TAURONOS Switch Review – No Escape

The premise of TAURONOS should be familiar to anyone that knows the myth of Theseus, the Minotaur, and the labyrinth. For anyone unfamiliar with Greek mythology, it’s fairly simple. Boiling it down to the simplest components, the Minotaur is a half-man, half-bull beast that dines on human flesh and is forced to live inside the winding maze. The maze is the same labyrinth it hunted and devoured humans that were sent to the there as sacrifices. That is until the hero, Theseus, volunteered to slay the beast.

TAURONOS isn’t exactly a recreation of the myth, but it is heavily and very obviously inspired by it. The game follows a hero (I don’t believe he is named, but the developers have confirmed in various places that it is indeed Theseus) as he navigates the crumbling ruins of the labyrinth (which appears to be a series of floors of differing size rather than one large place as per the myth) and attempts to not get slain by traps or the Minotaur.

The left analog stick is used to move, and the right one changes which way you are facing (However, you can move around freely, so the only real purpose is shining the light from your torch a little further in the direction you’re facing). You can interact with certain objects by holding or tapping the A button, these include clearing rubble, deactivating some traps, using switches, and activating shrines.

The shrines, once activated, will power up a certain aspect of Theseus, such as making his fire a little brighter, increasing his maximum health or stamina, etc. They are optional, however, but it is in your best interest to find as many as possible to make the game a little easier.

Even on the easiest difficulty, the game can be quite punishing with a lot of traps being hard to spot or dead ends that box you in to become Minotaur food. Most levels rely more on failing and learning the paths than twitch reactions and skill. However, a certain amount of luck can carry you, as well as some moments such as timing your movement to dodge traps while clearing rubble requiring fairly quick reflexes.

Another thing to note about TAURONOS is speed, if you’re looking for a fast, frantic experience then you should look elsewhere. Theseus is very slow. You can hold the B button to boost as long as you have stamina, but even the boost is very slow. As you play through the game and gain upgrades, you can get a bit faster, but the Minotaur’s speed also increases so you’ll never really be able to shake him (Which is intentional, of course).

And that’s really all there is to TAURONOS. It’s a fairly simple game. Pretty much every aspect of the game is… okay. There is nothing that really stands out as being terrible, nor is there anything great. It just is what it is.

Every aspect I didn’t like is sort of counter-balanced. For instance, the game is a top-down view where you see the top of the head, as if you were looking directly down, which is a visual style I don’t think I’ve ever thought looked good in a game. But at the same time, it fits well for this type of game, the labyrinth exploration, especially with the Minotaur closing in on you.

Then we have things like the audio, the footsteps and some other sounds range from generic to annoying, but then you have a voice actor for Theseus that is pretty good, once again balancing things out.

You can also play as the Minotaur and hunt Theseus, which is somewhat fun. However, you have to play through plenty of the standard game to get to this point.

Unfortunately, though, this is a very forgettable experience. Once I finished playing, I pretty much knew I would never return to the game. I’ve seen every aspect of the game handled better elsewhere, and I’ve seen every aspect handled worse. If you’re interested in the game, then watch someone play the first chapter in a Let’s Play. If you’re still interested, then you’ll probably enjoy it. If not, then don’t expect it to get much better.

TAURONOS Review Provided By Nintendo Link
Developer: 16 Bit Nights
Publisher: Restless Corp
Release Date: Nov 03, 2020
Price: $6.99, £5.39, €5,99
Game Size: 694 MB