UFO 50 is now out on Switch. Like the unidentified flying objects it’s named for, it appeared out of nowhere, lighting up the sky, and shooting down a mighty tractor beam. I, for one, am ready to be abducted all over again.
When UFO 50 launched last year, I loved it, but admittedly didn’t play nearly enough of it. The latest indie game from Spelunky creator Derek Yu was made in collaboration with developers Jon Perry, Eirik Suhrke, Paul Hubans, Ojiro Fumoto, and Tyriq Plummer. I’m naming each dev individually, instead of just crediting the studio, Mossmouth, because UFO 50 isn’t one game. It’s 50 (well, 51, but that last one is hidden), and each of those games was directed by one of those devs I mentioned above.
Each are accomplished developers in their own right, too. Fumoto made Downwell, my favorite roguelike of all time, and he’s just one of the cooks in this busy kitchen.
UFO 50, UFOverhwhelmed Me
When you hear that UFO 50 contains 50 games, you might expect them to be minigames or microgames, the kind we’re used to playing through by the dozen in a Mario Party or WarioWare game. But that isn’t the case. All of the games in UFO 50 are full-fledged games. Some are more arcade-y, sure, but others are lengthy RPGs.
That sounds great on paper. 50 games for the price of one! In reality, though, it was too big for me to get my arms around it. I would sit at my PC and pull up a game, play it for a while, and have a pretty good time. But then I realized I would need to come back over and over until I finished that game. And then I tried to imagine completing all the games in UFO 50, and the reality of it would have involved sitting at my desk for hours and hours as I slowly worked my way through as many games as I typically get to over the course of an entire year. As someone who works at the aforementioned desk all day, that sounded like too big of an undertaking in too unpleasant a form factor.
The Switch Is For Fiddling
But my Switch-playing habits fit a game like UFO 50 perfectly. Though I’ve played through huge games on the Switch — like Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (which is underrated in its hugeness) — it is mostly my Fiddle-Around Machine. I pick it up while my wife is watching TV, play a few levels in a platformer, then set it asideonce the TV is free. I take it on trips and play a bit of a game before bed. I put an hour in on an airplane. I dip into old games through Nintendo Switch Online. When I pick up Fortnite for a few hours every year or two, it’s always on the Switch. It is the best place for this kind of unfocused fun. That makes it the opposite of my PC, where the games I play must command my full attention. On PC, I’ll play a serious, text-heavy RPG. On Switch, text is the enemy. This is not a machine for reading.
UFO 50 has games for every mood and moment. I could play a fast-paced game like Paint Chase for a few minutes in a doctor’s waiting room. I could work my way through the strategic platformer Mortol while the TV is playing. I could get some strategic insect-squashing done in Bug Hunter while riding on the train. Though I exclusively play the Switch in handheld mode, UFO 50’s variety of titles fits the variety of ways you can play the console perfectly. Want to get focused? Throw the full-length RPG Valbrace up on your TV. Want to just putz around in handheld? The exploration-based adventure game Mini & Max is a good choice.
UFO 50 is a great game, and I’m glad it finally exists in a form factor that allows me to engage with it on my terms. I still may never finish it, but I’ll get a lot closer now that I don’t have to be parked at my PC.