36 Fragments of Midnight (Switch)

36 Fragments of Midnight is a brand new indie platformer game on the Nintendo Switch. The game was developed by Petite Games and published by Ratalaika Games. Full disclosure, Ratalaika Games provided a copy of the game for review purposes. The game is extremely cheap, only costing 3 USD. Is it worth it, or does it fail to impress? Find out in our review.

Story:

In 36 Fragments of Midnight, players control Midnight. Midnight’s friends have lost 36 of their star fragments, and it’s up to Midnight to collect them all. Upon collecting them, they give you a literal gold star, say thanks and the game is over. The story is extremely bare-bones, but considering the price of the game, it’s not surprising.

Gameplay:

The game is a one button game. Players use the joystick to move Midnight, and the “A” button to jump. Players can jump two times. That’s it. There are obstacles to avoid — mainly timed lasers or spikes — nothing that is too surprising nor interesting.

Since the level is procedurally generated, players may encounter the same obstacle multiple times in one playthrough. On each “floor” on the level, the player will have to collect six stars, so there is a total of six floors. After playing through the game twice, I felt like there was nothing else to see. The controls are responsive. In a lot of ways, I almost felt this was supposed to be a tech demo or a prototype instead of a full game.

A procedurally generated platformer seems like it’d be a good idea, but in practice, it just doesn’t work out. The levels don’t have a sense of progression, and I felt like I was going through set piece through set piece instead of progressing.

Presentation:

The game is extremely barebones. There isn’t really a menu, and players can’t change the buttons. There are some nice effects around Midnight, but overall the game doesn’t seem memorable. Midnight itself is a square and isn’t very interesting. The music is pretty bland and gets annoying quickly.

Verdict:

I feel conflicted about this. On one hand, it’s a 3 dollar game so I shouldn’t expect much. On the other, it’s not good. I think the average gamer will probably spend a max of 20-30 minutes on 36 Fragments of Midnight. It took me about seven minutes to complete the game, and there isn’t much incentive to replay the game. So if you have extra money and really want to try a new game out, I guess this game is for you. Otherwise, I can’t really recommend it — buy the two McDoubles instead.

I give 36 Fragments of Midnight a 2 out of 5.