The Meating - Switch Review

I really love platformers! They’re not as common as they were in the past, so is it any wonder that a lot of platform games take heavy inspirations from the older eras of gaming? The Meating is one such game that takes those inspirations farther than ever before. This is a legitimate time-machine of a platformer that went above and beyond the grave to feel like it came straight out of that era. And what a better time to play as a monster ghost than late october? 

Come on and take a look with me. Let’s get mooooooovin’.

The Good - Classic cuts

In a sea of retro indie games, it’s worth noting that The Meating might just actually, genuinely be THE most faithful recreation of the NES-era gameplay and graphics in a long time. The saturated colours, gameplay feel, everything feels very reminiscent of an old age. Even the slightly jankiness of the controls feels curated to be a faithful, juicy recreation of these old times.

And that’s not all there is to it—this game is a very tough cut to get through. It’s challenging in a way only old games are, with level design and enemy placement that are simple but very hard to chew through if your expectations aren’t properly placed. And the bosses are no easy meals, either—unless you’re a well-seasoned gamer, expect to be slow-cooked a few times by each one.

Another big part of the game is the humour, which I absolutely adore. I am a huge enjoyer of puns, which the game is full of, but everything has a nice air of comedy to it. A ghost minotaur trying to put its meat back together before he becomes steak dinner? That’s just comedy, and there’s nothing like dinner & entertainment.

TL;DR

• One of the most faithful NES-style games I’ve ever seen
• Tough but fair challenge, very satisfying to beat
• Good sense of humour throughout the whole game

The Bad - Dried jerky

As mentioned, this is a very faithful recreation of old NES titles - for better and for worse. One thing that I’ve experienced is how easy it is to softlock yourself in parts of the stage due to running out of your ability meter, making it impossible to finish the stage OR go back to previous parts.

This isn’t a design choice that’s very common in videogames nowadays, and I believe it’s better left in the past - it’s very frustrating to sail ever closer to a game over like this! If the player messes up their ability usage even a bit, if it doesn’t kill them the only option is to give up the ghost yourself and try again with one less entire life.

Outside of gameplay, I did have the impression that there were some parts of thegame that could have used just a little bit more pizzaz. There is a plotline that advances whenever you beat a boss, but the starting screen and the stage selection don’t have much going on and are very dry and uninteresting. The stage select is funny at first, being a listing of all the cuts of a cow, but the glaring orange color and the monotone scrolling until you find your stage could use a little bit more marbling to become more palatable.

TL;DR

• Possible “softlocks” that force the player to sacrifice a life
• Very dry presentation on certain screens

Final Score: 7/10

I’m really easy with platformers—I just really love them! Even when I’m very bad at them, the way that I was at The Meating. I had a great time chewing through this game, and finding out how challenging it truly was when I, at first, didn’t think it would be such a prime cut was very rewarding.

I’m not what people would call an OG gamer from the NES era, so I have no nostalgia for the console. That wasn’t what attracted me to The Meating; it was the good humour and fun-looking gameplay, and I’m happy to report that it meats my expectations.

Thank you for checking out our The Meating Switch review, thank you to 8 Bit Legit for providing the review code and thank you to our Patreon Backers for their ongoing support:

• Andrew Caluzzi (Inca Studios / Camped Out)
• Bel Cubitt
• Bobby Jack
• Jack Caven
• NintenVania Podcast
• RedHero