
Oof. There's no reason to beat around the bush with this one; Adam's Venture: Origins is an ugly, ugly game. In fact, graphically, it's one of the worst-looking titles we've ever seen on the Switch. It's muddy, glitchy and aesthetically dull. There's constant shimmering, shockingly blurry low-resolution graphics, appalling textures and the crappiest shadows imaginable. It is a bad-looking game, full stop.
Graphics, of course, aren't everything – but they are important. Adam's Venture: Origins looks so completely substandard that it's a constant, overwhelming negative that submerges the entire experience in nastiness and irrevocably taints the game. It's possible that its sheer wretched hideousness would be forgivable if it were tied to solid gameplay, but unfortunately, it simply isn't.
Adam's Venture: Origins is often compared to Sony's flagship Uncharted series, but that's a laugh, no matter how tenuous. It's a little more in line with the tone of something like the brilliant Broken Sword series, but doesn't even come close to Charles Cecil's evocative, spirited adventures. Taking control of – yes – Adam Venture himself (no relation to Adult Swim's seminal Venture Bros TV show, sadly), you must trot the globe, solving puzzles and uncovering mysteries. Adam's wisecracks are half-hearted, a reflection of the product he finds himself in. His attitude towards his companion Evelyn is, let's just say... retrograde. The adventure (Adam Venture; adventure – get it!?) he takes on is a banal, lifeless pretender to the thrones of Lara Croft and Nathan Drake; hell, even Rick Dangerous was more exciting.

As for the actual gameplay, it's so fragmented, so piecemeal that it's outright frustrating. From the very beginning, you're running around the environment expecting an adventure, but the puzzles you're given to solve are closer to something like the Professor Layton series, just with the charm surgically excised. For example, one of the first things you have to do is rearrange some ladders in a strictly 2D lane-based puzzle in order to climb a bookshelf. Realistically, the ladders could be climbed in any order with no difficulty, or the shelves scaled without the use of any ladder at all, but the game demands you get it exactly right. And to trigger this puzzle you walk up to the bookshelf and hit X. Why even build any kind of 3D world around this sort of thing when all you really do is walk up to stuff and press a button to switch to a flat, one-time puzzle?
After this, you're pushed into a bit of actual platforming. Well, sort of. You never really have to actually jump over anything. It's more that you'll walk up to a ledge then hit A while standing beneath it. You can run and jump, but doing this towards such a ledge will cause you to bounce off the wall in an unusual and glitchy manner. It's totally inorganic. There's some swinging with a grappling hook, too, but it might as well be a cutscene. Stand next to hole. Press button. Swing over hole. It's completely unengaging.
This approach continues in truly baffling ways – scenes fade into scenes with almost no narrative connection. One second you're in Oxford, the next you're driving through France watching a witless, apathetic cutscene of thin-gruel banter between the hateful leads. The car pulls up at a blockage and you get out and take control within this open, sweeping vista... and the only thing there is to do is walk up to a truck and solve a rudimentary puzzle with no time pressure or fail state. Then it's back in the car, fade to next scene.

Is it a financial thing? Adam's Venture: Origins is an updated compilation of three episodic games from ten years ago – were they even worse before? Did the publishers have to make back some of the development budget? What happened here, and who thought it was okay to release it in this state? Sure, it'd be one thing if Adam's Venture: Origins was in any way attractive to look at – it'd still suck out loud, but at least it'd suck in a pretty sort of way. But it doesn't. It's a crummy port of a crummy game, and it shouldn't be on the Switch.
There's no combat, which would be fine if there was any other kind of tension. Just when you think it couldn't get worse, there are stealth sections with as poorly-defined rules as we've ever encountered. We'd call it laughably bad, but we didn't laugh. It's actually downright difficult to look at in places, due to the game looking like vaseline had been smeared all over the screen. We also got ourselves stuck in the scenery more than once, requiring a reload.
Positives? Well, some of the art design would be OK if the game had any visual fidelity, which it doesn't. A couple of the puzzles are kind of okay-ish, we guess – but not worth wading through the gunk in order to experience.
Conclusion
Adam's Venture: Origins is among the worst games we've ever played and it doesn't even have the decency to be awful in an amusing way. There are so, so many great games you can buy for the same kind of price. Please buy them instead. Or just throw the money into a river and watch it disappear; even that experience would be more rewarding than playing this turgid mess of a video game. Technically, narratively and mechanically inept, Adam's Venture: Origins on Switch is disgraceful.
Comments 64
@ArtiomNLS yeah those mario kart and skyrim reviews were weird too. like who's even heard of those games?
@ArtiomNLS So you're saying Nintendo Life doesn't review games that people actually care about?
Either you misphrased your sentence or you're being ridiculous.
@russellohh This is reason enough to replay Skyrim, someone mentioned the game
Woh the game can be deleted? I'm sold 🤣
Promising that the two positive points are in fact negative points in disguise.
Wow, is this the lowest score on NL ever?
@ArtiomNLS yes, because I don’t think anyone gets the pun/joke/whatever it is you’re trying to say with the pooplers comment.
‘The game can be deleted from your switch’ 🙈🤣🤣🤣 that’s brutal but hilarious 😂
Yes, but is the ludonarrative sufficiently dissonant?
JOYS:
“The game can be deleted from your Switch”
LOL!!!
Day 1 purchase for me. Can't wait...
This sounds right up my alley.
´Or just throw the money into a river and watch it disappear; even that experience would be more rewarding than playing this turgid mess of a video game.´
LOL, what an experiencia playing this game must be.
But is it 60fps?
Oh dear. Oh dear indeed.
There may have been high levels of Tomb Radon in their offices.
Wow. Just wow
Now to go to youtube to find someone playing it
Joys;
No browbeating story by Gooseman
Devs probably never said anything like “we don’t use the word fun'" even while making what looks like a unfun chore of a game.
I now want to buy just to see how bad it is
How about a video review @nl
I thought there can't be a worse game released to Switch then Troll and I...seems I was wrong.
Brutal but fair.
Doesn't help that the game came out around the same time as the masterful Bioshock and Borderlands collections. I don't care how big or small a team you have got, there is no excuse for a game to look and play this bad on Switch. The game devs should have some self respect and respect for the paying customers (hopefully no one actually buys this).
Uncharted at home
With a review as destructive as this, I would've expected a 1/10. "Some puzzles basically tolerable" is enough for 2 stars.
@nintendolife any examples or criteria what would be a 1/10?
This was a very entertaining read. Please review more bad games like this. Shovel ware would be the perfect content to critique
Another classic for the eShop! Time to put it on my Exiled List!
Just spent the last 10 minutes trying to rub vaseline off my telly before realising the images in the review are actual in game screenshots
@Bankaj probably something that crashes before you even start the game!
The shoveliest of shovelware.
Shame on you, Soedesco.
Sounds like 1/10 to me, yet you gave it double that, very generous of you 😂
I have to say if this gets reduced down to 89 pence on the eshop I’m gonna try it x x
Dear video games,
Please stop subtitling things "origins". Just, stop.
Thanks,
Wollywoo
@rockodoodle Nah that goes to Superolla and the lost burgers.
@rockodoodle Actually, The Letter and Mortal Kombat are the only games to get a 1/10 review score.
I'd imagine a 1/10 is for a game that literally doesn't work. Is actually unplayable.
For people asking about 1/10 reviews, there were a number on wii and wiiware if you search for 1/10 reviews. Example: https://www.nintendolife.com/wiiware/reviews?score=1
Some of the old Nintendo Life reviews of Wii and DS shovelware
from back in the day when the site tried its best to review all wiiware and DSiware are still fun to go back and read, especially Philip Reed's work. Philip Reed's old review of Dragon Master Spell Caster is a personal favorite, although that masterpiece at least was deserving of 2 whole stars.
The Ark & The Outer Worlds graphically bad? They are my benchmarks in terrible
This game just revolutionized the category for bad games. Even if you patched this game, it would probably make it worse. You should be able to put a check on a box in eShop so that you don't have to see these games anymore. :/
Oooooof, you tore this one a new one! Lol
It’s great to see the review though as I’ve seen the cover art countless times and said, “Nathan? Nathan Drake, is that you?” Good to see what this game is all about (and not.)
THOUGHT: can we block games from appearing on the eshop? Like, “no way I’m ever buying this“ ::clicks Block or Hide button::
Now it never shows up again. I’m for it.
Dang. Thats a big oof.
@Dragonslacker1 You mean WHEN it gets discounted to 89p, probably next week!!
One of the few "Christian" video games out there.
In contention for worst game I’ve played in the last decade at least
@GundamExia Do you love bad games in general? It seems like you love to be tortured.
@rockodoodle No, there have been 1 Star reviews in the past, but I don’t think any for switch. The only one I remember was “meme run” which got a 1 Star review. I like how Nintendo life is always looking for the positive with games these days.
@Bankaj well, NL have released reviews on games in the past with 1 Star, but it was mostly Wii U 3ds crap. I think Nintendo life just wants to amuse the audience sometimes, instead of being a boring money-grabbing company. Good of them 😃
@Anguspuss as son I see yo 9 yeer old self coment I scrol down 🤦🏻♂️
Looks really, really bad. So skip. Thanks for the warning.
I'm pretty new here, but this is definitely my favourite review I've read here so far 😆👍
its sheer wretched hideousness would be forgivable if ...
Loved the ruthlessness of this article, spares none!
Honestly I’ve seen and played worse on the switch. Ever tried the $0.01 games? They make this look like gold.
well rick dangerous is my fav game ever, just playing it there an hour ago, still haven't finished it, I really like games like rick dangerous, so I might just buy it anyway.
2 out of 10 yet the only other positive is a joke?
One of my pet peeves is when a piece of media has "origins" as its subtitle and it isn't a prequel to an existing game/movie/whatever. It's even worse than the post-credits scene designed to tease the sequel that was planned before the current movie was even finished.
Joys: The game can be deleted from your Switch.
Lol that was a great review, well done 😆
@Dodger Haha... There's some entertaining stuff there, thanks for the link.
@Entrr_username Well the positive/negative points for reviews on here don't form the basis for the actual total score.
Who is the reviewer? Other reviews have the reviewer's bio at the end, but not this one..?
If you buy it, can you then also proceed to delete it from existence?
Lol imagine being roasted by Nintendo Life
(I'm kidding, Nintendo Life is great most of the time)
Can’t wait to get my digital preorder so I, too, can experience the joy of deleting it!
They couldn't even be bothered to come up with a decent title for the game.
"The game can be deleted from your Switch" xD
It reminds me of the situation when Largo Winch came out on PlayStation 1...
This shows how NL scoring system works, it's nearly always 10% above what it really should be. And that's because value for money is not really considered.
Even this game, when all said and done, wasn't bad enough to get an Abysmal score, it walks away with a 20%. 🙃
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