Is this siege worth fighting or avoiding?
A physics-based building game in which the player constructs medieval siege engines and lays waste to immense fortresses and peaceful hamlets.
I hadn’t heard of Besiege beforehand, but it originally came out in January 2015 on PC, it’s now out on Switch and will head to the other consoles later this year. I do have to question why it’s taken over 9 years for it to release for console, as it does seem a bit odd. But is it well optimised?
I have to say, I was surprised by how well the game runs on Switch. Yes, it’s a 9 year old game at this point, but Switch ports of PC games have been hit and miss over the years, so overall I was impressed with how it handled in terms of performance. The controls are easy to get to grips with, thanks to a decent tutorial.
Essentially, you build medieval siege engines to destroy towns, castle and fortresses. The building mechanics remind of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, which while the least liked of the Banjo series, had an amazing building mode for vehicles. You can cause a lot of mayhem with the tools at your disposal and it’s highly enjoyable to boot.
It’s a game that’s best played in small doses, I found. While I enjoyed it, I could see the repetitive nature of the game unfolding, but if you play a few levels and come back after a break, you’ll enjoy it more.
The visuals are simple, yet effective. The physics work well and while there might be the odd framerate drop from time to time, it’s not the worst I’ve come across. I expect the PS5/Xbox Series X/S versions to run a lot smoother, but we’ll have to wait and see on that.
The Verdict
Besiege is a decent Switch port and while it’s a bit odd for a 9 year old PC game to come to consoles, the team at Spiderling Studios have done well to make it work here. In summary, it’s a nice pick-up-and-play construction game.