As Far As The Eye First Impressions

I’ve only had As Far As The Eye on Nintendo Switch for less than 24 hours, but the experience so far has been exhilarating. While I have a few gripes with the overlay, the gameplay mechanics and campaign progression are smooth, making this city builder a great game for the Nintendo Switch system.

Released back on PC in 2020, As Far As The Eye probably is better played on that platform. That being said, having it available, portable, on the Nintendo Switch is huge, and will be my go-to-game on trips for the foreseeable future. The development team knocked it out of the park with gorgeous graphics, very appropriate music and sound effects, and a feeling that you are playing something familiar, yet still unique.

In As Far As The Eye, you will control Pupils who will need to perform various tasks in order to gather resources, build necessary buildings, and progress from one region to the next. To get from region-to-region, a certain number of resources are required, and these will need to be collected by various means, either straight harvesting from various hexs on the board, or by building appropriate buildings so you can, say, mine stone.

There is a ever present danger, however. As you progress each day forward – think Civilization here – a rising tide threatens to wipe out your village, which means it’s imperative to get everything you need and move on from your current location as fast as possible. There are other potential things to think about as well – sickness, etc. – but the rising water is your chief concern. And while early on that doesn’t factor in as much as you would think – you will have plenty of time – levels further into the experience do require some careful planning and optimization. Wasting valuable days not doing anything, or sending your Pupils to the wrong tasks, will result in a restarting that level because, well, you will lose.

I need to spend more time with As Far As The Eye, but it is an excellent example of a city builder done well on Nintendo Switch. What was that gripe I had? The text is just too damn small!

You can pick up As Far As The Eye on the Nintendo eShop on Thursday, April 28, 2022.