Survival Kids is a Switch 2 launch game primed to scratch that co-op itch

Daily Mirror

6 days ago

If you're seeking a fun and frantic way to indulge in some co-operative chaos on the Nintendo Switch 2's launch day, Survival Kids' crafting and exploration exploits have you covered.
Survival Kids is shaping up to be a perfectly fine survival co-op adventure that should make a good entry point to the genre for both younger players and newcomers.
With the first-party launch lineup for Nintendo Switch 2 looking light aside from Mario Kart World and Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, the responsibility to make playing the new hybrid on day one exciting also falls to third-party devs. Enter Survival Kids: an unabashedly family-orientated co-op experience from Konami that surprisingly doesn't go big on survival aspects – at least in a traditional hardcore genre sense.
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Rather, it's exactly the kind of isometric all ages adventure you'd expect from a game with an art style and vibe this colourful. Is it the most revolutionary way to explore, plunder, and craft with friends? Definitely not. But it is a good way to pull your hair out either online or locally with a buddy or two – and potentially a great showcase of the new console's GameChat feature.
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Despite the clear emphasis on co-op here, as strange as it seems, I was pleased to see that Survival Kids is fully playable in single-player too. True, this means taking away the typical challenge that comes from trying to co-ordinate whenever you need to, say, shift a large log, glide over a ravine, or pack up and pack down your base camp together.
That said, it's still nice to at least have the option to go it alone, and the one level I played in handheld mode by myself certainly demonstrated how exploration can still be enjoyable as a solo player. It cuts out much of the co-op noise that comes from trying to survive as a kid who has washed up onto a deserted island with others, which I recognise mightn't be the intended experience. But hey, it works!
For the most part, though, being successful in Survival Kids means working together as part of a team. I discovered this very early on in the game's tutorial level, Lesson Lagoon, where me and three others quickly got to grips with the regular routine of chopping wood for resources, manoeuvring heavy objects (both alone and with another), as well as cooking and eating the local fruits in order to maintain a good level of stamina.
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If it all sounds fairly standard as far as survival games go, that's probably because it is. But mixed in with such familiar escapades are a whole bunch of additional tools unique to each island biome to help keep the co-operative action fresh.
While Lesson Lagoon does a good enough job onboarding you of what it takes to successfully traverse from one side of a level to another, it was really in Boom Flower Bay where the game's true potential comes alive. Flowers that go (you guessed it) 'boom' play a big role in this stage, with plenty of walls that need exploding peppered in to reveal new pathways and fires that can only be lit from afar. Both problems had me scratching my head in ways I previously didn't have to, with solutions that eventually made sense based on the tools I had available to me.
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My hope is that such item-based puzzles grow to become deeper and more complex the more levels roll on – especially since Konami explained that the difficulty of them won't change too much based on whether you're playing alone or in multiplayer. Environmental puzzles are situated absolutely everywhere in Survival Kids, and completing most of them are necessary to locate and unearth all the essential components required to build the raft that will end the level and lead to the next.
Initially I was worried that Survival Kids segmenting its island into specific biomes as opposed to one continuous map would make exploring and crafting less fun an endeavour, when actually it's allowed Konami to sprinkle in all kinds of extra challenges. Beating a level with friends in the quickest time possible results in a higher star rating, for instance, while totally optional collectable treasures and glyphs need to be found to achieve that tricky 100% completion and even unlock new looks for your custom character.
To me, to you
The intention with Survival Kids is clearly to appeal to a wide audience, creating scenarios in which parents and kids or close friends can roam around together and enjoy bite-sized doses of survival fun. However, once you've achieved a three-star rating for each level, I do worry (aside from collectibles and glyphs) what about the game will keep people coming back for more. Because while the two stages I played as part of the demo lasted a good 30 or so minutes, once you know the solution I can easily see them able to be beaten in half that time – probably even less when playing alone.
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Fortunately, forever accompanying you along the way are the quirky British overtones of comedian Marcus Brigstocke, who does a lot to add some much-needed narrative texture to all your survival-led antics. He acts almost as the group's fun uncle of sorts, unafraid to cheekily rib you about whatever outlandish circumstance you currently find yourself in, like a god willing to continually poke fun.
It'd be nice if his comments were more reactive to the specific movements I was making, but then the canned narration does a good enough job. Similar to Amelia Tyler in Baldur's Gate 3 or Danny Wallace in Thomas Was Alone before it, Brigstocke brings a lot to the overall Survival Kids experience – to the extent that I'd now find it hard to play without hearing him take the mick.
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As a Nintendo Switch 2 launch release, Survival Kids is clearly looking to take advantage of the hardware's new features. It does so by heavily emphasising co-op, of course, but then goes a step further by placing the console's new GameChat functionality front and centre on the main menu screen. It's bold!
Though not available to try during my preview session, it's not hard to see how communicating – or rather, failing to communicate – will be just as hilarious over Wi-Fi with your friends' faces on the screen as it is when played with three players locally. However, as cool as it might be, it's a novelty I can't imagine will be all that additive to the core Survival Kids co-op experience.
In several ways, Survival Kids is about as charming a family-oriented co-op adventure as you'd expect, with plenty of island-based activities primed to have you and others squabble about how to achieve a goal or where to go next. It's not revolutionary but is perfectly placed to give families and younger players something to sink their teeth into during the Nintendo Switch 2 launch window when the thought of playing yet another race in Mario Kart World grows a tad tiresome.
The two island levels I played made chopping and shifting around resources surprisingly challenging; I just hope that the unique tools and environmental puzzle quirks prove equally as creative in the game's later hours. No Nintendo console launch is complete without adequate third-party support, and in this instance, Konami has families covered with Survival Kids.