Constance was my top games of last year, and for good reason. Besides the excellent exploration, good sized maps and tight combat, it also told a fantastic story about the main character’s inner struggles. Being able to identify the crushing anxiety of work, expectation and responsibility coupled with the chronic fear of “disappointing” or “letting down” people in spite of it being out of your control is something that needs a wider spotlight as we move forward into a further schisming class system. Gamewise, I was also incredibly impressed with how Constance was able to look and function on my computer, with its built in graphics card and specs that’re several years out of date. Being able to enjoy a modern title on an older PC immediately raised the question: why not on console? Specifically, why not on my Switch?

Thirty bucks back after adjusting for the thousands I paid??? Sweet, time to buy Constance!

My prayers have been answered, and, while I cannot speak to the releases on the Xbox and PlayStation systems, I’ve been able to now run Constance on both an OG Switch and the Switch 2. At the core of it all, nothing major has changed. Some important fixes and nerfs have been implemented, such as making it so that the Jester encore battle no longer has you dealing with invisible cards. I know players enjoy a good challenge, but that was such utter hell that I had to turn on invincibility mode to move forward, so I’m glad others have spoken up. But, if you were hoping for the game to be even harder, there’s now both the Cursed Game mode (ultrahard setting that comes after beating the game once) and the option for permadeath, because why not make yourself miserable? I’m kidding, but not really.

These QOL tweaks are not new, as the major update dropped in March (though there have been some minor fixes since then). So, if you’ve been enjoying Constance on your computer, and you already have a Steam deck, bully! You don’t need to pick this up unless you want to support Blue Backpack, which should be reason enough but I understand. However, if you’ve been waiting because you, too, suffer from not being setup for a PC gaming experience and want to make sure that you’re giving the love child of Hollow Knight and Celeste a fair shake, then you absolutely want to grab the console version. This is an opportunity to enjoy Constance in its purest form, with a controller dedicated for play, and, for Switch users, a pleasant surprise at the future of games.

You can definitely see a little roughness in the photo, but you honestly don’t notice during motion.

Right now, a lot of developers are considering how to approach their titles as they move forward with Switch and Switch 2 development. For some, it’s good enough to drop a game onto the Switch and just know it’ll run on the Switch 2 and look alright. Some developers are offering incentive upgrades for the Switch 2 versions with really low prices, such as with Dave the Diver and Exit 8. Some are optioning to only put the game out onto the Switch 2 so as not to compromise the quality, like with OPUS: Prism Peak. Let me be clear that all of these are valid choices, and developers can always pivot and do something else if they’d like. For Edmund McMillen and The Binding of Isaac, we all just have to be patient and know the Switch 2 version will come, but the details are vague at best at the current time.

But the Blue Backpack team is trying something different and allowing Constance to exist on both ecosystems with the same core game, but with a new-yet-old approach to the fidelity of it all: preset menu options. Opening up the menu now gives you four choices along with the slew of other fiddly bits that you normally find. There’s the Balanced mode for players who want an overall satisfying experience, Performance for better frame rates and animations, and Quality when you want the game to look its best. If you’re using a Switch Lite or an OG Switch in handheld mode, you really want to lean towards Balanced or even Performance. You give up very little in terms of graphics but gain a lot in the game being smoother and more responsive. Putting on Performance is pretty but you’ll instantly feel the drop in your reflexes.

So you’ve come to punch me, flying punch robot? Well you’ll have to catch me first!

And then there’s Max. If you put it on with a regular Switch, it won’t feel like anything happens. From what I can tell, the Max setting is just Balanced if you’re playing with the previous generation. However, the Switch 2 will showcase a stronger game overall with the best animations and the cleanest graphics possible. For all intents and purposes, it’s the Switch 2 version without needing to have a Switch 2 separate release. As a result,players will be able to benefit from owning Constance on their consoles from the beginning and then getting a pretty little perk if they advance to the newest iteration of Nintendo hardware. How this will scale with future iterations isn’t clear, but, at the time of this writing, it’s a sensible upgrade that allows games to grow with the player in a logical and helpful way.

Having played back and forth between new and old generation hardware, I can safely say that players can and should enjoy Constance on whichever console they have and enjoy the most. While the PC was a great starting ground for the game, the game feels most at home being on a machine dedicated for gaming. Think about the throughline of Constance itself and the protagonists’ own struggles to fail to break away from the machine that dictates her life. The storyline will constantly break the fantasy to remind us that our main character is chained to a machine, trying to meet deadlines, satisfy others and sacrifice her own mental wellbeing in the process. Why on earth should we embark on that quest on the very machine that’s causing her so much strife? Is it not nobler, nay, more human for us to instead play the game on a gaming device?

Ah…I see you’ve caught me. Very well, commence punching.

Plus, it’s still such a great, tight metroidvania. While players the world over are clamoring for a game to demand more and more of your time to see and enjoy every nook and cranny, I love maps that are functional, elegant and concise without being bland. We have so little free time in a world that’s ever more demanding of our souls and our energy. I want to know what a developer has to say, but let’s make sure the journey doesn’t meander off too far, lest we get lost in the weeds. From the disturbing carnival to the melancholy greenhouse, gas-lit town to the foreboding caverns, you may get turned around in Constance, but you never get lost. It’s a perfect metroidvania for the handheld crowd, and having your options of either letting it run smoothly and look rough or polishing it shiny and slowing it down pleases everyone.

There’s nothing else to say. Constance is the new flagbearer for the metroidvania crowd. While it may not usurp longtime favorites in the field, it’s a bold and proud example of narrative storytelling with excellent gameplay elements and a strong boss presence. If you haven’t already, get this game. If you already own it, consider a second run with fresh eyes from a different angle. I’m going back on the train, and you should, too.

Constance is available now on Steam, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2.

Reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2 and Switch Lite.

A copy of Constance was provided by the publisher.