Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark (Nintendo Switch) Impressions

I’ve been a fan of point-and-click adventure games for as long as I can remember, playing through most of the Tales of Monkey Island series, as well as the best point-and-click adventure series ever released, King’s Quest. I enjoy the exploration and narrative elements of these titles, and really enjoy the problem and puzzle solving. While King’s Quest was never difficult for me, playing through Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark made me not only feel stupid, but inadequate as a adventure game player. And I loved it!

I won’t be diving into the nuts and bolts of A Fumble in the Dark – you can read our entire Xbox One review by the always awesome Carmelo by clicking here! You can check out part of my terrible Let’s Play stream by clicking play button below!

What I do want to do is look at the aspects that make the Nintendo Switch version the definitive version of the game, and why it’s likely the place you should be buying all the Darkside Detective titles, if you have the chance. And it’s all about he touch screen. Using a controller to simulate a mouse has never been the best experience, which is why you rarely see real time strategy games or tycoon titles succeed on Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo Switch. While point-and-click adventure titles are naturally a slower experience – making the ability to play on a console with a controller much easier – it’s still not the ideal way to play these amazing titles. If you can’t use a mouse, the next best option are outstanding touch controls, and on that front, only the Nintendo console can deliver.

Outside of a few instances when I was trying to click and drag items from the top bar to a specific person or object – and kept tapping on a building or something else in the background – the touch controls in Darkside Detective are phenomenal, and definitely the way to play this title. Since the game has a very specific, pixelated look, you aren’t really losing anything playing on Nintendo Switch versus Xbox or PlayStation.

If you are diving in any of the Darkside Detective titles, I highly recommend the Nintendo Switch versions! These games are optimized for this system!