Estranged: The Departure from indie Alan Edwardes is a first-person story-driven experience on Nintendo Switch. Check our Estranged: The Departure review!
After almost seven years of hard work, indie Alan Edwardes has released Estranged: The Departure on Nintendo Switch. This is a standalone sequel to Estranged: Act I, a game he released for free on Steam back in 2004. This is a first-person experience that sees you take on the role of a fisherman who finds himself stranded on an island in the Norwegian Sea after a violent storm. You’re then thrown into a first-person survival horror experience as you uncover what the shady Arque Corporation has been up to.
Since this is played from a first-person perspective, you’ll be moving around with the left analog stick, sprinting by pressing in on it, moving the camera around with the right one. You can jump with the B button or crouch with the A button. You have a flashlight you can toggle on or off with the X button as needed. Your primary attack will be mapped to the ZR button, with your secondary attack mapped to the ZL button. When you need to reload, just press the Y button. This button will also be used to interact with things.
Most of your time with the game will be spent exploring each new location on the island that you gain access to, but you’ll eventually find yourself face to face with some zombie-like enemies who will try to chew at your brains – it’s always zombies, isn’t it? I do have to say that the enemies do feel a bit out of place in this one. Sure, they help to raise the tension and keep you on alert, but the game could have easily worked as a “walking sim” type of experience, and there would be nothing wrong with that.
It’s surreal that Estranged: The Departure was built by a single indie dev over almost seven years. Sure, it’s a game that you can complete in a couple of hours, but it’s an entertaining experience that offers some very polished graphics, a framerate that does chug a bit every now and then. Estranged: The Departure is out on Nintendo Switch with a budget $5.99 asking price, making it an easy one to recommend.
Disclaimer
This Estranged: The Departure review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Alan Edwardes.
