D-Topia Switch 2 Review

D-Topia Switch 2 Review
Version Reviewed: Nintendo Switch 2

AI is everywhere at the moment, whether we like it or not. It’s creeping into almost every part of our lives, sparking debates about ethics, creativity and the future of work as customer service roles disappear and online discourse grows louder by the day. D-Topia imagines a future where happiness itself is carefully curated by artificial intelligence, asking some surprisingly thought-provoking questions along the way. As someone who’s spent most of my life avoiding customer service and philosophical debates wherever possible, D-Topia took me on a journey I wasn’t expecting. What’s It Like? Put on your Facilitator’s uniform, wash your face, and solve some puzzles as we review D-Topia on Nintendo Switch 2.

In D-Topia, you’re awakened by an AI system that has deemed you a suitable test subject to help understand the needs of the city’s residents. After a brief introduction to the game’s movement and interaction mechanics, you’re sent home to prepare for your first day as a Facilitator. Each morning begins the same way. Before you’re allowed to leave your house, you need to put on your Facilitator’s uniform, eat breakfast, wash your face and solve a puzzle. At the end of each day, you’ll return home to shower, have dinner and prepare to do it all again tomorrow. While I understand this routine is likely there to reinforce the highly structured nature of life in D-Topia, it quickly began to feel like busywork. After a few days, I found myself wishing I could simply get on with the more interesting parts of the game.

At first, D-Topia does an excellent job of lulling you into a false sense of security. The calming music, soft blue colour palette and clean, almost clinical aesthetic make the city feel peaceful and welcoming. Even your host seems friendly enough, although when I questioned whether it was a robot, it seemed almost offended, quickly correcting me by explaining it was actually a Reception Troid equipped with the latest AI. Did I just accidentally assume its interface? Maybe I’ve watched one too many science fiction movies over the years, but I was immediately struck by how unsettling D-Topia’s world feels. Robots constantly observe your every move, the residents enthusiastically praise the AI that governs their lives, and any display of strong emotion is treated as something to be corrected rather than embraced. It creates an uneasy atmosphere from the outset and had me constantly questioning whether this perfect society was hiding something much darker beneath the surface. The game unfolds over seven in-game days, with each day introducing a new event after you’ve completed your morning routine.

As a Facilitator, your role is to help residents by moving between the real world and a blockchain world that only you can access. Once inside, you’ll identify the problem and solve puzzles to remove viruses, repair droids or resolve the issues affecting each resident. The puzzles gradually introduce new mechanics as the game progresses, with each one becoming slightly more challenging than the last without ever feeling overwhelming. Most solutions are fairly intuitive, making D-Topia approachable even if puzzle games aren’t normally your thing. That said, the overall mission structure rarely changes. Combined with the repetitive daily routine, the pacing often feels unnecessarily slow. Walking anywhere is cumbersome, every transition between rooms is interrupted by a short pause, conversations unfold at a leisurely pace, and if you accidentally press the A button again when the dialogue finishes, you’re forced to sit through it again because it can’t be skipped. At one point, you’re even given a motorbike, which I assumed would finally make getting around faster, but instead it ended up being more of an ornament sitting in my house than a useful tool. Players who enjoy a faster-paced experience may find their patience tested.

Where D-Topia branched out, however, was its moral dilemmas. Each day presents situations that challenge your judgement, and some of these are explored through the Brain Meeting mechanic, breaking each scenario into smaller pieces to help you decide how best to resolve it. These moments carry more emotional weight than I expected from a game that initially presents itself as such a laid-back puzzle adventure, and if I’m being honest, it made me feel uncomfortable a lot of the time. And that’s where I found myself conflicted with D-Topia. Some of the narrative beats and themes really work, but I’m still not sure whether the game is saying something profound or whether I’m doing the heavy lifting for it. Was I uncovering the deeper meaning behind its choices, or was its simplistic approach simply giving me room to create my own? Look at me, somehow ending up in the philosophical debate I was trying so hard to avoid.

The graphics are simple, clean and smooth, with pop-up chat boxes and colour changes used to set the tone and mood of each level. It’s a sterile and clinical world, filled with white and blue hues for the most part, which fits the futuristic setting and the AI-controlled environment you’re exploring. Over time colour and interest is introduced by making purchases at the shop but all of these are just ornamental. There were no performance issues throughout my playthrough, with everything running at a smooth framerate. D-Topia is a polished experience from a technical perspective, with no noticeable issues impacting the gameplay. The music is a collection of soft piano tones, with occasional strings adding some extra flair. It’s relaxing and cosy when it needs to be, but also knows when to disappear. In the heavier industrial areas, the lack of music helps create a contrast while you’re working on fixing machines. There are no voice-acted lines, so it’s a very text-heavy game, accompanied by sci-fi beeps and boops whenever messages and dialogue come through.

For my Facilitators looking into accessibility, there are no options to speak of. D-Topia is almost like an interactive book, with most of your interactions limited to using the control stick to move and the A, B, X or Y buttons to answer questions or choose dialogue options. As always, please investigate further for your own accessibility needs.

At just under $30 AUD, I expected a little more from D-Topia. It successfully creates an uncomfortable atmosphere through its choices and moral dilemmas, but its slow pace and repetitive structure made it difficult to stay engaged. The narrative does a lot of the heavy lifting, and the game is perhaps best approached as a visual novel with puzzle elements rather than a traditional puzzle adventure. For me, D-Topia was a brief and uncomfortable journey that raised some interesting questions but ultimately didn’t leave the lasting impression I was hoping for.

So, What’s It Like? D-Topia is like Famicom Detective Club, crossed with Michael Bay’s “The Island.”

In the interest of full disclosure, a review copy was provided by the publisher, but this doesn’t influence my score.

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