Cabernet - Switch Review

Max Olds -

In Cabernet, you play as Liza, a young woman working as a doctor’s apprentice in 19th-century Eastern Europe. You are also dead—delightfully, you set your character’s initial skills via your own eulogy. Soon though, you awaken in a dungeon, and before you know it, you’ve escaped and emerged into a fancy party, all evening gowns, dancing and drinks. But something strange is afoot—your reflection has disappeared, you’re oddly pale, and the guests are not drinking... wine.

Yes, you have been made a vampire, and the RPG Cabernet, from the 2-person development team Party for Introverts, tells the story of Liza coming to terms with both her new un-life and her past life, all while getting to know her new coterie, continuing her studies and mastering her vampiric powers. But should you invite this game into your Switch?

The Good

Cabernet is described as a ‘2D Narrative RPG’, though I would say it is closer to a ‘visual novel’. There are some minor gameplay additions here and there—a light puzzle or a QTE sequence, for example—but really, this is a game all about the choices you make as Liza. The number of interacting systems at play when making these choices requires them to be considered and subsequently feel impactful. You’ll need to manage your time—don't get caught outside at sunrise—your blood levels, character relationships, main story and side quest progression, and most significantly, Liza’s character. This aspect is the most impactful moment to moment—will your Liza retain her humanity or give in to the nihilism of eternal life? What skills will you focus on (‘skills’ in this game being knowledge from reading books)? All these contribute to opening up more conversation and action options via skill checks and lead ultimately to different endings, giving you plenty of reason to replay and focus on other choices or relationships.

Throughout the game, the quality and attention to detail of the writing shine through. The lore is authentic, even coming with a little glossary to explain the historical folklore. Characters’ side-stories are imaginative and interesting, and you’ll quickly find your favourites. The game also delves into some darker thematic territories, handling them with care while adding a bite of social commentary for good measure. 

The overall presentation of the game is pleasing, with basic but effective cell-shaded visuals and character animation. Cabernet is also fully voiced, which in a game of this style adds to the experience immeasurably. The voice-acting is (broadly) pretty good too, even if the Eastern-European townsfolk sound fully American or British.

TL;DR

  • Engaging narrative and character relationships
  • Meaningful choices
  • Considered and thoughtful writing
  • Fully voice-acted and charmingly presented

The Bad

As is often the case in visual novel-esque games, there are minor niggles in character movement, like getting snagged on obstacles or not positioning your character to look at the right object. Unfortunately, these pale in comparison with the main negative to this game: it’s quite buggy.

In the time I’ve had with the game, I’ve experienced various things: full crashes, freezes, scenes playing out of order, phantom dialogue and one strange occasion where my character accidentally walked off screen never to return. While these have generally been resolved with a reload to the start of that day, it adds up to a frustrating amount of wasted time and can block your progression in certain quests.

Bugs can be fixed in updates though, and Party for Introverts will be releasing some patches. Perhaps as disappointing are the instances of lack of thought in the conversion of the game from PC to the Switch. Some character models are oddly blurry in conversation (so noticeably I thought it was to be part of the story, but no), there are some long loading times, and, most annoyingly, the menus cannot be navigated with any of the switch’s buttons; instead, you have to use the control stick to move the cursor around. These feel like things that could have been simply added / caught in quality control.

TL;DR

  • Bugs and glitches
  • Menus designed for mouse and keyboard, not Switch
  • Occasionally niggly character movement and art

Final Score: 7/10

I would love to give Cabernet a higher score; at its heart, it’s an excellent narrative RPG with thoughtful writing, interesting mechanics and a charming presentation. Unfortunately, to experience all that, you have to put up with a few too many bugs and crashes, and other rough edges besides.

If you’re willing to overlook that, then you may well find yourself playing through multiple times, trying different choices and quests. But I’d recommend waiting for a few updates to smooth things out before you buy.

Thank you for checking out our Cabernet Switch review, thank you to Akupara Games for providing the review code and thank you to our Patreon Backers for their ongoing support: