Game: Headland
Genre: Action, Adventure, Role-Playing
System: Nintendo Switch (also on Steam (Windows), iOS & Android)
Developers | Publishers: Northplay | Plan of Attack
Age Rating: US E | EU 3+
Price: US $19.99 | UK £17.99 | EU € 19,99
Release Date: January 13th, 2022
Review code used, with many thanks to Plan of Attack.
Headland is an RPG adventure game from developers Northplay, previously released on iOS and Android. The game has a planned release for Steam for some time this year, but first, Headland has made its way to the Nintendo Switch.
A Fantasy World
Headland is set in a fantasy world filled with vibrant colours and silly creatures. All thanks to a device called the Imagination Core. But a sinister outside force threatens to steal the wonder and colour from the world. As a result, the Imagination Core has been shattered fragments worldwide.
Young Nor, who looks like he doesn’t have any pants on (he does), wakes up in his room to find his toy robot talking to him. Nor agrees to help the robot and his friends and sets out to find the fragments and discover the meaning behind the sinister Pale Guard.
The Robot Raft
The game has a central hub called the Robot Raft, where Nor returns after each expedition into the world to find the fragments. From there, Nor travels to various locations, battles creatures and collects Orbs and cogs in the hopes of finding the fragments.
Combat
The combat is fast and fluid in the game. Nor has a shield he can use with a Y button press. Nor is encased in the shield bubble for a short amount of time. So he has to battle the creatures to re-change his shield, which obviously he will be doing a lot.
Nor can also dash short distances on his thin spindly legs. The combination of the dash and the shield with Nor’s weapon makes for a fun combat system. Normally I’m not into too much combat in a game (I leave that to our expert James), but there is a great combination of exploring and fighting. Plus, it is only a couple of button presses, and the enemy is wiped out, effective and fast!
Decorate the Robot raft
Enemies drop Orbs which Nor collects along with wood and stone dotted around the levels. Orbs and Cogs are used back at the Robot Raft to upgrade his weapons. But that’s not all the orbs and cogs are used for, as along with wood and stone, they are used to decorate areas of the Robot Raft.
Along the way, Nor collects blueprints, and you use these to expand his arsenal of unique weapons. Swords can be upgraded to the next level at the Living Forge on the Robt raft. Nor’s health bar and power can also be increased. There is also a dedicated Dance button. While not adding anything to the gameplay watching Nor dance and boogie on down did bring a smile to my face.
Visuals and Controls
Headland is colourful and bright with vibrant colours throughout the levels, with an imaginative cast of monsters and quirky characters and suitable sound effects and music.
The game is controlled with the joy-cons, which all perform as they should. However, I think this is a bit of a miss on the developers part not to utilise the touch screen, considering this is a mobile port to the Switch.
Headland is an enjoyable game that I did have fun with. Of course, you can go back to each level to increase your score and find any secrets you may have missed, but that’s about it for replayability. I do have one gripe about the game’s price on the Switch. For a game priced at £4.99 in the App Store, I’m not sure the price of the Switch port at £17.99 is fully justified.
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot 