We’re going to assume you’ve not lived under a rock your entire life and are at least vaguely familiar with the concept of Jules Verne’s literary masterpiece, Around the World in 80 Days. It’s inspired a number of real-life imitations, movies, musicals, and – in this case – an incredibly well-written adventure from developer Inkle that feels remarkably authentic.
80 Days takes the basic premise of Verne’s classic, including its main characters Phileas Fogg and Jean Passepartout, and gives it a ‘choose your own adventure’ twist. The game starts the same for everyone, with the two adventurers setting off to Paris from London via an underwater train. Once in Paris, you’re free to choose your next destination, albeit limited to the two or three locations in the closest proximity.
You can tackle 80 Days in a couple of different ways. The entirety of the globe is visible to you from the start, so if you wish, you can meticulously plan out your journey, taking into account your budget and possessions. Alternatively, and perhaps more attractively, you can wing it – you simply choose where to go next as you go along, and it's both exciting and frustrating (in a good way) trying to decide which destination you'd like to visit next.
There's a lot of writing in 80 Days. This might not be particularly surprising given its source material, but if this sort of thing puts you off, you won't get much out of the game. Otherwise, the writing is very accomplished throughout, with clever dialogue, historically accurate sights and sounds, and multiple choices to ponder over as you explore the various cities available to you. Book lovers will absolutely adore the experience from start to finish.
Aside from the standard choices presented in the game, you'll also need to manage various aspects such as luggage, budget, wellbeing and relationships. Your choice of transport will greatly affect the characters' moods and rapport with one another, so for example, if you choose a luxurious train, their mood will naturally increase – but choose to traverse rocky terrain in a stagecoach and they'll start to feel quite grumpy. Additionally, funds can be requested via banks, but the time it takes to receive this needs to be taken into account as you edge closer to that all-important 80-day deadline.
There are a surprising amount of variables to keep track of when you embark on your journey around the world, but ultimately this doesn't get in the way of the sheer joy of discovering a brand-new location and seeing what potential choices it might present to you. It's not going to be to everyone's tastes, but if you're a fan of Jules Verne, travelling, or culture, then you really need to check this out.
Comments 21
Umm, after reading this I'm a bit unclear as to what you actually do in this game? Like, what are you trying to achieve? Why is 80 days important? What happens when you reach each city - what do you find there and what are you meant to do? Uncharacteristically sketchy review guys, it sounds a bit like i might like this but basically I'm none the wiser.
EDIT: First!
Sorry to be off topic, but super curious about the Ghostbusters game that releases the day after tomorrow! Is the review coming soon? Just curious if it is a good port.
@skulltulips You have 80 days to circumvent the globe, as in travel all the way around the world. If you don't plan your trip in such a way that allows you to meet that goal in that timeframe, or if you run out of resources, you would fail.
@strongest_link that's a useful paragraph that i didn't spot in the review, thanks!
Still interested to know more about how the cities are presented and how you interact with them, how they affect your journey in different ways etc...I'll Google it.
@skulltulips It's basically a choose-your-own-adventure type game. It's been out for several years on other platforms, so you'll find plenty of longer reviews online. Also, it's available on mobile, and given the type of game it is, I'd say the ideal device to play it on might actually be a decent size tablet rather than a Switch.
Considering this game doesn't require physical controls and was actually designed for mobile touch-screens, I'd just buy it for $4.99 on the iPhone and play it there. Save yourself the money, you're not getting any better experience on the Switch for almost 3 times the price. Having said that, I've played it on mobile and confirm, it's a pretty good game.
But what is the actual gameplay like? We select options from lists of text? Is there anything else to it?
How does the gameplay work out? I’m pretty confused on that.
I absolutely adore this game, still regularly play it from time to time. Not sure I’d get it on Switch but it’s one of the most finely crafted choose-your-own-adventure style games I’ve played.
@luke88 @SpicyBurrito16 @skulltulips While you do select options through text such as where to stay for the night, who to talk to etc, there’s also Resi style inventory management with items that help Monsieur Fogg in colder areas, warmer areas, boats and planes. This is a game of micro-management which is appealing to some and not to others. You’ll try a lot and fail a lot but there’s honestly so much to do and routes to take. You’ll get sucked into the writing and the many characters along the way. There’s even small stories at each area such as a murder-mystery with suspects, witnesses and a great little twist. While a few days wasted here and there sounds insignificant, it definitely adds up.
If it's a lot of text, surely you tested it on a Switch Lite screen? Right?
Really wish reviews could include this info.
@Mario_Fart this is a very good point, they should specify in the reviews which system they are reviewing it on and also highlight any potential issues with them - small text on the Switch Lite screen as you mention could be one such issue.
@Lordplops Is there really that big a difference between the Switch and Switch Lite screen sizes that it needs special mention in reviews? Edit: just looked it up and it's 5.5 inches vs 6.2 inches. That's a pretty significant change.
@nessisonett thanks for the information!
I'll second @nessisonett, this is a great game, if you like choose-your-own-adventure games. I played the mobile version on an iPhone and iPad, and it works fine on even smaller screens. You can see in the screenshots in this review that they don't try to cram too much text one screen, so I'm sure it'll be fine even on the Switch Lite.
That said, this isn't a game which benefits in any way from physical controls, so if you have a smart phone or tablet, it may make sense to get it for cheaper there.
Have it on PC, have it on mobile, need it for the Switch. Some of the best writing I've come across in a game and fantastic choices each time you start up the journey. Can't recommend it enough.
@bozz it's only text though. nothing major here. This game should not cost mor than a cheapest e-book. you have to use your imagination. I won't pay over a 1 euro for this game! it's just reading material
I've played it on Android and gone round the world in way more than 80 days, and a few times in under (67 days is my best so far).
For those asking, the basic gameplay is that you start in a city and have 4 main choices: Visit the Market, Visit the Bank, Explore, and Depart. There is more complication to the Explore/Depart options, in that until you "discover" an onwards route you cannot depart the city, and the main way to discover routes is using the Explore option. Also, once you use Explore that option is no longer available and becomes Stay in a Hotel (lose a day waiting around, sometimes needed to wait for transport to become available).
Once you depart to a new location, it will take some time (maybe a day, maybe 2 weeks!) and will sap Mr Fogg's health more or less depending on the strenuousness of the mode of transport. Fogg can't die, but if he is low on health the game won't let you depart until he recovers by resting several days in the hotel. During an actual journey you have the choice to just wait, to talk to people, to help Fogg (which gets some of his health back), and on some key journeys there are special events that trigger leading to lots of conversation options. These events can unlock new routes or other "adventures" that are otherwise unavailable.
The main difficulty in the game is running out of money. If you run out of money to pay an onward trip, you have to visit the bank. This can take days and days to get money wired to you, wasting a lot of time, as well as lowering your final score. The way to overcome this money issue is by using the Market option. You can buy items in one city that sell for a fortune in another (the market handily tells you stuff like "X sells for £3000 in San Francisco" or "Y is valuable in Hong Kong"). The market items appear at random on a particular play through, but the same items are always valuable in the same places. If you decide to take a gamble buying low and want to sell high elsewhere then it can influence your choice of route, e.g. if you buy something that sells for a lot of money in Vienna, then you really do your best to get to Vienna, whereas otherwise you would have passed that city by.
Other items in the markets might help Fogg not lose so much health, or allow you to bring departing transport forward several days. For example, you start with the gentleman's outfit, which lets you negotiate to advance train journey departures forward.
The main gameplay here - where you have most freedom of choice - is choosing the route you take and choosing the items to buy and sell, then after that there's the multiple choice conversations and story elements. A lot of the story parts feel kind of on rails since in certain spots you don't have much choice of where to go (most of my trips seem to go through Yokohama, for example, and there are only a couple of routes from there). Some routes only open up after multiple play-throughs, like on the 4th play through a route opens up through X country that wasn't there before.
That's it. It's a good game, I definitely enjoyed it on mobile and got hooked again recently when news of the Switch version reminded me of it, but it is an acquired taste. I think it cost me about half the switch price several years ago, and it got a fairly chunky update a year or 2 back that I assume is in this Switch version too.
Thanks to all commenters for explaining this fully. Quite tempted by it now!
@bilboa Yes, because many Lite owners don't own an OG Switch to compare it too.
Looks like a time management game like Persona or FE:3 houses.
It will be more interesting if they make it: Backpacking around the world in 80 days with a limited amount of cash. I see a lot of Youtubers doing it, vblogging their way around the world.
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