Review: 1000xRESIST – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (Nintendo Switch 2)

1000xRESIST is a difficult game to review. It’s part visual novel, part sci-fi adventure, and all kinds of weird. It might not be for everyone, but it’s an ambitious title worthy of the various awards won since debuting in 2024.

With that in mind, this review covers the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, an enhanced version that brings better visuals and improved gameplay. The original game was released on the Nintendo Switch in 2024, although we didn’t review it. The first piece of good news is that the Switch 2 upgrade pack for owners of the original is completely free. And I love that.

The story follows a clone named Watcher set in the distant future. It’s never made clear what year it is, but it’s obviously been a long time since humanity died out. The basic premise of the story is discovering how the clones came to be, and the true nature of their origin.

Each clone plays a role. Watcher watches. Healer heals. Fixer fixes. You get the idea. This era featuring Watcher is the focus for the first half of the game. She’s privy to interacting with the memories of the past, watching events unfold as a strange virus takes hold of humanity. Only one human, Iris, is immune. Naturally, scientists take her away to be studied, eventually cloning her and causing this brave new world of Irises. The original Iris becomes a figure known as the Allmother, a sort of deity that the clones revere and worship.

There’s a lot of emotional depth to these past events. It seems Iris is far from perfect. We witness her last days at school as she picks on a girl who desperately wants to befriend her. At home, she’s distant with her parents, not particularly caring about leaving them as humanity’s sole hope for survival. It’s clear they care about her, though. As Watcher uncovers these aspects of the Allmother’s past, she grows anxious about her own existence and whether the Allmother is really as glorious as the clones believe.

At some point around chapter 5, an incident sparks a shift in the society of clones. We wake up even further into the future, now playing the role of a younger clone named Blue. Clones are named by color or other occupations during this time. In this era, the government has established far greater control, with a military-like presence and even a type of segregation of the classes.

So, that gives you an overview of the narrative, but it delves much deeper than that over the course of its 10 chapters. Each chapter toggles between past and present, with things slowly coming together as the pieces fall into place. The game plays like an interactive visual novel. While you can move around the current environment, your only moveset is walking, running. And interacting There’s no combat or battles. Nothing to collect. It’s all about talking to people and hearing the story unfold. Each interaction takes place via dialogue or cutscenes, with some excellent voice acting on display.

There are plenty of cutscenes. You can toggle the settings to allow for autoplay, handy so you don’t have to keep pressing the relevant button in long sessions. This helped the flow for me, allowing me to sit back and enjoy the game more like a show or a movie. This option is hidden in the pause menu, though; it probably should be on-screen at all times so you can switch it on and off quickly. You will sometimes need to make a choice in your response. Although there are alternate endings, your responses to conversations throughout the game don’t impact the outcome. It’s more about your final choice. You’ll know when you get there.

Some segments of the game require an odd grappling-hook style of gameplay. It’s unclear why jumping through environments is how you find the right person to talk to, but there it is. On the plus side, it breaks up the gameplay and gives you a little more control of the character. On the downside, I was occasionally a little lost in this warped version of reality. There’s generally a clear pathway, but it sometimes eluded me, which I found frustrating. That could be a me problem, though.

Graphically, things look quite lovely. There’s a subdued tone when you’re in the past, which feels right since you’re witnessing memories. There are some redacted scenes, which is a nice touch – like the Allmother doesn’t want you to see something. The future is brighter and more colorful, so the two are easily discernable. 

Some segments are slower in pace. I found those a little boring. I also found some areas – there’s a sort-of base in the “present” that is hard to navigate. A map would help. There are waypoints, which help a little. You can also toggle these to be on permanently rather than having to hold a button, something I didn’t realise was hidden in the pause menu until close to the end. That made things so much easier! 

Apart from those small gripes, though, this is a gripping and intelligent game. There are strong themes of love and loss, along with a message about being human. Even a clone can choose her destiny, it seems. Even though the pacing was slow at times, the overall story will sit with me for quite some time.