REVIEW: The Legend of Gwen - Nintendo Switch

Review by Jon Donnis

Back again with our latest review, this time for The Legend of Gwen on Nintendo Switch, no this is not a game about the wife of the late Derek Acorah, but instead a game about a young Witch who is a newcomer to a wizardry school. She wants to become the best witch in the world.

"To her bad luck, her arrival came at a bad time because just when she arrived she couldn't have a welcome party because there was a surprise guest... "The Evil One!"

"Evil" didn't hesitate twice and began to absorb everything she could from the school! Now who will teach Gwen about sorcery! Will she be able to learn on her own? Will she be able to overcome the obstacles of "The Evil One" and get the school back? Help Gwen with this challenge and defeat "The Evil One" (if you can ....)."

At its base this is a hardcore platform game, and when I say hardcore, i mean it, as this game is tough, really tough, from the very first level it is tough, this is a precision platformer, with something of a fixed camera for a 3D environment.

As you play through the early levels you will gain a few new moves, jump, dash, and magic spell. And then after you have died countless times, and eventually got through a few levels, you then get the option to switch the camera angle 90 degrees, which then makes things so much easier. As now you can line up your jumps much better.

The learning curve on this game is way off, and unfortunately this means a lot of gamers will be put off almost from the first moment. However if you stick with it, there is a good and challenging game here. Yes there are plenty of problems other than what I have mentioned, the level select for example, is you walking around an open area, but as you move, you do not have the abilities you have within an actual level, it just feels wrong, not to mention the very slow pace of the character, the inertia of the character also feels way too heavy. 

The Good

A pretty game with well thought out and challenging levels.

The Bad

A 2D platformer in a 3D world, with a somewhat fixed camera is so hard to get used to. Steep learning curve will also put people off.

Overall

There is a very good game here, it is just hidden behind some terrible developer choices, get past the early problems, stick with it, and you will enjoy the game. But it really takes too much effort from the gamer to get there.

I score The Legend of Gwen on Nintendo Switch a disappointing 6/10. Sadly I think it is too late to fix the issues that will mean this game never reaches an audience that will appreciate it.