HoB, btw.

I\’ve been fascinated by HoB\’s design since the first trailers I\’ve seen. I collected as many wallpapers as possible, I\’ve done style analysis, but unfortunately, I had no hardware compatible with the game … that is, until I logged in the Nintendo shop last week and discovered a promo on HoB definitive edition!

That was the best possible conditions to play it. I could drop the adventure at any time, and resume exactly at that point. I hadn\’t to fight against \”where is [] again?\” because I\’ve trained myself to the ABXY with the Mario & Luigi series. I wasn\’t fighting against my glasses because I could just keep the console in my hands. I\’m even surprised I am not feeling any eye strain despite I added about 2 or 3 hours of play every evening in addition to my work hours, but it lasted only for one week…

I think I haven\’t played a game that intensely since Fez! About every moment in the day, I could feel slight excitation about getting back to the game when I\’ll be done with the day\’s tasks, exactly the same way you feel excited about continuing to read a Harry Potter book for the first time. The core difference with Fez is that I had no need for a journey log nor to scribble everything I encountered.

As surprising as it is, I could keep all I had to know about HoB\’s world in my head — partly thanks to the icons feature on the map that will automatically pinpoint collectibles the minute you have them onscreen, so that you can track and collect them later on. I should mention that I played the game in \”normal\” mode, not in \”definitive mode\” (which would have provided more signposting and hints about quests, if I\’m correct). I used the map a lot, and I found it interesting that only the overworld has a map, and that I got a different feeling when entering a cave where I would have to rely solely on my brain to know whether I\’ve visited a room already and never know how far away I was from the exit.

I\’ll keep the game design analysis for other posts. I must confess that I did encountered some glitches while playing: mostly walls disappearing when the camera angle got too extreme, but also getting stuck into trees where I wasn\’t supposed to be … The game even crashed once, which I really wasn\’t expecting on a console system. But let\’s be honest: compared to the huge amount of bugs PS and PC users reported at game launch, that Switch version is clearly much cleaner. I was also stunned to see the game lagging that much on earlier releases. The switch port seemed to run at full frame rate most of the time. I don\’t recall I had to blame lagging for any missed jump or failed fight.