Together Switch Review – Two’s Company

We covered Together back in June, and we unfortunately were not able to get to the review until now. This is a silly and fun cooperative platformer that looks and feels like a mobile title yet controls really well. It is vibrant and colorful, and it is an entertaining little title. At the time of this posting this review, it is even heavily discounted on the Switch eShop.

But is Together something you even want to play together with a friend? Or is this co-op indie game better played solo? Let’s find out!

Together does not really have much of a story. It basically just feeds you some comic-like panels that show some mysterious penguins causing mischief, a horny-haired villain called Mona Chrome, and then the initial cast of selectable characters you can play as from the start. The title is basically a play on words where “Together” means cooperative and “ToGetHer” means to… well… go after her. A nice thing is that there are numerous more characters to unlock over time, and there are even lots of accessories to get for them as well to mix things up even more.

I am honestly not quite sure exactly what the premise is outside of the world lost color, but Together is a fun, little cooperative action platformer with some silly graphics and fun designs.

The nice thing about the title is that it can be played solo or cooperatively with a friend. Playing solo is actually not a problem at all, despite the game promoting cooperative play heavily, and since there are four difficulty settings (Easy, Medium, Hard, and Insane), choosing a route that is most comfortable for you (And possibly your friend) could not be better.

The stages are giant mazes of sorts where you will face various foes that range in difficulty. Some take one smack to kill (Or Save?) while others take two or three. Each enemy is also equipped with some type of weapon, whether it be a handheld or a projectile, and the mix of enemies throughout the game is quite nice, actually. Other than enemies, stages have Pictorian crystals that you are tasked to find and collect, and there are 15 per stage to help re-colorize the world of Together as well as help you unlock more characters.

Stages are rather large, so navigating around can be a bit of a nuisance. Doing so with a partner can also be problematic, as there is no real freedom to explore separately. Both characters need to be within a certain range or else one will teleport back to the other after a few seconds. This makes strategic exploration impossible, as the cooperative experience is mostly the same as the single player. That doesn’t necessarily mean it is bad, but it could have benefited tremendously if split-screen was enabled.

Fighting and platforming is actually rather fun and reminds me a lot of Scribblenauts. By that, I mean the clunky jumping and wild flailing has a very particular feel, and even though that sounds bad, it is actually really tight and feels fair at all points.

Another interesting design choice is that you will always select two characters, so in single player you will have two for yourself and in co-op both will have two each. In a way similar to certain fighting games, you have the ability to swap out characters in the middle of play, which can be strategic as various power-ups can be equipped and used, and you have double the health. If planned well, both selected characters can bring some fun fire power to the stage to help things out. With two players, that just increases the the options even more.

The world and characters have a very particular look about them, and like I said before, it is quite Scribblenauts-like. I love how the characters move, and even though it is small while playing, their facial expressions are genuinely hilarious. This is an art style I am a huge fan of, and it works perfectly in Together.

I also love the monochrome/color scheme of Together, as it ties really well to the overall aesthetic. While you are traversing through stages and collecting Pictorian crystals, the world around you begins to pop more and more with color, and it is a lovely transition that does encourage you to collect more and more Pictorian crystals. So although you do not need to collect all of them in a given stage in order to clear it, two very fun things happen if you collect more: 1) you unlock more characters and stuff and 2) you make the world around you look better. Solid gaming!

Together really is not the deepest game and its co-op is not as good as it should be, but this is still a wonderful little indie game, especially at the asking price. There is simply a lot to do here, and the fact that you can do it alone or with a friend in drop-in/drop-out cooperative multiplayer is just icing on the otherwise solid indie cake (Good or bad analogy?).

It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but this is definitely a game worth checking out, especially if you can find it on sale. Together provides a unique experience that plays and controls great, and it is a title that absolutely deserves more love than is coming its way.

Together Switch Review provided by Nintendo Link
Review also found on OpenCritic
Publisher: Ultimate Games
Developer: The Dust
Release Date: June 16th, 2021
Price: $6.99, £6.29, €6,99
Game Size: 320 MB