book isn’t exactly a common occurrence and I love it. The whole game is just pleasant to look at. While at first the character models seemed…off to me, if not a little undercooked, EVERYTHING else looks fantastic. The environment and backgrounds really shine in this game.

What is Stonefly about though? You play as the young Annika Stonefly, an budding inventor, who’s lost something very important to her family. She’s to go on a vast journey to get it back. Now, while you might think otherwise by the rather slow introduction, Stonefly is a game that has you take control of giant bug mechs. This is a big plus for me! It gets better, you can upgrade and customize these mechs to your liking! How do you do this though, how do you find the means?

Out into the open world we go. A lush, forest, with plants that feel gigantic. Much like a bug in the real world, you’ll feel tiny. Just imagine how small the other bugs must feel. Finding checkpoints around can help if you need to just get to that specific spot from the game’s hub, the camp. This place is where you can rest, get parts for your mechs and then build and customize.

When you’re piloting however, how does it work? You can jump, glide, dash for mobility. You’ll need to shoot downwards at rocks to get those materials you’ll need, which you can suck up. You can also use air to push things away…though this is where my issues with the game come in. The combat, or any area with enemy bugs is not really that fun. You need to shoot them to stun them, and then use that air to blow them off of a ledge. When you’re not surrounded by enemies, it’s manageable, but when in big groups, it becomes too chaotic. Quickly shoot them, but also dodge other enemies that hit HARD. Don’t forget to blow them off of the ledge, but do it fast or they’ll recover. Get hit too many times and some mechanic can get disabled until you go somewhere safe to heal, but sometimes this just isn’t a viable option.

While the combat is clumsy, it’s not a big focus, if it was I don’t think I could handle this game. Thankfully, I’ve found the game is more 70% exploration, 30% combat. And in all fairness, the more you upgrade, the better the combat feels, but boy howdy it comes off poorly early on.

I think it’s fair to say that Stonefly starts a bit iffy, but then grows and develops into something that is completely up my alley.