If Found...

 Switch
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 10 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 10
  3. Negative: 2 out of 10

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  1. shoebill
    Feb 19, 2021
    2
    This game is awful. I love viz novs, I love emotional stories, and I, oddly enough, am a big supporter of "slow" or "awkward" mechanics as a tool to drive game pacing. I hate giving such harsh criticism given that this was clearly a personal labor of love, but I'm honestly annoyed I spent time on it. This game managed to just miss the mark on execution.
    1. Mechanics. This is a viz nov    This game is awful. I love viz novs, I love emotional stories, and I, oddly enough, am a big supporter of "slow" or "awkward" mechanics as a tool to drive game pacing. I hate giving such harsh criticism given that this was clearly a personal labor of love, but I'm honestly annoyed I spent time on it. This game managed to just miss the mark on execution.
    1. Mechanics. This is a viz nov in which, instead of "press A/enter to advance the dialogue boxes," you scrub the screen clean. This comes across as a chore, not a cool way to discover new things hidden on the page. It's more like "Hold A for 4 seconds to advance the dialogue" - it's not something that I transform or influence, it's just slow for the sake of being slow. A good contrast is a game like Analogue or like Her Story, where getting the next "dialogue" is slow but that's because you tailor the order/direction of what's revealed. Towards the end of the game, you unfold the narrative by stamping pre-determined words on the page, wherever you'd like to stamp them. What? I'm not looking to create my own House of Leaves, thanks. I got nothing from the mechanics here other than frustration.
    2. Story. This is the story of Kasio, who...does some stuff in Ireland in the 90s. It's very slice-of-life, but with a few dramatic character reveals and conflicts. The big problem is that it is very hard to like Kasio. Kasio is drowning in self-pity, and I get it - people don't treat them how they want to be treated. But it's not that fun or interesting to see a character you've only known for a little bit push away a bunch of people who try to reach out to them (with varying levels of understanding or effectiveness) and then say "nobody gets me" and curl up in a ball (to be clear- the character is 23, not 14). You get the sense that they are tired of a long history of people not getting them, but that's not made clear narratively. All I saw as a player was a person rejecting people without really trying to work with them, and it's just irritating to watch. It would work better as a narrative specifically about depression, where the brain isn't letting them cope, but it's not set up that way or expressly raised in the game.

    I only finished this because I thought that -something- else had to happen for all the rave reviews, and it was so short that by the time I waited for "something" long enough, it was over. If you are looking for an emotional queer viz nov with a similar art style and music, play We Know the Devil instead and never look back.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

67
#67 Best Switch Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 7
  3. Negative: 1 out of 7
  1. DarkStation
    Jan 4, 2021
    40
    One of the biggest factors I always rate games on is whether they are fun to play. A game could be the most mechanically polished, gorgeous, epic game, but if I didn’t have much fun playing it, that would impact my score dramatically. So, while “fun” is entirely subjective, I just had absolutely no fun whatsoever with …If Found. As a side note: I completed this game is entirely under two hours. While that isn’t a problem for me personally, some gamers do make a cost benefit decision based upon length of content. So, it is something to be aware of.
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  2. TheSixthAxis
    Nov 25, 2020
    80
    Being a visual novel, If Found… won’t be for everyone, but those willing to give it a try will find a beautiful and endearing story of self-acceptance. The gorgeous hand-drawn art and the story coming directly from a diary really give the impression of an insight to someone’s life, and the gameplay idea of actually erasing history and identity creates an intensely emotional experience.
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  3. Switch Player
    Nov 3, 2020
    90
    If Found… is a moving, heartfelt tale about identity and relationships at the end of the world. The unique mechanics marry perfectly to the themes explored, and the short two-hour runtime makes it an excellent choice for a cosy evening in.
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