The Low Road Review
Developed by: XGen Studios
Published by: XGen Studios
Release Date: Aug 23, 2018
Reviewed for Switch
The Nintendo Switch has quickly become a home for “indie” games much like the early years of the PlayStation 4. And The Low Road might be the best one I’ve played yet. A retro 70s era filled with clever puzzles and adventure game mechanics all wrapped around a beautiful art style. The Low Road is a point-and-click graphic adventure game in which rookie agent Noomi Kovacs must navigate her way through the world of corporate espionage. Everything even the chapter breaks has a sense of style and sets a mood, Even the voice acting which is usually questionable in period-specific games is spot-on. One of my favorite parts of gaming, in general, is branching story paths no matter how small or minimal it gives me a sense of ownership and The Low Road drops you in the deep end right from the start.
The Characters introduced in the first few hours are well crafted and expressly different from one another. each have their quirks and pleasant voice acting. Noomi is delightfully snarky, and her boss is convincingly curmudgeonly. These characters carry a lot of the weight for the plot in that I care about them more than whats going on around them. It’s inspired by 70’s spy shows and then leans towards Spy Vs. Spy stuff. Like any good espionage story things can get convoluted at times, but then again we’re not going for realism here, we’re here for witty dialogue, excellent voice acting, and fun puzzles. If there is an annoying aspect to the game it would be the walking speed, Now that sounds like weak sauce, but large parts of this game have you backtracking or going up and down stairs which slow you down even more. It’s a small thing, but it’s a thing.
Office Party
I’m not usually a puzzle game kind of guy, I enjoy them fine, but I don’t flock to games that exclusively pull you in by touting the puzzle structure. But given how quick and bite-sized these puzzles are I enjoyed them a lot, In fact, I wish there were more Puzzles and less Adventure point and click. It’s your typical adventure setup things are scattered around the map or plot points, and you have to find them and put them to use in various ways sometimes with no hints or help. I’m not sure why but the combination of 70’s cinema, espionage, and Puzzle games seems to have hit a sweet spot I didn’t know existed for me.
The characters surrounding Noomi and Turn (Her boss) are just as exciting and quirky from the old rhyming tech specialist to the cowboy fringe wearing field agent. Surround all these characters is a fine tooth comb of detail and world building. From the music to the aesthetics around the office this game has what a lot of recent indies games don’t. A clean and beautiful art style. Everything feels as it should. There aren’t multiple art styles fighting for attention everything flows together really well.
Work Friends
Finding the next thing to do can be tricky which is usually why I’m not always excited to jump into adventure games, but The Low Road does just enough sometimes to nudge you along the right path. Other times it leaves you up to your imagination on how to further the story. Alongside these mechanics are a series of choices and chat options that can influence your ending or achievements. You can either end up a lown wolf spy or one of the team by the end of the game. It’s little things like that which kept me interested in going on to the next area or dialogue option; Sometimes puzzle games leave you wanting to skip cutscenes and get to the next puzzle but not this one.
If you are a fan of spies, the 70’s, dry whit, and a cool art style, then I highly recommend The Low Road to you. It’s just short enough to leave you wanting and just long enough to not overstay it’s welcome. It’s a quirky adventure puzzle game that stands above other indie games released on the Nintendo Switch as of late.
