Poison Control Reviews
A good, but not great, new IP, Poison Control skillfully harnesses NIS's abilities to present a visually-striking, musically-engaging world with unique gameplay concepts.
Poison Control's story is cliché-filled but fun, and the tongue-in-cheek dialogue carries the game far further than its gameplay could manage alone. The writing can only make up for shallow game mechanics to a point, though, and ultimately shallow gameplay is what lets this game down. Visual novel fans will likely find more to enjoy here, but there's simply not enough gameplay depth or variety for fans of shooters.
Poison Control is a very unique game, and if you get past its issues this playfully pink adventure has a lot to offer.
Poison Control has some of my favourite art and character designs from any game this year, but that isn't anywhere near enough to carry the entire experience. The dual-character combat system is a fresh and stylish idea, but it isn't executed very well. Clunky movement and repetitive combat end up holding back this otherwise stylish and unique new game from Nippon Ichi Software.
In the end, it is a slick looking, great sounding little game that is never overly offensive with its issues, but still has a decent amount of them. The gameplay revolves around a simple mechanic that players will see the majority of before getting halfway through it, but it was never something that I didn’t like playing. It is most certainly unconventional, and I think that’s what gave it enough charm to keep me playing. It’s a strange one to recommend, but I still recommend it if this sounds like something up your alley.
Poison Control has some good ideas, but executed very superficially. An appealing but extremely simple game, its best merits are a good art direction and the hilarious writing. The rest is quite forgettable.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Poison Control rarely goes beyond the cheap laughs to be had from its story.
When it comes down to it, Poison Control fails to do anything interesting in any manner. There's nothing about the game that is outright broken, but there is just no substance to anything at all. A forgettable nothing story, forgettable gameplay, tedious maps, all lead to an experience that is an easy skip.
A quick run and game game with little roaming and lots of exposition.
There is really nothing wrong with Poison Control, it just doesn't do much to stand out. It has a neat concept with okay execution. Graphics aren't overly impressive, nor are the controls, but neither really stop it from being engaging. For most the interactions and adventure will keep them going, it just depends on if that is worth the investment or not.
It’s time to raise Hell and clean up some demonic mess in Poison Control, the latest action RPG from Nippon Ichi Software. Featuring a unique dual-body mechanic and many, many suggestive themes, this is a title that surprisingly doesn’t come with a vinyl figurine.
Poison Control will not be to everybody’s tastes, but its strange mix of combat and poison neutralisation antics does at least make it unique. Also, while its gameplay does suffer due to repetition, the somewhat bite-sized nature of its dungeons means it can be offset by playing little but often. Ultimately, no element of Poison Control particularly stands out as impressive, but it also does little to actively put players off getting a controller in their hands and cleansing a hell or two.
Poison Control shows how good ideas and a huge potential can be ruined by bad gameplay decisions and broken structure, and even though some parts of the game like story and writing will keep you eager to carry on, eventually the final package fails to deliver.
Review in Persian | Read full review
The whole thing is a consistent delight to both look at and listen to — and this side of things in particular is one of the reasons I’m so surprised the game hasn’t enjoyed more buzz online since its release, since as you can hopefully see from the images on this page, it sure takes a nice screenshot!
Ultimately, Poison Control is a let-down of how good it could have been. Utterly lacking in the cohesive element, some parts absolutely stand out, where so many others fall far short. The shooting is serviceable, the 'cleaning' gets old fast, and the story doesn't really go anywhere. Poisonette and the main character have a great dynamic, which serves to only show how short other aspects really fell short.
There is no doubt that Poison Control came out of some good ideas, but unfortunately they result in a game that manages to be average (or worse) in all its aspects, and not even a promising story can hold back the production. In the end, it is strong colors, repetitive mechanics and that's it.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
But, the game is what it is. I think some people will really enjoy Poison Control, but you already know who you are. The rest of you will likely find it a bit dull and potentially off-putting.
If Poison Control smoothed out its combat and performance issues while adding more interesting complexity to its gameplay then it could be quite a fun quirky little game. As it is, it's certainly charming but definitely difficult to recommend.
It's wild how such oddball and quirky titles continue to come from Eastern developers, and if you're willing to lean into the experience they can be a bit of unexpected fun...
Get ready to raise Hell in one of the weirdest dungeon crawlers on the Switch.