Welcome to paradise. You’ve just arrived here on a boat with nothing. No money, no suitcase, no directions and a boat driver who doesn’t know the area. You also have no recollection of your place in the world or a backstory. This is a small island with 2 houses, a shop and a mysterious looking temple, with nothing on the horizon. What’s a tourist to do?
As it turns out, a tourist isn’t much different to a gamer. If you’re lost, just talk to everyone, interact with every item, and run around until something makes sense. Can’t afford to travel to the next island or learn an ability? Maybe there’s some coins lying around somewhere… we have this generous ability to jump it seems.
It’s almost like a videogame. Nah, this couldn’t possibly be a videogame! There’s no combat. No health or stamina. No leveling or grinding. Everything here is an activity. If you can find out how to get to more islands, you’ll find surfing. Underwater diving. Gyro controlled soccer. Onion flavoured ice-cream. Drumming, dancing, it’s all here.
There is also something else to do… something more mysterious. These large monuments have seen some activity and may be worth exploring. These places require some platforming and creative thinking. Some have some very obscure, unnatural puzzles. That is part of the charm of a new place though, is it not? It makes you think in a different way.
Now THIS is what a videogame looks like! Exclusive to this arcade on Leysure Island, you can enjoy some premium gaming not seen anywhere else in the world. There are high-scores to beat and the games are hard, but a fair challenge.
There’s lot of things to play and do around the islands that are completely optional, but that’s what the tourist life is all about. Your existence here is optional. Why not make the most of it?
Now it’s time to party until the sun goes down. It does go down on Ybiza, right? So far it’s been sunset for 7 hours… hmmmm. Oh well, hit that Iridion 2 track, DJ. This one’s a banger.
After a long day you might want to go for a swim… don’t swim too far though or you’ll be eaten by a shark. Oh, that’s not a shark… there’s something floating in the water. Co-ordinates to an island? The boat driver is always looking for places to go, let’s check it out.
Wow, this island is completely uninhabited. What could have happened to this plane? Is anyone alive here? What’s really going on? There’s a page on the floor, looks like this fell out of the cargo.
“The Touryst is Shin’en Games first major new release since the release of FAST RMX almost three years ago. The masters of optimising Nintendo hardware have finally brought their full force to Nintendo Switch with a brand new game, built from the ground up for Switch. The Touryst is unlike anything they’ve made before, but shares the same level of technical polish and charming gameplay. Great graphics and excellent audio give this game it’s own brand new atmosphere. The voxel artstyle has been done before but Shin’en have made it feel completely different with their own unique artistic and technical touches. The world is alive with many objects to interact with, and lots of things to do.
This game is carefully designed to not tell you a single thing, while gently guiding you. You’ll start off scrounging for coins and looking for clues on one island, then suddenly you open up more islands and have 8 sidequests going at once. You can go back and forth at your own pace and there’s a nice feeling of freedom. There’s also a foreboding sense of mystery behind the monuments that keeps things moving naturally in the right direction.
It’s a short romp, but if you’re looking for more Link’s Awakening style adventuring then this game is for you. I give this game a Y out of Z.”
Ah, what’s this? Seems completely unrelated. Someone dropped a game magazine here or something, Pytriots? Never heard of them. I do recommend you check out this Touryst holiday package though. I was browsing the eShop and next thing you know I’m on Touryst Island solving puzzles. There could be more to discover here, things that you really need to see for yourself. Things we can’t talk about.
Pietriots 