The Low Road review for Switch, PC

In a way, The Low Road is kind of an abject failure. See, it?s a point and click adventure game…except the pointing and clicking is by far the worst part of the game. Usually when a game fails at its genre?s core mechanic, it doesn?t give you much hope for the rest of it.

And yet, somehow, The Low Road manages to overcome this considerable obstacle by being good at everything else it does.

For starters, the dialogue here sparkles with humour. While it doesn?t stray too far from the usual fourth wall-breaking self-awareness that?s defined the genre since the glory days of LucasArts adventure games, it still never sounds forced or awkward. It?s a rare game of this type that actually makes me want to read every dialogue option; The Low Road didn?t just do that, it left me looking forward to the next conversation.

I was also a huge fan of the game?s style. The Low Road sets out to be a spoof of spy flicks from the late ?60s/early ?70s, and again, the game nails that vibe. The clothes, the colours, the fonts — all of them evoke a very specific period, and they make the game feel genuinely fun.

Where the game doesn?t feel fun is, as I said, in the whole ?point and click? part. For some reason, The Low Road doesn?t make use of the Switch?s touchscreen, which means you?re left using the thumbstick and buttons to search around the screen, and it feels awkward at the best of times. Likewise, the puzzles here would have been greatly improved by touch controls, and the fact you ever have to struggle with buttons feels like a huge missed opportunity.

Still, it says a lot about The Low Road that even with this considerable drawback, it?s still a decent enough game that adventure game fans should check it out. They should go in knowing that one of the core mechanics is broken, mind you, but if they can overlook that, they?ll be pleasantly surprised.

XGen Studios provided us with a Low Road Switch code for review purposes.