[Review] Doomsday Vault - Nintendo Switch

Developed and Published By: Flightless
Categories: Puzzle
Release Date: 08.05.21

Doomsday Vault is nice, probably the best change of pace I could ask for right now. A relaxing, calm adventure game.

In Doomsday Vault, you’re tasked with collecting seeds of long lost flora in a a seemingly post apocalyptic world after the climate has collapsed, bringing it back to harvest and research in your vault. Each level is a A to B affair just getting those crops, but along the way you can collect nutrients to make what you find healthier. Getting all of those nutrients allows you to learn about what you rescued too. Each level has at least a single big box to find too, which works to spread plantlife in the surrounding area.

Say you can’t play this a whole bunch or you don’t get 100% of each level. That’s perfectly ok, just come back later and find the rest of what you need. Replaying a level isn’t going to make you grab everything again, which is a godsend. It honestly surprised me, and made me consider this as less of a puzzle adventure game, and more of an adventure game that has collectables.

There’s more reasons to collect everything in the game too, as doing all of this hard word to save plantlife also gets you customization options for your character’s protective suit. Your helmet, belt, arms,backpack, patterns, even the colors. This isn’t the only reason to play the game however, as Doomsday Vault has a challenge mode. There’s races, mazes to try, and collection challenges to attempt. These too unlock customization options. I will say though, these aren’t as relaxing as the main levels.

I mentioned how gameplay has a real laid back attitude on how you approach playing and completing levels, but how about the music and presentation? Without a doubt, equally as calm. Imagine a world with just emptiness, you go your own pace, with soothing sounds, nothing too exciting to get in your way. It’s great.

While playing, I could never shake off the feeling that this was also a mobile game. Not that this is a negative, but it’s progression, controls, the looks, it all gave that feel. Upfront, you can use the touch screen for everything. Especially with the menus, this is great, and makes going into menus and choosing things just a much easier ordeal. Pushing one direction moves you, the shoulder buttons can turn without moving, which you’ll have to do if holding items and needing to drop them in places. Again, you can use the touch screen for this. Whatever is more comfortable.

Doomsday Vault is a tad short and honestly not that difficult, which I would say is a bummer, but not everything needs to be an journey to enjoy a game to the end. It’s ok to have games like this and stuff like Epic Yarn. Thankfully, there’s going to be more challenge levels in the future, which I look forward to playing.