At first glance, UNDERSCORE and Joy Brick’s brand new puzzle adventure, Aliisha: The Oblivion of Twin Goddesses, shows a lot of promise in that it’s designed from the ground up for two players to indulge in a lot of cooperative questing action that takes full advantage of the Nintendo Switch’s unique array of capabilities. .
Here we have a puzzle game that allows two friends to work together to solve a series of impressively atmospheric multi-room problems, each taking on the role of one of two sisters, Aisha and Lisha, who have just stumbled upon a vast underground temple full of mystery and ancient magic. What’s most convenient here is that one player uses their Switch in handheld mode, while the other is preoccupied with their Joy-Cons in docked mode — using the required second Switch — to explore the world on offer, making sure that the console’s gyroscope controls the display as well touch sensitive work as you work your way through the campaign.
On paper, it’s a strong idea that starts well, with the sisters splitting up as headstrong adventurer Aisha heads straight into the bowels of the game’s labyrinthine complex, while her worrisome twin, Lisha, stays outside, opting to send her AI friend, AMBU, instead. with help. After a short opening sequence, players are put in control of Aisha and AMBU and must use all their available skills to progress through a reasonably interesting main plot that revolves as much around the developing relationship between the two siblings as it does about legend and folklore. you will discover underground.
Between Aisha’s scouting skill that highlights objects in the environment or gives you subtle hints as to which direction to take next, and AMBU’s ability to fly around, scan and return detailed information about the rooms you wander through, there’s plenty here to keep players busy. However, this is a game that, while a lot of time and care has clearly been put into it, suffers from a number of issues that make for a rather frustrating and tiring adventure overall.
The biggest problem right out of the gate is that Aliisha: The Oblivion of Twin Goddesses only offers its main co-op mode in the local wireless version, insisting that you have two copies of the game and two switches at hand to fully enjoy its asymmetric gameplay. We understand where the developers are coming from, here they have a unique experience that works best for two players if they can meet these requirements, but limiting access to co-op in such a way is sure to be a huge barrier for many potential players and it’s a real shame we couldn’t have and some kind of online or splitscreen alternative.
Yes, there’s a solo mode, and we used it a bit for this review, but playing solo here highlights the game’s other major problem, the overall slowness of getting around, interacting with environments, and switching between Aisha and AMBU. , which you’ll have to do all the time if you’re playing alone. We’re not sure how much of this has to do with the frame rate, which sometimes struggles a bit, but just moving around puzzle rooms, switching between characters, reading text, manipulating objects, and so on is too slow for our liking, and creates a simmering sense of constant frustration that then ramps it up with puzzles that can be too awkward and time-consuming to solve and too much focus on meticulously searching every centimeter of the environment until something clicks.
As much as we’re definitely impressed by the few labyrinthine problems the game throws at you, with some massive puzzles that require you to manipulate large environments, study the game’s lore carefully, and work well together to succeed, there’s a lack of polish that permeates almost everything you do, with a clunky interface and an almost severe lack of guidance or assistance which makes for some serious testing as you break through. It just needed more refinement in the way characters pick up and interact with objects, a bit more attention to how the touch screen aspects are implemented, and some way to call up even a little help when you’re completely stuck in a giant puzzle with the feeling that you never, you will never understand where to go next.
We like our puzzles hard and don’t mind being caught out or stuck every once in a while, but there’s a constant feeling here that things could have been directed better, that the way forward is sometimes absolutely confusing because the game fails to be clear and not just any clever puzzle.
There is also a complete lack of real eureka moments or moments when you sit back and feel satisfied and impressed with how the problem was solved. When you put all of this together, the sluggishness, the clumsiness, the lack of clarity, and the barriers erected around that co-op mode, well, you have a game that tries hard, works well in places, but just doesn’t feel fun or polished enough to be on really liked it in the end.
There’s no doubt that incredibly patient puzzle fans (who have multiple Switch consoles, two copies of the game on hand, plus a willing co-op partner) can have fun here, but for everyone else, things are also frustrating — and long before you get close to the end of what is offered. And solo mode feels like a watered-down alternative that’s too cumbersome and time-consuming due to the constant need to switch between characters, further slowing everything down.
Still, there’s a unique and intriguing co-op kernel here that nicely mixes up your typical multiplayer interaction patterns. We wish the developers would revisit this idea in the future, smooth out the rough edges, make things a little easier to read and navigate, and we could have an absolute blast. But it just doesn’t work well enough here.
Conclusion
Aliisha: Oblivion of Twin Goddesses is a bright and colorful co-op puzzle adventure that brings some unique and interesting ideas to the table. There are some decent puzzles, likeable characters, a pretty engaging story, and we like to see games that don’t want to incorporate the Switch’s capabilities into their settings. However, there’s also a general clumsiness and lack of polish here, with little or no apparent direction in most puzzles, and too much focus on meticulously studying every inch of the room, resulting in an adventure that’s too often an exercise in frustration. It’s also a shame that the co-op mode is only available through local play, which requires two consoles and two copies of the game, since playing solo is a much less enjoyable experience. So, admirable, but flawed.
