PixARK Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

PixARK Switch NSP Free Download In 2009, the gaming industry was forever changed when a humble indie game called Minecraft was first made available to the public, introducing the world to a new genre of sandbox gaming that would go on to be cloned and mimicked to death in the ensuing decade. One of the most recent offshoots of this concept is PixARK, a Minecraft-esque take on the cult survival hit Ark: Survival Evolved that eschews the pseudo-realistic dino-hunting aesthetics of the original in favour of a blockier and more colourful style that appeals to a wider audience.  ROMSLAB.COM Best Switch Games

PixARK Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

Unfortunately, this new mashup of styles simply isn’t very enjoyable to play, and though it may look rather pretty. PixARK proves to be a weak and unmemorable attempt at riding on the coattails of much better games. As a survival-first experience, PixARK doesn’t have a story to speak of, just a simple ‘you vs. the world’ setup that demands you examine the ins and outs of the environment around you and learn to subdue it, bending it to your will to accomplish your goals. Worlds are randomly generated, filled with a diverse array of biomes and geographical features teeming with animal life, and your goal is to explore as much of it as you can, harvest what natural resources you wish, and ultimately eke out a satisfying existence.

Story

When it’s done right, this kind of setting can prove to be a wonderfully enjoyable challenge, as you constantly set a series of small goals to fulfill on your endless journey for self-improvement.  In PixARK, however, this survival focus feels more like a chore than an enjoyable challenge, largely due to the sloppily thrown together nature of the controls and design. Right from the get-go, you know you’re in for a ‘treat’ when you’re faced with a character customizer that gives you a taste of the abundantly deplorable menus that plague the entire experience. It’s clear that the developers put no serious time into playtesting these menus, as the tiny text and hokey navigation show that it was obviously designed for a PC interface. Bloons TD 5 Switch NSP

PixARK Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

It’s possible, sure, but it’s the farthest thing from intuitive that a menu design could be, and given how much of the PixARK experience is spent sifting through crafting and inventory menus, this oversight is simply unforgivable. The poor menu design is softened (thankfully) by the inclusion of touch screen support when in portable mode, but nonetheless, it makes a terrible first impression that proves to be more or less accurate of the whole game. Once you drop into the world, sometimes inexplicably dragged up in the air several yards because of a loading error, what you do next is entirely up to you. Or, at least it will be if the RNG doesn’t laugh in your face.

Upon our first experience dropping into our fresh, new world

Our character spawned in the middle of an ocean and was promptly savaged by a level 60 Megalodon Shark that appeared to have been waiting for us to descend from the heavens. After a few more attempts that all ended with the same Megalodon spawn-killing us, we opted for one of the other spawn locations – something far on the other end of the map that was blessedly on land. Spawning there, we were instead greeted by an equally high-level werewolf which also seemed to have been waiting for our arrival. This should tell you about all that you need to know about PixARK; it’s a game that’s entirely and bafflingly oblivious to the actual end user experience. Blue Fire Switch NSP

PixARK Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

Once we finally did manage to find a spawn location that wasn’t closely monitored by voracious apex predators, we were greeted with imprecise and input-lag laden controls that make the very act of simple movement a chore. There’s no reticle indicating what your character is targeting, so if you want to, say, dig up the dirt around you to build yourself a simple hut, it’s anybody guess whether the block your character is pointed at will actually be the one that gets destroyed. Strangely enough, a reticle appears when you have certain weapons equipped, but then disappears if you switch to anything else.

There are some RPG-lite mechanics included, too,

These prove to be uninteresting at best and downright tedious at worst. Your character has standard stats like health and stamina, but others, like temperature or hunger, ensure that you constantly have to be on the lookout for things like food and favorable shelter. Randomized post boxes are scattered about the world offering up side quests that ask you to perform asinine activities like killing a certain number of woodland creatures or taming one with a certain berry, and completing these will grant you a meager amount of XP. Or, if you don’t feel like doing the busy work, you can sit around and do literally nothing, as your character gains XP every second. BLUE REFLECTION: Second Light Switch NSP

PixARK Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

When you level up, your character can then spend a certain amount of Skill Points on new, craftable recipes, many of which only feel cosmetically different from earlier equipment. Then there’s the issue of how the message “LEVEL UP IS AVAILABLE! Access Inventory To Apply Skill Points!” will, no joke, permanently plaster itself across the top of your screen after your first level up, covering up previously readable portions of the menu in the process. Spending said skill points down to zero does nothing to get rid of this message, it sticks around like a bad rash whether you’re in the menus or playing around in the overworld.

Add-ons (DLC): PixARK Switch NSP