KUDZU Nintendo Switch Review 8/10 "A great title with Game Boy Roots" 🕹️ @PFBStudios #IndieGame #GameDev

Originally released as a physical Game Boy cartridge and now ported to the Switch, Kudzu – especially at its current price point – feels a steal for those who have a soft spot for adventures on Nintendo’s classic handheld.

The player takes control of tea-loving gardener protagonist Max, who goes off on a quest in search of his master, Zoen, who has seemingly lost his mind and wandered off into the ever-expanding fields of Kudzu that surround their home town.

A direct, pacey, and very green story, Kudzu’s top-down action/adventure vibes will resonate strongly with gamers of a certain age, and the puzzle-based gameplay combined with RPG-lite elements really meld here to result in a title that distils the best of the Game Boy era into a game that vibrates with the sense of a lost cult classic. Gameplay is very familiar and fair, and dovetails with a wonderfully catchy soundtrack that remains an earworm until you finish the 4-5 hour quest line.

As solid as the core mechanics are, it’s not all roses, there are thorns here. For example, as snappy as the in-game controls are, the layout and delay on button-presses in the in-game menus come across as bizarrely awkward. There are also some combat-centric moments that fall short of the mark and feels less than responsive, casting some Japanese Knotweed on what could have been a beautifully landscaped garden.

SUMMARY
Kudzu gave me a couple of wonderful evenings as I whistled along with the catchy music, and wandered the in-game locations, drinking in the gentle humour and nostalgic vibes. That said, there are moments that drag the game down that, if picked up during play-testing, could have made this an all-timer Game Boy-esque adventure. But, at the sub-fiver price point, I really feel like I’m nit-picking.