As you enter the game’s second area, for instance, you’re immediately challenged by another character who claims you’re slow and couldn’t possibly run around the entire golf course in a reasonable amount of time. Just about every interaction disguises a clever tutorial of some kind. And the game handles this tutorial in a way that oozes personality while sneaking in critical instructions about how to play. The opening of Golf Story is as much about learning how to play the game’s unique version of golf as it is understanding the main character’s relationship with his father. Rather, the mechanics of the game are tucked into the storytelling, both throughout the main story and optional quests. This context serves as a tutorial, but these lessons from dad aren’t rote, paint-by-numbers segments. You take on the role of a young golfer whose father is running him through the basics of the sport. Golf Story is a world I actually want to be a part ofĪnd like any adventure game, Golf Story starts you off with a bit of history. The overworld even resembles The Legend Zelda: A Link to the Past, complete with areas blocked off until later parts of the game. It feels more like an open-world adventure title than a golf sim. Instead, the meat of the game is everything else: a full cast of characters with backstories to dive into, a handful of multi-tiered quests to complete and an abundance of characters scattered across every golf course handing out side quests. To get around the inherent boringness of golf as a game, Golf Story pushes the full 18 holes to the margins.

To understand what makes Golf Story so charming, you have to go beyond the elevator pitch, which is basically “an RPG, but with golf.” This game manages to make a world governed by golf a universe that I actually want to be a part of. So how the hell did I get sucked into the world of this retro-looking golf game on the Nintendo Switch by developer Sidebar Games? It’s a surprising turn of events, because my interest in the actual game of golf is basically zero. I can’t stop thinking about how good Golf Story is.

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