Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers Is Another Nintendo Switch Launch Title

By Edwin Kee
Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers is a last minute addition to the Nintendo Switch launch games list
What can you expect from a farming/building sim like Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers? Not much, unfortunately. YouTube screengrab

The Nintendo Switch is just one day from its official release, and the early reviews are already out -- with a positive outlook from most of the heavy hitters. Well, this hybrid console was never meant to be a graphical powerhouse, but this does not mean that gamers should be shortchanged and continue to live with less-than-realistic visuals. However, certain game genres cannot be helped, and Nintendo’s consoles (handhelds or otherwise) is often seen to be the place where simple looking titles make their appearance. Apparently, one more slot needs to be freed up for the Nintendo Switch’s launch games list -- by sneaking in Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers through the back door.

Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers has been touted to be the sequel to the Nintendo 3DS sim known as Frontier Days. Well, judging by the trailer of the game above, it is safe to assume that the upcoming game itself does not impress visually, and would look more suited for the Nintendo 3DS. However, something tells us that it is the gameplay mechanics that will keep people coming back. Remember Harvest Moon and Sim City? It is somewhat an amalgamation of these two themes, where you are one of the pioneers in a new world, and would like to build a new life from scratch but would have to fend off wild animals and other kinds of challenges along the way.

There will be five different modes in Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers, and if you feel as though you are up to the challenge, why not give the Insane level of difficulty a go? That would certainly require you to pull out all of your gaming stops in order to conquer whatever challenges that are thrown in your direction. Whatever the case is, Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers is not going to win any gaming awards with rather backward looking visuals, and in this day and age? Such an idea might not be too appealing to the masses at all.

Those who have given the Nintendo 3DS game a go before would find it better to skip this title, as it is more or less an enhanced version of what you would have played on the handheld console in the past. Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers is set to arrive in Europe and North America on the Switch eShop, carrying a price tag of £7.99/€9.99/$9.99, depending on which region that you stay in. Definitely a disappointment to say the least, and chances are I would still prefer Harvest Moon over Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers as there is a lack of cuteness in the gameplay.

Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers is also no Voez, where the latter is also another launch title for the Nintendo Switch, except that it can be played only in portable mode. Perhaps the same should be done for Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers, as it would be a waste of time playing it on a large 4K TV in your living room.

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