Subsurface Circular has made its way to the Nintendo Switch. You can find it on the eShop for an extremely reasonable $5.99 (here), and even though it’s a game that you can finish in a single sitting, I feel really good recommending Subsurface Circular to anyone craving a narrative mystery on their Switch.
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Here’s the shtick: You assume the role of a fairly advanced, high-level robot (in this world, they’re referred to as “teks”) stationed on the subsurface circular, an underground transportation network for working teks. Soon you discover that teks have started going missing, and you take it upon yourself to piece together the “how” and “why” by talking to the various working teks who board and depart the subsurface circular.
This is, at its heart, a visual novel, so don’t go in expecting to explore or fight. Gameplay consists of navigating unique conversation streams with robots of varying working classes, and it takes in a single compartment. Knowing when to offer your assistance, aggressively press, or otherwise schmooze certain teks is the key to unlocking important key words or phrases necessary to discovering vital information and advance your case.
The teks with whom you interact are, for the most part, unique and interesting. Their mannerisms and personalities seem organic (ironic), which is to say that they don’t seem like they all came from the mind of one person. It won’t take long before you feel like a real detective, picking up on the tendencies of certain job types.
“Listeners,” for example, are pretty much always a waste of your time; they’re basically doped up electronica junkies who will ignore your every inquiry in favor of whatever happens to be playing over their headphones at the moment. Navigating one-way conversations with these blissfully unaware chaps is always an amusing afair.
We mentioned that Subsurface Circular can be completed in a single sitting, and that’s true. In fact, creator Mike Bithell sells this as a “one-sitting” game. In the time it takes you to watch a few episodes of a Netflix show, you can have this mystery wrapped. Some of you may find that kind of brevity a bitter pill to swallow, but we often pay triple the asking price for an hour and a half of entertainment at the theater. Beating the game also unlocks a unique developer commentary track for those of you who want to explore the game’s themes in more profound depth.
Subsurface Circular runs perfectly on Nintendo Switch. It’s extremely polished, and features some great lighting. As you tilt your Switch or Joy-Con, the gyroscopic sensors offer some subtle-but-cool shifts in perspective. Bithell also made brilliant use of the Joy-Con’s HD rumble. Subtle vibrations will pass through your hand as the train picks up speed, or hums to a halt. You’ll also notice the Joy-Con vibrating to emit subtle beeps and boops when you select phrases and questions, which is a brilliant touch. This is the perfect game to enjoy in bed during your normal reading time.
If you love robots, mysteries, and tube maps, you’re going to love Subsurface Circular. If you’ve been craving an interesting visual novel without a mammoth time commitment, this is your best bet on the Switch right now.
WWG’s Score: 3.5 / 5
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Image courtesy of Peacock
