Ailment

Genre: Top-Down Action / Horror

Players: 1

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Review:

Ailment is a Top-Down Action game first released on PC in 2019 and brought to multiple platforms including the Nintendo Switch in 2020. This game puts the players in control of a character who awakens on a space vessel where much of the crew seem to have become afflicted with some sort of condition that causes them to mindlessly attack you on sight. Think “zombies”, except many of them still use guns.

In terms of presentation, Ailment has a pixel art graphics style that works well enough for the game, or at least it would if it wasn’t for how repetitive everything looks. Also, despite that this game clearly cannot be taxing the Nintendo Switch hardware, it nevertheless seems to have a pretty low framerate, which was so bad as to be distracting. This is paired with atmospheric sounds undoubtedly meant to make for a spooky atmosphere, but given the low quality of the visuals and the lack of actual scary enemies or situations, this doesn’t really work.

As for the gameplay, this is a game that looks a lot like a Two-Stick Shooter, but it’s not. The right stick is barely used in the game at all (it can be used in conjunction with another button for quick weapon selection, and that’s it). Instead, this game has your character auto-aiming at enemies that are nearest to you, which does not work well at all and makes for some really frustrating times when one enemy is approaching from a clear vantage point but the game wants you aiming at another enemy that’s ducking behind cover, or the game ignores a strong enemy you want to focus on in favor of a weaker enemy you could easily dodge while taking on the bigger threat.

It gets worse, too. This entire game takes place in extremely claustrophobic corridors, which is a poor fit for this sort of action game as it doesn’t give you much room to dodge enemy fire or maneuver. And as if the repetitive visuals weren’t enough, the gameplay is also agonizingly repetitive too. Move to computer, unlock door, move to new room, shoot zombies, move to computer, unlock door. Maybe open some lockers if you see them to snag a weapon, med kit, or character upgrade… but this game feels so one-note that you’ll be tired of it within minutes of starting.

Two-Stick Shooters feel like a dime a dozen on the Nintendo Switch, and there are some very good ones to play that aren’t hard to find. Ailment is a game that technically isn’t a Two-Stick Shooter, but only because it can’t be bothered to let the player aim for themselves, and this is only one of the game’s multitude of massive flaws. There are so many better options for you on the Nintendo Switch if you want a game like this, so please don’t bother with this one.

tl;dr – Ailment is a Top-Down Action game that has you fighting zombies in repetitive spacecraft corridors. Unfortunately, the game forces shoddy auto-aim on the player, has poor framerates, and has game design that simply isn’t conducive to this sort of Action game. Not worth your time.

Grade: D

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