1000xRESIST

I’ve been in a little bit of a slump recently with the Nintendo Switch. Admittedly, a lot of that is down to it being in its final year before the successor no doubt release, and as a result both first and third party titles are starting to run a little dry. Whilst I can’t say there have been bad games lately, I have found that very few of them have that spark to make me fall in love with it. Considering how many games have succeeded at that over the past few years, it makes me a tad disappointed.

1000xRESIST makes a valiant attempt to shake me out of that slump, and it almost succeeded too – if it wasn’t for one massive flaw that tarnished the overall experience.

Many thanks to the publisher for the review code.

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE
Taking place 1000 years in the future, humanity has essentially been extinguished by an alien race known as the Occupants. They came with a deadly disease that mercilessly spread throughout the population of the world, forcing out their bodily fluids as they suffered a painful death.

But, there was one who was not affected, even while all her school friends died around her: a teenage girl called Iris, who was seen as the savior of the human race.

Back in the future, we switch to an underground sanctuary where Iris’s clones now make up society. Names no longer serve any purpose, and titles are given according to one’s function. Iris is the ALLMOTHER, and you are Watcher – one who can observe the ALLMOTHER’s memories through the process of Communing with other sisters. Unfortunately, during your first Communion, Fixer (another sister) breaks in to warn you that the ALLMOTHER has been lying to you.

Thus the seeds of doubt have been planted and you’ll eventually find out the truth as you delve further into the ALLMOTHER’s past.

1000xRESIST is mostly a narrative focused title, and could almost be considered a ‘walking simulator’ for the most part. Each chapter’s Communion allows you to access a different part of Iris’s memories and has you mainly progressing through them to piece together her history. Puzzles are typically made up of manipulating time in order to access areas of the memory that you otherwise don’t have access to you yet.

Whilst this may seem pretty intriguing, the process largely amounts to changing to a time when an area wasn’t blocked, passing through, and then switching back. Very basic stuff, but the purpose is to help keep you slightly more engaged with the narrative progression, and the implementation adds to the overall futuristic vibe. Outside of that there are some segments where you boost towards floating icons for a bit, but these add little much to the overall experience.

But don’t let the lack of overall gameplay fool you. It’s designed to be non-intrusive and isn’t meant to provide any kind of challenge. The story of what happened in this world is extremely compelling, and you can’t help but get sucked in thanks to the fantastic writing, voice acting, and art direction present. Every chapter is just as exciting at the last as you start finding out more answers to the many questions, and it leaves you with quite a satisfying ending. It’s a long narrative, but it doesn’t feel it – and a large part of that is due to those light gameplay elements that helps give you a mental break from what is quite a full-on story.

As I hinted at during the introduction, not everything is praiseworthy and the game comes to a crashing halt in-between your sisterly Communions. After learning more about a chapter of Iris’s life, you’ll find yourself sent back to the Orchard. In the hub world, you can seek out the next sister to Commune with, or you can chat to the others should you so wish; the problem is that Orchard is labyrinthine in nature and no matter how many times you return to it, it’s easy to wander around in circles completely lost. Even the waypoint system that attempts to guide you in the right direction is absolutely useless and I often found it was barely worth using.

It sounds like a small issue, but these hub sections bring the pacing to a screeching and frustrating halt. They’re a real buzzkill and I feel like half of my fifteen or so hour playtime was spent wandering around in damn circles just trying to find the next sister. Whilst this issue isn’t quite enough to stop me from recommending the otherwise fantastic game, it’s also an issue that’s hard to ignore and I hope it’s something that they address. Having a map, ideally with fast travel, would be the easiest way to combat the issue and it would honestly make a world of difference.

VERDICT
1000xRESIST is a beautifully captivating narrative tale in a dystopian future, and its non-linear storytelling really helps to keep you engaged with what happened to both Iris and the world she transformed. Unfortunately, walking around in circles in the god-awful hub really puts a dampener on the overall experience, and it’s something I hope can be addressed in a future update.