Fig.

Genre: Action-Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in Fig + There’s a Gun in the Office Bundle, along with There’s a Gun in the Office.)

Fig. is an Action-Platformer released in 2022 on PC and Nintendo Switch and ported in 2023 to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This game has you taking control of a robot that awakens in some sort of facility filled with other hostile robots and hazards, as it tries to learn who or what it is and why it is in this place.

The presentation here makes use of 2D faux pixel art visuals that look decent enough but quickly get repetitive, particularly with the game’s bland-looking industrial environments. This is backed by a subdued soundtrack. In short, nothing here looks or sounds outright bad, but it’s dull, with nothing visually distinct or interesting about it.

The gameplay seems a bit like a Metroidvania, with upgrades as you progress and splitting pathways that can lead to other upgrades. However, the level design here is overall linear as you progress through the facility. And as for the gameplay itself, there’s nothing especially interesting here, with enemy design and level design that doesn’t present anything especially engaging, and there hardly seems any risk to anything when dying respawns you in the same room.

All of this would amount to a passable but mediocre game if it wasn’t for the fact that the controls here are clunky, awkward, and often buggy. Wall-jumping that refuses to let you jump away from a wall when you’re holding away from it but instead requires you to release directional inputs to do so. And often I found my character moving in the opposite direction from the input I was pressing.

Despite all the flaws and uninspired design, I did appreciate the frequent upgrades this game offers the player. But in the end, when I found myself repeatedly dying due to the game’s terrible controls, and fighting boring enemies against boring backdrops, I couldn’t help but think of all the better Action-Platformers and Metroidvanias on Nintendo Switch I could have been playing instead of this. Take my word for it – you’re much better off getting something else instead.

tl;dr – Fig. is an Action-Platformer that has players controlling a robot fighting hostile robots in some sort of facility. The presentation here is bland, the enemies and level design is uninspired, and the controls are clunky and at times outright broken. You have numerous better options for Action-Platformers on Nintendo Switch, and I recommend playing one of those other games instead of this.

Grade: D+

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