Having played Survival Kids, here’s why it’s an imperfect showcase for Unity 6 on Switch 2

Apart from Nintendo's two first-party releases (read our Mario Kart World review), it's slim pickings for Switch 2 if you're after something new that's not just a shiny port. That makes Survival Kids an exciting prospect as it's not just a new game (albeit a revival of a Konami franchise that began its life on Game Boy Color) but a rare Switch 2 exclusive.

More intriguingly, Survival Kids is a game developed by Unity - yes, not just developed in the Unity engine but by one and the same company. The game was used at the Switch 2 reveal to show how Unity is supporting Nintendo's new console, which came as good news to many Unity-base indies.

You might assume that this is some kind of glorified engine tech demo for Unity 6, but it's largely the kind of inoffensive cosy co-op island game that we've seen a lot of in a post-Animal Crossing: New Horizons world. Yet with indie releases still on the quiet side, as it seems Switch 2 dev kits have only been going out to the biggest industry names, it's still something of a showcase of what the engine is capable of when optimised for Nintendo's new console.

There's nothing here you haven't really seen before but Survival Kids at least runs in at a smooth 60fps, something that was often a challenge for 3D Unity-developed games on the original Switch. (New to Nintendo, read out Switch 2 review.)

Not quite Animal Crossing

Although it does have a similar colourful and wholesome vibe, albeit presented isometrically, Animal Crossing is perhaps the wrong comparison. This also isn't really a survival game in terms of managing resources and meters. Following a mission-based structure, you play a customised kid avatar who starts off shipwrecked and has to find their way off an island, which turns out to be on the back of a giant Whurtle (a whale and turtle hybrid, get it?).

There are survival-type mechanics but more simplified and arcade-like in nature, with minimal inputs meaning you can play two-player spit-screen co-op with a single JoyCon each. Walk up to a rock or a tree and the same contextual button will have you chopping, mining, cooking or crafting with the relevant tool, then pick up resources and drop them into a box that instantly spawns a camp, bridge or climbing net when you've gathered what's needed.

Survival Kids is very light and breezy stuff, which also helps as your actions are also charmingly narrated by British comedian Marcus Brigstocke, offering gentle encouragement and ribbing in equal measure.

Alongside the gathering, resource gameplay there are also some Zelda-lite mechanics, as some tools also have different functions for puzzle-solving. For instance, the fishing rod can also be used for reaching switches or pulling up items. Different Whurtles also have different biomes that introduce other environmental hazards, like plant turrets, and even flower bombs that can be picked up and thrown to blow up objects in your path.

Cosy island gameplay

Everything in Survival Kids is structured into digestible stand-alone missions where you first set up camp then gradually work your way up the island while also packing up and carrying your camp with you until you can repair and escape on your raft. You never have to worry about anything bad happening to your kid - fall in deep water and they quickly respawn instead of drowning, while bomb explosions only knock you back rather than maiming you. You'll still need to feed them but not because they'll starve but because this increases their stamina points required for certain manual tasks.

Even so, I did find some elements annoying. While it's neat that it uses physics for some of its puzzles, the way resources explode after you've chopped down a tree, for example, means you're just as likely to lose them if they fly off the edge, while items can slip off platforms where you're trying to move them during a puzzle sequence. Jumping around in some occasional platforming also never feels fluid enough as if I move too fast, the input fails to register and I find myself falling into the water.

Each mission offers collectible rewards based on your time, but the truth is that these missions can take anywhere from 15 minutes to over an hour. But I think you're more likely to end up on the latter when playing by yourself.

So much of Survival Kids involves gathering resources so when you're having to ferry logs or stones one by one to the crafting box you drop them into, it's very much the case that many hands make light work, the maximum number players increasing if you play using Switch 2's new GameShare feature (up to three) or online (up to four).

Playing solo, the repetition of getting shipwrecked, setting up camp and once again finding recipes for tools I discovered previously also gets old fast, though that does mean anyone can jump into a mission without any progress or understanding.

It's also very much designed as a co-op game for friends and families, making it ideal for GameChat, so I can understand why there's no random online matchmaking. But it's disappointing that the game only supports GameShare locally, as I would have liked to play this with online pals, unless this suggests Unity isn't quite equipped to support online GameShare smoothly yet. Fingers crossed for a patch then, as I can see that greatly expanding its appeal.