KeyWe - Switch Review
"I hope you have as much fun with it as my wife and I did!"
KeyWe is a post-office puzzle game from Stonewheat & Sons which sees you control two incredibly cute kiwi birds; Jeff and Debra. ‘Kiwis in a post-office?’ I hear you ponder? Yes, you heard (read) me correctly. As soon as I heard about this game, I knew I had to play it; my wife is a Kiwi (as in a person from New Zealand, not a nocturnal bird) and we have visited a few kiwi preserves during our holidays there. They are the cutest animals in existence and I will argue with anyone who says otherwise!
The Good
Anyway – is KeyWe as cute as the species? You’re damn right it is! I mostly played this game in couch co-op with my wife and we both had an absolute blast, we literally didn’t stop smiling throughout! There are different levels, all of which take place in various post-office rooms and most of which involve you controlling Jeff and/or Debra as they scurry around said room to carry out various postal tasks. This could be jumping on certain keys on a typewriter to type out a message that needs sending or packaging up some fragile goods by using a complex crane-type machine. It’s hard to visualise but trust me, it does all come together!
The challenge of the game steadily (and reasonably) increases. For example, you’ll end up repeating certain rooms but on the second time around, you may have to contend with some pesky mosquitos who are moving things as you play, meaning you have to be more reactive. This ramps up nicely and makes the game both accessible and challenging.
What could make kiwis (again – the birds, not people) even cuter? Dressing them up, of course! As you progress, you’ll unlock various accessories such as hats, sunglasses, etc., all of which are incredibly fun to dress your kiwis up in. It’s the simple things in life…
TL;DR
- Adorable and likeable characters
- A fair and proportionate difficulty scale
- Dressing up your kiwis will melt your heart!
The Bad
The graphics unfortunately look a bit dated; I’m talking about 10 years out of date but they’re solid enough for a non-triple A Switch entry. Just don’t expect slick cut scenes and ray-tracing. The soundtrack is also quite middle-of-the-road but there are some catchy enough tunes in there so you won’t really notice this too much.
The single-player aspect can be quite monotonous and repetitive, but this game is clearly most at home in co-op multiplayer. The levels are not too different between single and multiplayer but you need that interactivity with someone else when playing KeyWe to elevate it from being just another puzzler to the fun game that it is at heart.
Lastly, I did find the controls to be unresponsive at times and this became frustrating when you were furiously pressing a button to shut the mailbag on the back of an emu (don’t you hate it when that happens). When it came to directional controls, it got the job done but I did find myself button mashing at times with annoyingly disproportionate outcomes.
TL;DR
- Dated graphics
- Slight hint of repetitiveness, especially in single-player
- Unresponsive/mashy controls at times
Final Score: 8/10
Perhaps I’m biased because I love kiwis or perhaps I just know a damn fun puzzle game when I see one - I think it’s a little from column A and a little from column B. All joking aside, KeyWe is a fun puzzler, especially in couch co-op. Sure, the graphics are not fantastic and the single-player aspect is basic, but get your mates together and give this a go because you will be equal measures laughing, fawning and concentrating your way through a good few hours of gameplay. I hope you have as much fun with it as my wife and I did!
Thanks you for checking out our KeyWe switch review, thank you to Sold Out (via Five Star Games) for providing the review code and thank you to our $5 and up Patreon Backers for their ongoing support:
For more reading, check out our review of Monster Harvest.