Unforeseen Incidents Switch Review: The Simpsons Did It
A world stricken with a pandemic and only handyman Harper Pendrell can save the day, join his plight in Unforeseen Incidents as it launches on the Switch today.
As an adventure gamer, I’m moderately embarrassed to have only heard of Unforeseen Incidents now that it’s available on the Nintendo Switch. Released in 2018, it’s just as relevant now as it was almost four years ago.
Why is that? A pandemic. Before COVID, Backwoods Entertainment and Application Systems Heidelberg’s point and click adventure tells the tale on lockdowns and, perhaps I’m being melodramatic, the end of days. Fortunately, one man, a handyman by the name of Harper, may be the one to save us.
The premise is a little bit cliche, and having an underdog save us felt even more run-of-the-mill. Luckily, the visuals and voice talent present in the trailer was enough to pique my interest.
It was a pleasant surprise to see that Alasdair Beckett-King is one of the writers. If you aren’t familiar with his stand-up, you might know him from the Nelly Cootalot adventures or perhaps his spot-on take of Nordic noir. Before this Unforeseen Incidents Switch Review (blatant keyword usage there) derails with praise for a ginger, I have to express just how well-written the dialogue is.
it’s done in a way that makes it engaging and believable without donning a tin foil beanie
Point and click titles are notorious with their fourth wall breaking and in-jokes without being too smug. Naturally, our protagonist is self-aware, but there aren’t too many cheap jokes here; it’s incredibly witty. Then again, there’s a wealth of adventures out there that are well-written, but the voice actors were a poor match.
Seeing as Alasdair gets a mention, so too does Matthew Curtis, who voices Harper Pendrell. Apparently, he was in Lake. Harper is an incredibly likeable underdog – an everyman – or woman, but he really comes to life with Matthew’s talents and the unique character illustrations.
I’m practically reviewing a book cover now, and it’s face value almost, but scratch that layer and Unforeseen Incidents is a brilliant game. Yes, the story might sound familiar, but it’s done in a way that makes it engaging and believable without donning a tin foil beanie and, considering the world we currently live in, ‘topical’.
Putting aside the presentation (artwork, sound design, blah blah blah), excellent writing, and the story, the actual puzzles in the game are pretty damn clever. I never thought starting a fire would be so meticulous or fulfilling a mantra by performing it in the right sequence.
it’s such a well-written story with excellent dialogue, expertly executed by its talented cast
Because of these intelligent challenges, it pays to listen to the NPCs around you as a lot of the time they were giving the answers, or at the least, guiding you down a path where you wouldn’t be stuck for too long, resorting to pixel hunting. I must stress that these hints aren’t obvious unless you’re a few paces ahead or when the penny drops and you’re looking for clues. If you’ve played more than a dozen point and click adventure games, you’ve probably got that through process down to a T.
As this is the Unforeseen Incidents Switch version, there’s no mouse to move the cursor about. Playing in handheld offers up a few more options; use the shoulder buttons to scroll through interactive points, move the right stick to control the cursor (the left controls Harper directly), or exclusive to the Switch: the touchscreen. I didn’t like doing the latter as I found I’d inadvertently skip dialogue or click somewhere I didn’t mean to.
Point and click games don’t always work so well when using controllers, so it’s not exclusive here. It can be fiddly accessing the inventory and a little cumbersome with the cursor. As Harper has a multi-tool to hand (all point and click adventures should have one!), you open it to get a sub-level of tools. Selecting these with items on screen can be clumsy – especially when combining with the items directly in your inventory.
And, while we’re having a moan, there are a couple of technical things I didn’t like, albeit minor. Harper will sometimes move backwards without being animated; some loading times go *just over* the “is this too long to wait?” stage, displaying a black screen. In the later part of the game, the soundtrack seemed to disappear entirely, and these black screens fused with the silence had me fearful for my life. Yeah, I’m being facetious. These things are trivial and just ‘balancing out’ the review.
That balancing act is because I really liked Unforeseen Incidents, but want to be fair. Again, it’s such a well-written story with excellent dialogue, expertly executed by its talented cast. The thoughtful puzzles, including a hacking-based puzzle between chapters that was just right, the bloody marvellous illustrations, and of course, a plot that isn’t too distant from those Reddit posts that start with “The Simpsons predicted…”.
Witty, intelligent, and an exposé on what happened to the surplus hazmat suits from Back to the Future, Unforeseen Incidents is excellent. If you haven’t played it on Steam, the Switch version would be my recommendation unless you’ve also got a Steam Deck on the way.