Writhe

WRITHE is a tiny little budget blaster that nails its old-school aesthetic, is refreshingly straightforward in what it attempts to achieve and has a genuinely fun sci-fi setup. However, scrappy enemy AI that feels badly judged and, more often than not, just straight-up unfair holds the whole thing back, resulting in a shooter that lacks balance and never manages to find itself in the addictive groove it needs to in order to encourage players to stick with its fiendishly difficult combat.

WRITHE is a first-person arcade shooter. As an exterminator, you are tasked with killing mutated worms. Blast through infinite waves of mutating worms and try to stay alive for as long as possible before meeting inevitable demise.

My first impression of the Writhe wasn't the greatest; after playing several rounds on each level, I started to enjoy it more. While it certainly lacks content, what is there is solid. However, the asking price of $9.99 is a little steep for the content available as of now.

If you’re looking for a retro-style FPS that will kick you in the teeth, Writhe certainly fits the bill. It’s just unfortunate that it doesn’t offer much else apart from its considerable challenge. With only a small smattering of stages to choose from and enemy types to exterminate, it’s tough to recommend adding Writhe to your Switch library, even at its budget-friendly price.

Writhe is a challenging survival FPS. Games are fast enough that it is great to play on breaks from work.

All in all, it’s a shame that Writhe is severely lacking in content, but that’s not its main issue. It’s not fun to play, and it’s ugly to look at. Its gameplay is clunky and borderline unfair at times. Not to mention the noticeable technical issues that hinder its performance. This might possibly be the first exclusive FPS to the Switch, but I don’t see the reason to pick it up in its current state.

Underneath the extreme simplicity of WRITHE's "shoot worms until dead" concept, lies a very good, and surprisingly addicting horde/survival/endurance-centric FPS that has a neat retro vibe, and which can make you want to play it again and again, just to improve your time by a second or two, and reach a higher place on the leaderboards. There's no denying that it could be infinitely better with a couple of additional mechanics or modes, but it would be a shame to miss out on this tiny, yet still very shiny gem from Mission Ctrl Studios.

Those looking for an arcade-like score chaser will certainly find what they're looking for with WRITHE, but the lack of balance will be a deal-breaker for some. Hardened FPS vets looking to fight against the odds should take up arms, while the more green among us should approach with caution.

WRITHE might not be the most intricate of shooters and it does lack a sense of progress, but that doesn’t stop it from being a whole lot of fun to play. Sure, it’s tough as nails and you’ll die a LOT, but there’s something pleasantly addictive about trying to survive the wrath of the endless hordes of grubs and blasting them to smithereens with your souped-up weaponry. Add to that a really neat old-school aesthetic and you’ll quickly find that WRITHE is a cool little shooter that does enough to keep players coming back for ‘one more go’.