Nintendo's Next Switch Online Game Trial Is Now Live (North America)

I notice lately they seem to frequently do these with games also available on Gamepass. Maybe are cheaper to license or something.

This is one I might potentially try, but I just finished the first Somnium Files game and I'll be psyncing into the second immediately.
Will investigate Eastward further.

Eastward is such a visually striking yet painfully boring game. So much dialogue yet so little gameplay.

@Pho I ove both of those games so hope you enjoy the second, know some people take issue with it compared to the first for a number of reasons but still has a lot to love about it to me.

Nice! I was thinking about picking this one up (I do that a lot, think about buying things lol) so this is definitely welcome!

Don't waste your time, that's all I gotta say. The game has a pretty underwhelming pacing and won't deliver the story you expect - and that means literally ignoring the main scenario to focus on gibberish side quests for more than half of its length.

Eastward will go down as one of the best games on the switch, period. Criticizing the game for having too much dialogue is ridiculous. It’s like saying that Earth Bound is a good RPG but it’s too weird. Eastwards story is amazing and the action adventure mechanics are balanced nicely within the plot. Seriously, don’t sleep on this game trial. This is an absolute jem of a game!

I'm about 3 hours into the game after buying it recently and whilst I'm enjoying the gameplay, the story isn't grabbing me. I'm just finding it a bit odd, and not in a good way.

@Chojimaroji Sorry but there is such thing as too much. You spend more time reading Eastward than you do actually playing it. The dialogue to gameplay ratio is imbalanced.

It would be one thing if Eastward were an interactive book, movie, tv show, comic... But it's advertised an adventure game. It has bad pacing.

When you reach chapter 2 the pacing comes to a complete halt to do an entire random side story that takes forever to get going. Once you get through all that dialogue you spend no more than maybe 15 minutes in a dungeon only spend another 20 minutes reading...again.

Eastward's pacing is awful. The dialogue itself isn't all that great either. Alot of it really could have been cut down. One reviewer said it best "Characters have two lines where one would do, and one line where none would do."

You barely do anything before you're in another long winded cutscene.

I find the art style for this game off-putting. The main guy with white hair looks weird.

@Vexx234 Very much that, simply put! I was excited for this game when it came out; it looked so beautiful! Still is. But with that, I played however many hours (less than 8), put it back in the game case, and it has been shelved since. I don’t plan on trying my hand at it again. Thank goodness I got it on sale.

@GooseLoose1, exactly. I had to refer to Google again, but pulled up many of reviews that start out with “this action-adventure…”
Seems more like an animated visual novel, but even with that, I’d rather replay any of the Phoenix Wright games before trying to play this again.

With all of this being said, games will be criticized. Not every game is for everyone, and this one just isn’t for me (and others).

Trials are meant to trial the game, and with all the above criticism from users, no one is telling people don’t try it. Try it; it might be for you, it might not.

@geo-shifter Haha. I really did give it my best, but I was zoning out by chapter 3. Just when I thought it was done, turns out there's a part 2.

So, I just took a heavy sigh and gave up. I really did enjoy the visuals though. But I agree, just not the game for me. Which is a shame. Kudos to anyone who made it to the end.

This is my favorite independent game of all time. It's weird, it's quirky and it's a delightful adventure. It's like a mix between early Zelda games (action fighting) and Earthbound (quirky and funny story/writing). If you've not played this, do yourself a favor and try Eastward.

Ooh, this looks fun, definitely a try. Why'd they have to do it it midst of F-Zero 99 though!!! all my time is consumed by that game!!!

One of my favourite games of the last few years. I’ll admit that some of the dialogue sections were a little long, but for me, this was the only issue with an otherwise brilliant game. It’s a 9/10 from me.

Ah nice, a trial. 50% off huh? I waited a long time for that sale, but I've already got it in my GameFly queue, so thankfully this trial will help me decide if it should remain there.

I always want to tried this one on the switch, I have it on gamepass but I don't have my xbox anymore (replace it with ps5) and my gamepass already expired.

Also the game is discounted right now on us psn, from $25 to $12.5 😃

@Vexx234 I can’t even remember what chapter I landed on last.

Eastward is such a charming game with vibrant locales and even more vibrant characters. I'd say its only flaw is that the combat is occasionally clunky, but not unfun. If anyone was on the fence about this game it's definitely worth picking up at that price.