Burly Men at Sea (Nintendo Switch) Review

Burly Men at Sea could easily be mistaken as the sort of throwaway mobile title that a quick quid or so is spent on and then gets pretty much forgotten about after a very short while. After all, it does indeed end after about just about 20 minutes and all seems to be done and dusted without much in the way of satisfaction. Well, it is £8.99 on Nintendo Switch, which will cause great pain and massive disappointment when it all comes to a swift conclusion. Wait, though - not so fast, folks! The end is not quite what it seems, and those looking closer will soon find that Burly Men at Sea has hidden depths that really should be explored. The question is whether or not to spend that amount on Switch when last year's PS Vita / PlayStation 4 edition is £7.99, it retails currently for £7.19 on Steam and is…get this…a much more palatable £4.99 on the App Store and Google Play!

Anyway, time to back up a bit before getting into why this most expensive version might be worth considering over the other iterations… This is all about three bearded fishermen venturing out of their comfort zone for the sake of new exploits in what is somewhat akin to a mix of visual novel and a traditional point-and-click adventure. The setting has been carefully crafted by husband and wife development duo, Brain&Brain (the same team that made the be-careful-how-you-say-it Doggins for mobile), with a Scandinavian feel to its overall theme, from the Nordic-esque characters themselves to the various real-life-inspired locations visited throughout.

The burly blokes may be three in number, but they are moved as one unit to avoid too much hassle - they are a threesome purely for aesthetic value. The game really does make great use of the Joy-Con (or Pro Controller) for regular style movement, or the Joy-Con can be split up and the underused gyro/pointer controls come into play, which is very pleasing to see after witnessing just how smooth they were World of Goo. As a final option, there is a perfect touch screen option that really is the ideal way to navigate this adventure.

Rather than specifically pointing and clicking, though, it has more of a tap-and-drag feature, whereby players must grab the edge of the current field of vision and slide across to the left or right far enough to encourage the entourage to start shuffling their way in that direction. Tap on non-playable characters to have a bit of a chat, interact with surroundings to get the most out of the world around, and then head off on the first of several short journeys. It has been developed around the mobile format, first and foremost, and this fits the Switch's portable mode dynamic like a snug glove. Great efforts have been put in to ensure this controls are well as possible in all variations to appeal to all audiences.

Each time the adventure begins, the titular burly men head off to sea in their rickety sailboat, before being swallowed by a large whale. They do not die, though, instead being faced with a crossroads - the first of several - eventually ending back ashore, ready to check their map and see what progress was made, and what permutations of the choices are available for the next escapade. Yes, next one, since that initial 20 minutes mentioned earlier is not actually the be all and end all of Brain&Brain's creation. Instead, each and every time, there are new conversation threads to be read and extra story elements being unveiled whenever alternate decisions are made. Escape the whale quickly, for instance, or perhaps wait for a natural exit opportunity to rear its head, and if opting to escape, should the men don barrels as floatation attire or risk going forth without them, changing the trajectory of their exit from the whale's blow hole…and so on.

It is an extremely quaint experience overall, looking and sounding the part, with the minimalism of the visuals working in its favour, offering plenty of charm, without weighing things down with too much intricate detail. Plied Sound's takes a similar direction, with it using a soft selection of instruments mixed with human-voiced sound effects to augment the allure, matching the general atmosphere of Burly Men at Sea flawlessly.

Okay, so back to that question of whether or not it is worth paying almost double the price of the mobile version for this on Switch. Well, sadly, even at the mobile price it is a big ask, since there is a certain something preventing it from reaching that highly satisfying feeling needed to help lift it above other genre examples currently pouring onto any format nowadays, let alone Nintendo Switch. It is undoubtedly a lovely little effort, and a lovingly crafted project, and, sure, there are digital or physical books to purchase to learn more about the story, but… Well, it needed more substance, and having to make external purchases is not a good technique to employ. Extra content should be right there in the actual game that was purchased in the first place, whether it is at the lower mobile price, or the now inappropriately high price on Switch.