Note: Game was played across both Switch and Switch 2. Included screenshots were all captured from a Switch in docked mode

I’ll be honest, after being offered a review code for Particle Hearts I went and watched a trailer for the game to get a feel for it. My first thought upon seeing a screen filled with alpha transparencies on characters and foliage, all emitting dense clouds of particles was “There is no way this runs well on Switch.” So my technical curiosity demanded I take the review and find out. As it turns out, not only does Particle Hearts actually run great on both Switch 1 and via backwards compatibility on Switch 2, it's also an extremely impactful narrative adventure.

The game opens with very little context. You are seemingly alone in an ethereal world, but a voice guides you to collect wind chimes. The sound of these chimes gently guides you as you explore and slowly reveal your character’s history; I found the story immediately enthralling. I don’t want to dive too deep and get into spoilers, but it deals with themes of betrayal and forgiveness in a very real way. An early chime will instruct you to make your way to gleaming, white, gateway-like structures. These gateways lead to challenges that must be overcome through a combination of platforming and puzzle solving. Upon completing a challenge you’ll be given an object that can be fed to a massive red creature back in the overworld in order to gain entry to the next large area.

The gameplay loop starts simple, mechanically limited to running, jumping, and dashing. As you progress you’ll gain the ability to briefly scatter your particle-based form, allowing you to pass through certain types of objects. Later you’ll learn to absorb the elements of particles you encounter to take on the qualities of water or fire. Each of these is then excellently factored into the challenge stages, which get progressively more complex in their puzzle focus. I did find that while the worlds you explored developed visually over the course of the game, giving plenty of variety, the challenge stages largely look the same. You’ll spend a lot of time working your way through extremely similar looking purple areas. Even just swapping out the underlying color every few challenges would do a lot to make them feel more distinct.

The world of Particle Hearts is presented in an extremely abstract style. Your character and much of the environment is assembled from tiny particles of light. Trails of errant particles drift through the air and along your path as you move through the world. This is achieved via a combination of legitimate particles being rendered in real-time, and the clever use of animated textures on characters that give off the impression of being built from more of the particles. It generally works very well and the Switch handles it with seemingly no real issue. The one area where I was able to catch the smallest glimpse of the Switch limitations was in the textures used for the environment itself. These are noticeably low resolution and fall short of the otherwise sharp edged particles seen elsewhere in the game. That being said the visual concept is still excellently accomplished overall, and at a smooth framerate and good resolution.

Particle Hearts isn’t a deeply complex game, but it balances what complexity it has in gameplay with an impactful story. I found it easy to simply sink into. I was always equally as excited to reach the next challenge as I was to unfold a little more of the story. There are moments that very genuinely hit and caused me to simply pause for a moment and absorb the storytelling. The world it creates is enchanting and against all odds holds up almost flawlessly on Switch. This is the level of narrative adventure that even with a few blemishes, I can’t help but fall in love with.