Catan

 Switch
  • Publisher: Asmodee
  • Release Date: Jun 20, 2019
  • Also On: PC
Catan Image
Metascore
61

Mixed or average reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
2.0

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 12 Ratings

Your Score
0 out of 10
Rate this:
  • 10
  • 9
  • 8
  • 7
  • 6
  • 5
  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1
  • 0
  • 0
  • Summary: Trade, Build, Settle on Nintendo Switch. Discover or re-discover all the fun of the strategic & social gameplay of the million-seller board game!. The island of CATAN ™ is an uninhabited land rich in resources for you to settle. Unfortunately, your opponents have the same plans. BuildTrade, Build, Settle on Nintendo Switch. Discover or re-discover all the fun of the strategic & social gameplay of the million-seller board game!. The island of CATAN ™ is an uninhabited land rich in resources for you to settle. Unfortunately, your opponents have the same plans. Build settlements, roads and cities strategically to gain supremacy on CATAN! Some resources you have in abundance, other resources are scarce. Trade resources wisely & skillfully to stack the odds in your favor and become the greatest settler of CATAN. [Nintendo]… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 13
  3. Negative: 1 out of 13
  1. COGconnected
    Jul 3, 2019
    85
    Catan on Switch is serene but never boring. It’s not a pulse-pounding action thriller, but it asks for a lot of thought. You will strategize, you will win, and sometimes you will lose. But the music will continue to gently encourage you, the cartoon opponents are just begging to be defeated, and there are still so many islands to clear. I don’t know how glossy you can make a game like this, but I’m happy to report that you don’t have to. An attractive package and a clear interface are the only reminders we need- Catan is a classic and being able to play it on the go is a gift.
  2. Digital Chumps
    Jul 2, 2019
    85
    Overall, Catan on the Nintendo Switch is a treat. The inclusion of a large campaign helps to sell this game easily. The addition of strong AI makes the experience valuable and challenging. If the menu system could improve, then you’re looking at one of the best versions of the board game to ever grace a console.
  3. Gaming Age
    Sep 9, 2019
    75
    Players who don’t necessarily care whether they can play the game with others, but who are eager to try out all kinds of different scenarios at different difficulty levels, and who want to be able to play the game solo wherever they may go. From that perspective, Catan has a lot to offer. There are about two dozen different scenarios here in the single-player campaign, which should keep most people occupied for a decent amount of time. And once you’ve gotten through all those, you can also build their own scenarios, which seems like a pretty decent amount of value, as these things go.
  4. Nintendo Enthusiast
    Jun 26, 2019
    60
    Ultimately, Catan is a faithful recreation of the classic board game, and for that, I applaud it. I love being able to take Catan with me wherever I go and never concerning myself with having people to play with me. You probably won’t be spending large chunks of time with this in a single sitting, but the game’s autosave feature makes it incredibly convenient to pick up and put down on a whim. Catan isn’t perfect, but if you’re a fan of board games, you should enjoy it nonetheless.
  5. Game Revolution
    Jun 27, 2019
    60
    It does just enough to get the job done. As we’ve seen with many releases on Switch, that’s usually enough for most people.
  6. MGG
    Jun 26, 2019
    58
    Catan for the Switch could have been a success if one major defect had not been present. Maneuverability, customization of the board, the different game modes — everything has been designed to make the game appeal to all types of players. However, you need a Switch Online subscription to even hope of playing against other players. There is no local multiplayer either, so you can forget about playing with your family or your friends.
  7. Gameblog.fr
    Jul 8, 2019
    40
    If the success of Catan as a board game is more to prove, concerning this adaptation in video games, an absence is an aberration: the lack of a local multiplayer game mode. If, perhaps, the big fans of the board game will find their account between two parties in real life, it seems nevertheless that the designers of this version Switch has missed the main interest of the game.

See all 13 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 9
  3. Negative: 8 out of 9
  1. fragamus
    Apr 1, 2020
    8
    It's not perfect, the menu system can be a little odd, but other than that it's a strong console version of Catan and it's at a veryIt's not perfect, the menu system can be a little odd, but other than that it's a strong console version of Catan and it's at a very reasonable price.

    To the people (it's mostly one person...) complaining about lack of local multiplayer, have you ever played Catan before? Do you know how the game works? Would you also complain about a poker game on Switch that doesn't have local multiplayer?? Please explain how you can have local multiplayer in Catan when you're supposed to keep your cards hidden from other players.

    Here's an idea: if you want to play some Catan with local multiplayer, just play the board game...    … Expand
  2. RFox
    Apr 5, 2020
    2
    No local multiplayer. For a boardgame this is probably the stupidest marketing decision you could make when bringing your game to a digital platform.
  4. leadpencils
    Jun 22, 2019
    1
    No local multiplayer. The game is a waste of money and memory. These developers should be terminated and then fired.
  5. SkeeverJones
    Jun 21, 2019
    1
    Catan without local multiplayer, worthless. I feel the developers of this game missed the mark entirely.
  6. ShamanPengu
    Jun 23, 2019
    1
    No local multiplayer. Completely ruins the fun if I can't play with my wife on one console.
  7. mollyhu
    Apr 5, 2020
    0
    First, lack of local multiplayer is very annoying. But even if you play in single player mode, the AI will align together against you, as theyFirst, lack of local multiplayer is very annoying. But even if you play in single player mode, the AI will align together against you, as they trade frequently with each other but will not accept any offers from you. Even the rolling dice will also against you, and when you just got 8 or 9 cards in one turn, it is highly possible to roll a robber to make you discard half of your cards. Want refund if possible.… Expand
  8. with_a_will
    Jul 28, 2019
    0
    I made an account to write this review. DO NOT BUY.

    The lack of local multiplayer doesn't bother me and was evident from the store page.    I made an account to write this review. DO NOT BUY.

    The lack of local multiplayer doesn't bother me and was evident from the store page. Games that involve hidden cards don't typically work well on single screens anyway, and I was eager to try the campaign mode for some unique challenges. However, the campaign mode is biased against the human player. AI opponents will offer a trade, but if you're the only one who accepts it, they'll change their minds. They will place the robber on your spaces, block your roads, and I swear even the dice rolls are stacked against you. The AI will do this regardless of whether you are in first or dead last. Then, after you lose, they will admonish you for not paying enough attention, and it's endlessly annoying to be blamed for events beyond your control. Skip all of the dialogue, they don't say anything important anyway. In fact, you have to wait until you've loaded in and the game has started before you can even see how many victory points it takes to win or whether any special rules are in effect.

    It's buggy, too. Menus are awkward to use until you get used to them, and it crashes with increasing frequency the farther you get in the campaign. Normally you'd get points even for losing, but not when the game crashes. Campaign progress saves automatically, but game progress does not, you have to manually save if you want to come back, which means saving every turn if you want to avoid losing a game to a crash.

    Overall a frustrating waste of time that makes me extremely disappointed that the Switch store doesn't have a rating system or refund policy. Could be a good game if they ever finish it, which isn't likely.    … Expand

See all 9 User Reviews

Current Switch Games

Full List »
9.9 Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse
9.4 Ultra Kaiju Monster Rancher
8.8 Metroid Prime Remastered
8.8 Chained Echoes
8.5 Risen
8.5 Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe
8.5 A Plague Tale: Requiem - Cloud Version
8.5 A Space For The Unbound
8.4 Persona 5 Royal
8.3 Persona 4 Golden
8.3 No Man's Sky
8.3 Sonic Frontiers
8.3 Inscryption
8.3 Tunic
8.3 It Takes Two
8.3 Signalis
8.2 Prodeus
8.2 Samurai Maiden
8.1 Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon
7.2 Bayonetta 3
All Current Games »