Gobliiins Collection Review (Switch)

There’s obviously been a breakthrough in home computer emulation recently as we are getting more and more MS-DOS and Amiga games released for modern systems. While games like Turrican and the upcoming Apidya may be the obvious go to games for release we are pleased to see the often-overlooked Gobliiins franchise put together in a solid package.

The quirk of the games is that the number of I’s in the games title will tell you how many characters you will be controlling at once. The first game has three (Gobliiins), and then in a no doubt intentional move Gobliins 2 has two and then Goblins 3 has one. Game developers, eh?

There are five games here included, starting in 1991 and moving through to the 2023 revival. The sixth game is not here as we suspect that will get a separate release later. The complete soundtrack is also included and an excellent mini-series style documentary and gallery. It’s always nice to see game collections handled well and this had a lot of attention put into it.

The games themselves follow the standard point and click adventure template. Most of the time though you are restricted within a single scene, so the levels play out more like independent puzzles than a bigger, overarching world to wander around. This has the bonus of removing a lot of back tracking and carting around a ton of useless items with you everywhere you go. The games do play around with this as you go through the series but there is a general minimalist approach to aimless wandering.

Generally, the characters share an inventory and health bar. The characters also have different skills for the player to sue. This is most evident with the three goblins in the first game where one can pick up and use objects, one can punch things and the other casts spells. While there is a health bar, you can save the levels and ‘death’ just means a restart of the particular scene. As the levels are so compact this isn’t generally a massive issue.

Controls on the Switch has a virtual cursor on the screen that can be moved around via the left analogue stick. Other buttons are then used to shift through character selection and items. There are no touch screen controls which is a shame, but everything works well. You can also highlight interactive sections of each stage with one of the shoulder buttons. This really helps, especially with the earlier games as it can be hard to tell what’s an object and what is just background art.

All the games are good fun though. The 3D Goliiins 4 isn’t the best, but then every point and click game seems to have a misguided 3D entry in its series somewhere. The other four though are good enough across the board. The games never troubled the absolute pinnacles of the genre but they have left a legacy which as lasted over fifteen years which generally doesn’t happen if your games are awful.

Overall, the Gobliiins collection is a healthy dose of nostalgia done correctly. The first game is one we have a particular soft spot for and it’s an enjoyable series to work your way through. Its yet another slightly obscure retro game that we are more than happy to see again.

Overall 7/10