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Video Game Review - NUTS

Ellie Woodcock reviews NUTS on the Nintendo Switch...

NUTS is a mystery simulation game that's been developed by a small team of remote developers in collaboration with Noodle Cake. Joon, Pol, Muuutsch, Char & Torfi have created a game with no crunch involvement - which is a big issue within the video game industry at the moment. The team are also based remotely in Berlin, Reykjavik, Montreal and Copenhagen which you can imagine isn't ideal when creating a video game. Thankfully NUTS comes together in a unique and interesting way. It's also an incredibe achievement by such a small team and NUTS is testerment to their commitment. 

NUTS centres on the strange goings on inside Melmoth Forest as your tasked in finding out what Squirrels get up to when no- one is watching.

NUTS bills itself as "an adventure in Squirrel surveillance" and it's exactly that.

The game starts with a brief walk into the forest which serves as our introduction to the world. We soon find ourselves at a caravan which is set to be your home for the next few nights. It's here that we are tasked with seeing what these seemingly peaceful creatures get up to when no one is watching them. 

After getting the power going to our caravan, we receive a phone call from Professor Nina Scholz, of the Virgo institute. Everything we discover in the game goes through Nina. Nina also gives you the area'a objectives and she’s pretty quick in picking up the phone to tell you right from wrong. The other character we interact with is Simon. Simon is our equipment guy who also brings us to and from each area. Without going too much into spoilers, NUTS is a great narrative game with a pretty solid story. It’s easy to get lost within the world and it will make you see Squirrels in a different light.


Gameplay takes place during various stages of a standard day. Each day starts with you being able to set up your three cameras in various position to capture our rodent targets. Once happy, you go back to your caravan and its time to start recording. Once you hit record time speeds up to dusk and the squirrels come out to play...or plot. It’s at this point the really investigation begins. 

During the interval between day and night our cameras have been recording the Squirrels at work. Once night falls you then have to review the footage to find what Professor Nina is after. Once you've selected l what footage to print, you then send it off to Nina via a retro fax machine. Email would of been quicker but...anyway. Nina is hot on the phone and she'll either tell you its correct or will send you out to try again. A lot of the work is pure guess work as you attempt to decifer where the furry creatures are doing their bidding. More often than not it will take a few days to get the correct footage. Thankfully the Squirrels of Melmoth Forrest love repetition.


Controls are pretty straight forward and actions are performed via a mixture of everything the Switch has to offer. I experienced NUTS on the Switch Lite and whilst the game played perfectly well, on occasion the font was a tad too small. It doesn't detract from the overall experience but can be an occasional nuisance. 

Visual wise, NUTS is unlike anything I've played before. It's a bold visual style that encompasses a vast use of orange and browns for day time to then switch to cool blues and purples for the night. There isn't no intricate detail to the visuals but it looks pretty regardless. Pol Clarisso has done a fantastic job in creating this world in such a minimalist way, well and truly deserves all the praise he's gotten. 

When its all done, NUTS is a truly werid and fantastic game. It's deep narrative structure really grabs your attention and it will make you see Squirrels in a new light. Fans of narrative games such as Firewatch will be right at home with what the game has to offer. With a striking visual style and an incredible blend of gameplay and story, NUTS is a perfect way to spend an afternoon or two. 


Rating 8/10

Ellie Woodcock - for more video game and comic book chat why not follow Geek Culture Reviews on Twitter and Facebook @GeekCultureRev

A review copy was provided for the purposes of this review. 

For more information on NUTS check out the website here

 

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