[Review] Faraday Protocol - Nintendo Switch

Developed By: Red Koi Box
Published By: Deck13
Categories: First Person, Puzzle
Release Date: 08.12.21

Why did I, an action game, retro shooter, nostalgia junkie decide to play a game like Faraday Protocol? A first person, slow, puzzle based “walking simulator”. Well, I like to broaden my horizons once in a while.

Faraday Protocol has you in control of Raug Zeekon, an archeologist tasked to investigate nearby star systems thanks to a mysterious signal. This signal leads him to Opis, which appears to be like an ancient pyramid. This ancient place has some nice technology though. You soon acquire a gun. This made me think “oh, are there going to be minor action sequences?” The answer was no, as this gun actually helps you with puzzles.

You see, a large hunk of puzzles are about moving energy around in one way or another. Either to different parts of walls, segments of rooms, or entire new rooms all together. You’ll find obstacles that keep you from holding energy through some doors, and you’ll be tasked with figuring out how to maneuver around that. I’ll be honest, I got stumped more times that I am fully willing to admit. I wouldn’t say the puzzles are *that* hard, but I did feel stupid once I saw how simple some actually were. Call it overthinking.

Faraday Protocol is an amazing looking game for Switch. It might be because it’s a mostly calm, thinking kind of game in closed off areas, but I was impressed. The colors from energy pop out, the environments are the right kind of shiny, it’s great.

This isn’t the longest game in the world, but it never overstayed it’s welcome. It even has some good replayability in collectables I am embarrassed to say I didn’t realize were in the game until I was a chunk in. Faraday Protocol isn’t exactly my kind of game, but I enjoyed it.