New Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers

New Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers is a real surprise in the Switch's launch lineup: a focused town-building sim with an addictive gameplay loop that looks decent, sounds great and plays well. A lack of variety and an unambitious presentation are notable drawbacks, and will keep it from being a long-term investment for many, but what's here is enjoyable enough, and certainly worth a shot for sim buffs looking for something simple and fun.

Frontier Days could have been a great title on the Switch if they spent some real time to develop it. The fast paced nature of the game can be fun at times, but it's ultimately rage inducing because the game is not optimized for the style of game that it's trying to be. If you got $10 to kill and you really want a town builder on the go, it might be worth checking out. Otherwise it's not worth your time.

The shame of it all rests in that Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers isn't broken. It functions perfectly fine. This means that it was developed in such a way that it was left a bland, emotionless husk of what it was trying to imitate. For a game without microtransactions, it manages to feel like a tremendous cash grab. While it's easy to say any game was made with love in it, this feels like it was terribly misplaced.

Bringing New Frontier Days to the Nintendo Switch opens the doors to a new genre on this system and while some elements of this conversion, such as its long lifespan and controls, are very welcome, others will fall short of expectations. The game doesn't grab the players' interest into captivating them to spend more time with New Frontier Days and the audiovisual side definitely needs some reworking, which adds up to a title that had potential but becomes a tad disappointing.

New Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers kickstarts a genre's presence on Nintendo Switch that I would like to see plenty more of. Shallow in execution and with little to keep you returning once you have built up your town from scratch, this largely average city builder needs to re-examine its foundations.

The first simulation title for the Switch, New Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers is a mixed effort with a barnyard full of blusters. It’s a decently priced romp at $9.99, but its lack of customization and odd control scheme may turn off those who want a quality farming game.

New Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers is a different proposal within the current Nintendo Switch catalogue. However, it's a game that doesn't innovate and doesn't provide enough fun to choose it against other console's titles.

New Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers is a game for those that don’t mind waiting, maybe best played while watching TV or doing something else around the house. I can’t imagine playing while traveling, as you’ll be staring at your pioneers while they complete their tasks. While this style of games works in browsers, the fact is, waiting around is not fun. I understand it comes with the territory of a simulation strategy title, but there just isn't enough to do while yo wait. The colorful visuals are easy on the eyes at first glance, but zooming in everything becomes a blurry mess.

New Frontier Days offers a very different experience from anything else in the early Switch lineup, and I think it’s a valuable one for people who enjoy this type of game. While the game can be overwhelming at times, it’s very rewarding to see your little settlement grow and thrive. Unlike some similar games, it always feels like you’re playing an integral role in what’s going on, but that also means you always have to give it your full attention.

New Frontier Days ~Founding Pioneers~ is one that I would recommend if you own a Nintendo Switch and are into farming/city building mechanics with a bit of a challenge. This is a great mix of all of those elements combined. Those that are easily put off by the simplistic style, or aren’t fans of the farming and city building genres may want to steer clear of this release. It’s a fun game, but I can say with certainty that it won’t be for everyone.