Developed By: Smartly Dressed Games
Published By: 505 Games
Categories: Survival, Multiplayer
Release Date: 03.21.24
Price: $24.99
*Game Download Code graciously provided for the purpose of review.

Seven years ago I found myself playing Unturned on Steam non-stop. There was so much to do for a free game and I loved playing it with my friends. So when I found out that the game was coming to the Switch, I was really excited. However, after playing it on consoles, I was pretty disappointed with the final product. The game is still a lot of fun and has so much content but that doesn’t justify the insane price tag and there were a bugs here and there that made the game tough to play. 

First we should talk about the bad parts of the game because no matter how fun it is, there will be people completely turned off by some of the issues. The first issue is that the controls don’t translate all that well between the PC and Switch versions. The button mapping isn’t good and it becomes very difficult to equip certain things or to cycle between items in an efficient manner. One more issue is that you appear to be thrown into the game with very little aide. The map doesn’t help you all that much, many of the game mechanics are left unexplained, and the tutorial objectives will often not register. 

But the biggest drawback is the price. Unturned is a really fun game but it’s a fun game that’s completely free on Steam. There are many games that see an upcharge going from Steam to the Switch but going from free to $25 is a tough pill to swallow. Even though Unturned is a really good game, this will put off a lot people from playing the Switch version.

Now it’s time to talk about why you should play the game. The game itself is a fun and simple zombie survival experience. There are a bunch of different maps that you can be thrown into and your job is to just survive. Each map has an assortment of towns, cities, camps, and other structures to explore and gather resources. Two of the biggest aspects of the gameplay are the fact that you have guns and vehicles. If you get tired of hitting zombies with your fists or random weapons, you can use a gun as long as you have enough ammo.

Vehicles are also lots of fun if you get a good one and have enough fuel. The visuals aren’t great but get the job done and there aren’t too many sounds aside for the zombie screams that you’ll be hearing constantly. I’m not going to lie though, the zombie noises sound very creepy at times and can keep things suspenseful. If you’re playing by yourself, the game will get pretty boring after an hour or two but with multiple maps and the ability to change everything like spawn rates and such, it can add to replayability. Multiplayer is where you’ll have the most fun though because if you can get a few players with you, you’ll have a blast.

Unfortunately it’s just not enough to warrant the price tag. Unturned is 100 percent a game that you should check out but it’s not worth the $25 for the Switch version. If you want to play it, just get on Steam and download the game for free. It’s a great game but not a great game on the Switch.

1.5/5